Training Update - Feb 3 to Feb 9

Another week fighting off sickness.  I probably average 1 sick day off from work per two years but I've taken 3 off in the last 6 weeks.  This may be more of an indication that I'm more willing to take a sick day now that staying healthy to train is important where in the past I'd deal with the cold at work and take longer to recover.  I have probably 50 days of sick time accumulated, so I'm not too concerned about running out.

I had less training scheduled this week but that's because I had two threshold tests scheduled and needed some extra rest to prep for them.  Tuesday I was supposed to do my bike test but knowing that the weather was going to dump 8 - 10 inches on us, I decided to do my swim threshold test in the morning while the weather was fine and move my bike test to Thursday.  I was going to have to drive to a location to do the bike test.

So the swim test was 1,000 yards as hard as I could but maintain that pace the entire time.  I managed a 1:43 pace which is very similar to the threshold test I did at Master Swim Class a month before of 1:45 (although we did 3x300, averaged the time and add 10 seconds).

Unfortunately, Thursday morning I woke up with a nasty stuffy head and called all parts of the day off which was work and the bike test.  Ugh.

So by the numbers:

Swim: 1,600 yards / 29:08
Bike: 21.59 miles / 1:15
Run: 18 miles / 2:16
Strength: 0 sessions

Totals: 40.52 miles / 4:00

My long run on Sunday was OUTSIDE!  I finally sucked up and scouted a good safe route void of poor road conditions.  The plan was a 10 mile run with the first 5 miles easy and the second 5 miles at goal marathon race pace.  My minimum time is a 3:08 marathon (7:11 pace) but I am planning for 3:05 marathon (7:04 pace) and that's exactly what I hit in those last 5 miles, 7:04 minutes per mile.

I'm not going to say it was easy.  My heart rate was where I would expect considering the pace but I would prefer it to be a little slower.  I feel my legs are the delimiter, so I'm going to focus on them during my weights sessions.  As the snow melts, I'll be hitting some hill repeats.


Photo of the Week
While I was sick I was looking outside and noticed something sitting on my neighbor's trash:

This bird was chewing through their bag finding some food.  And here I thought it was feral cats ripping through our trash.