WEEK 27 – June 27, 2016 – July 3, 2016
The dreaded Week 27 is over! The toughest of all the training weeks has been conquered!
Week 27 is the one that my training buddies and myself come to fear, with the Saturday long ride of six hours followed by an hour long run brick, and the Sunday three hour run and 1.5 hour bike spin. But thanks to a great weekend weather-wise, I found the weekend workout to be quite enjoyable. I got to ride with one of my Gunner teammates and lifelong friend John, and ended the seven hour day on Saturday feeling awesome.
The ride started out in the upper 50’s, and I wasn’t expecting that. I brought along some homemade arm warmers that I made out of tube socks that I purchased at Walmart. It’s a good thing I had them. It took about 1.5 hours before I didn’t feel cold anymore. Kept them on for the whole ride though. I will have to stick a pair in my bike special needs bag or my T1 bike bag for the race. I’m holding out hope that we will have a race day like this weekend.
Saturday’s bike/run: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1239986725
The weather sure made for a different ride than the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I filled up my bottles three times in the 80 degree weather. This time I started with three full bottles and really only topped off two of them once. Just goes to show how much the temperatures effect hydration.
The three hour run on Sunday I was sort of dreading, mainly due to worrying about what lingering soreness I would still have from the 7 hour training the day before, but I felt great all through the run. I turned around at 1.5 hours/10.25 miles and headed back with the idea of pushing a little. That worked until the wall was starting to creep up around the 19 mile mark just as I was hitting the hills near home. I got through it okay and got home and jumped in the pool. Then I mowed the grass. My neighbor used to tell me that she considers mowing the grass as her workout. I guess after a three hour/20.5 mile run I got my workout in as well.
Sunday’s run: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1239986917
My wife helped me finish off the biggest training week of the plan by riding the 1.5 hour bike spin with me. I chose to do it on my hybrid for comfort sake, and even though I was giving an effort I was marveling at how much faster I ride the tri bike on the same stretch of trail. Good ride and a good finish to the hardest week of the plan.
WEEK 27 TOTALS:
Swims: 3 total, 2:45 hours, 7600 yards
Bikes: 4 total, 10 hours, 167 miles
Runs: 7 total, 7:45 hours, 50 miles
an amazing run 