A Sort of Kind of Comeback

32 mile ride, 4 mile run, 2000m swim
I'm not one who normally makes up missed or shortened workouts. I will occasionally swap things around. I understand that there's a certain order to the plan and I still try to leave some distance in between the harder workouts. And if I do miss something or just decide to bag a workout, I usually come to accept the fact that I needed to do so. It's better to take the break rather than squeeze something in where it doesn't belong.

Today was an exception. After yesterday's defeat, I felt like I had to get back on the bike and do some of my workout. A lot of it was mental. I needed to prove to myself that yesterday was a fluke and that I can still go strong on the bike. It probably was also because it was the bike. Had it been a run, I don't think I would have tried again. But since I'm really trying to work on the bike and I feel like I have been steadily improving over the past few weeks, it was important for me to know that I could do it.

I knew enough not to try the full 60 miles. I opted for about 30 with the intent of doing 20 in Z3. My original workout was supposed to be 30 miles in Z3 and I probably did about 1. Naturally, right when I start, the headwind starts. The first few miles didn't go so well, but at least I felt stronger than yesterday. Once I got to Lyons and headed east, I was able to get into a comfortable pace sans wind. I was having some trouble getting my HR to mid-Z3 and decided that it was time to bump my zones back down a little bit. My last LT test was in February and my HR zones shifted upwards about 10 bpm over last summer. I think it's safe to say that I'm probably back to the summer ranges. I also didn't worry about it too much since it still felt like Z3 and I felt like I was moving along at a decent pace, at least for me. The rest of the set went really well. In fact, I had kind of stopped paying attention to the time and when I finally did check my Garmin, I had actually gone over my 20 miles. Definitely one of the better Z3 sets I've had on the bike.

I got home and threw on some running clothes. I was supposed to do 1.5 miles yesterday off of the long ride, but I collapsed into bed instead. Today I was supposed to run 3.5. So I sort of combined them and did 4 miles, all Z2. The run didn't go quite as well as the bike, but since it wasn't my focus of the day I didn't really care too much. I was just glad for it to be done. And I still had that swim to get to...

I was starting to have second thoughts about the swim. I had a massage at 4 and was wondering if I'd be able to swim afterwards. At the time it didn't seem like such a bad idea. When I was done however, it seemed more tempting to get into the hot tub than the pool. I decided to give it a try, telling myself that I didn't have to do the entire workout. I procrastinated at the edge of the water for a while. Adam was finishing up so we talked for a while. It was really cooling off outside and the water temperature was not what I would call inviting. It was painful to get in, but I finally took the plunge. The first 200m were tough. I was cold and tired and hungry. But I stayed in. I modified the workout and cut out about 900m. I ended up doing 400 in Z3 followed by 8x100s in Z3 as my main set. These didn't start off so great - I was hitting about 1:50. But then someone else got in a few lanes down and I had my unknowing race partner. It's not often when I'm the fastest person in the pool, but when it happens, I feel like I have to always stay in front. So now that I had to be faster than this man a few lanes down, my times got better and I was averaging about 1:45. I finished up with the strength drills and then a cool down. The weekend was finally over.