Key Workouts as Timberman Nears

MONDAY: Pool Swim
w/u: 2x {100m swim, 100 Verzbicas kick, 100 buoy}
main set1: 5 x 300m (build every 100 from easy to hard)
main set2: 6 x 50m HARD (leave every 2:00)

Elle: The pool was unusually full today, so I actually had to share a lane. I took a look around at the lanes and saw this one guy who I'd seen before. He looked a lot like our friend Nate (who was on the BC track team with Dan & Justin, owners of SEAC, and who won this year's 'Escape the Cape' triathlon-turned-duathlon, and who qualified for Kona at this year's Eagleman), but when someone puts on a swim cap and goggles, you'd have trouble recognizing your own brother. So I had been wondering for a little while now if it was, indeed, Nate. Well today I decided to get in the lane and finally figure it out. I smiled at maybe-Nate and asked if I could share the lane. He smiled back and so I jumped in. But I still couldn't tell! So we shared the lane, swimming in very close proximity. Not knowing. He was out before I was finished with my set, and we never had rest periods at the wall at the same time, so the mystery continued. Until I got home and sent out a tweet:

TUESDAY
Sadly, Elle breaks the 1st & 3rd rules of Triathlon:

THE RULES OF TRIATHLON:
1. Don't get injured.
2. Don't get sick.
3. Don't break rules 1 & 2

Elle: So my knee injury from last fall came back, arrrgghhh!
So my sad evening was spent with RICE:
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation

Webb's Bike Workout
Long, steady climbs
w/u - 30:00 RPM >100
3 x 15:00 Big Gear, RPM 55-60 as 2:00 seated, 1:00 standing; 5:00 easy spin recovery
Total: 1:35:00

Webb: I'm not sure if this is a good workout to do in peak phase. Timberman has some hills and they have been looming over my thoughts. Don't call it anxiety! I'm being prepared. Each 15:00 interval was at a steady effort whether in the saddle or up on the pedals. I think I did a good job of keeping my effort in check by monitoring my pedaling technique. The time passed by fairly quickly thanks to Netflix and District B13: Ultimatum, a French action movie built around parkour/freerunning and martial arts. As I've said before, I like to watch foreign action films while on the trainer. The action keeps me motivated, the subtitles keep me from needing to follow the dialog and, really, when it comes down to it, you can miss some dialog and keep the gist of the story.

Post Public Body nutrition at Tremont 647

WEDNESDAY: Swampy Public Body
Elle: Soon after a downpour, the Public Body crew headed out for a hot, steamy session of body strength and conditioning, or more specifically, "MetCon." Unfortunately most of my workout clothes were sitting in the dirty laundry hamper, so I had to dig out my short, hot pink shorts. There was no shortage of ribbing about those shorts, I assure you.

THURSDAY - SEAC Track Workout
w/u - 1.5 mile jog
main1 - 6x 200m (200m jog recovery)
main2 - 3x 100m strides (100m jog recovery)
c/d - 1.5 mile amble

Webb: It was another warm and humid night at SEAC run club. We arrived at the track and I was feeling tired. Work has been really kicking my ass lately. Not ideal for a peak phase. Oh well, that is what run club is for. As long as I can tear myself away from the office I know the crew will motivate me.

On this night the instructions were simple 6 x 200m. The second 3 intervals were to be faster than the first 3. My current goal is to run all 200m repeats under :40. Since these had jog recoveries and not walking or laying down recoveries, I was shooting for the first 3 to be at :39 - :40 and the last 3 to be at :38 - :39.  Much to my surprise I ran the first in :38. Oops! I slowed down to :40 for #2 and then fearing complacency, I sped back to :38. Damn. Ok, onto the second half. Even though I was a little faster than planned I was determined to run the second half intervals faster. Every. Single. One. I ran #4 in :37, #5 in :36 and and #6 in :35. Don't think I could have done a better job had I tried. Well, I did try. Still I'm surprised I pulled it off. I paid for it though. The strides and cool-down were miserable.

Elle: Since my knee was feeling wonky, Dan, our trusty run club leader, gave me a workout to do on my own: hard efforts on the straight-aways, no turns, as that would aggravate my knee. So while everyone else was doing the prescribed workout, I did 12, 100-meter hard effort. This close to Timberman, I don't want to make any rash mistakes that I'll regret on race day.