WEEK 8 – February 15, 2016 – February 21, 2016
Week 8 seemed like another dial back week in training, but a good week for me overall. The only issue I had was that I had some left leg discomfort on Thursday night. It almost felt like sciatica, with pain somewhat the entire length of my leg. It made for some restless sleep until I finally got up and took some ibuprofen. I made sure I did some stretching on Friday, and as a result of my concern, I dialed back my 60 minute run to a four miler in just over 3o minutes. There was no lingering issue with the pain after that.
The two swims went well this week. The Tuesday swim was a straight 2500 yard swim in which I kept the intensity back a little. On Thursday, it was back to the drills and workout. The workout consisted of 12X100 yards with a 20 second rest. Normally I can swim 100 yards in about 2:05 to 2:10 at a comfortable pace. I pushed the effort as directed and was surprised to average about 1:53 for all 12 repeats. After seven weeks of swimming (I missed the swims in Week 1), I guess I am getting a little stronger in my pulls. Overall, this swim took me 50:22 to finish, a personal best. I am usually around 56 to 60 minutes with most 2500 yard swim workouts.
Biking was done indoors, but Illinois was treated to another beautiful day on Saturday with a 60 degree temperature day, so I headed outside. Another plus to this sunny ride was getting to ride with another cyclist friend from the area. He’s a good rider and would have no problem doing an Ironman, if he wanted to put forth an effort to swim and run. He has no interest in those two dumb disciplines! I don’t blame him. Our ride was problematic however, when he kept having his rear tire go down. It was a slow leak, and we think that the tube and it’s valve stem were the issue. Watching him pull the tire off the bike, pull out the tube and get all back on quickly is a treat. He may not know it, but I really study his method so I can be better at it myself. But it took us 2:45 to do a 2 hour ride! Oh well, he is good company, and it beats having to ride alone.
On to Week 9 and more of the same as I get closer to the build phase of the training plan. I hope it warms up some more because I really need to be outside!
WEEK 8 TOTALS:
Swims: 2 total, 2 hours, 5000 yards
Bikes: 3 total, 4 hours, approx. 58 miles
Runs: 7 total, 4 hours, approx. 28.5 miles
an amazing run 
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