LONG DISTANCE SWIM, BIKE, RUN WEEK

It's been a good week. I'm starting to see some progress towards my goals and I stayed on track with my training program. And you know this is a tough time of the year to stick with training especially when everything is Pumpkin Spice and comfortable.  I keep telling myself that I have at least one, possibly two half Iron Man distance races in my future and that seems to keep me motivated.  I can see the holidays are going to be a challenge.

SWIM PROGRESS:
The other day I went for my one mile swim (72 lengths in the pool). I felt really good so I decided to make it a "century swim"...100 lengths. I finished 100 lengths and the guy in the lane next to me said if I swam 26 more lengths I'll have completed a 1 3/4 mile swim. So I went the distance.  After that I decided that once a month I'm going to push myself and do a 2 mile swim. Notice how 1 3/4 miles got pushed to 2 miles.

And, I'm noticing a difference in my swim technique. Swimming is starting to feel a bit more natural. I had a terrible habit of looking forward when I swam as opposed to looking down.  Correcting this has made a tremendous difference in my body position and my legs don't feel like their sinking so much. I'm also trying to stop over-rotating when I breathe and this has also made a huge difference in my swim technique.  My arms, neck and shoulders are more relaxed so I can add distance on without fighting my way through the water.  I'll be meeting with coach Jerry soon and I'm curious to hear what he has to say.  Coach Jerry has a tough-love way of coaching. I joke that he hits you a padded hammer.

RUN AND BIKE PROGRESS:
On Wednesday I did my longest run since last spring. I ran 16 nonstop miles at a pace of 9:18 per mile. Not a great pace for someone whose hoping to qualify for Boston, but for now the focus is distance. At mile 15 my legs started feeling a bit heavy, but I held on until the end. I also drank this energy drink by Tailwind Nutrition. It isn't the greatest tasting drink, but it isn't horrible either.  I alternated between my Tailwind drink and regular water.  It was a combination that kept me going and my legs weren't sore after the run!  That was a very pleasant surprise.

Thursday I rode with Lexa for 15 miles and got used to my new Redshift aerobars.  They feel great! I'm so glad I added the aero bars on.  It feels so much better to lean on them as opposed to leaning on my wrists.  And I got used to riding with them pretty quickly.  I even made right and left hand turns while in aero position, which I'm pretty proud of. And after my bike ride I went to the Y and completed a one mile swim.

Last but not least, I purchased new running sneakers.  They are the Adidas Adios Boost and let me tell you that I absolutely LOVE them! I never like new sneakers out of the box, but these are different.  They are SO comfortable. I feel like they're the sneaker equivalent to driving a Cadillac.  I'm just thrilled, thrilled, thrilled with my new sneakers.

It was a positive and productive week.  Friday I'll do an easy 5 mile run in preparation for Sunday's race, then I'll go to the Y and bang out a one mile swim.  Saturday is packet pick up in NYC and fueling for the Staten Island Half. And Sunday?  Well that's shaping up to be a beautiful race day.  I'll see you at the START LINE!



My new Adidas Adios Boost sneakers