Things never seem to go as planned in our family so to get the amount of training I did this weekend was totally unexpected. Thank you Tanya!
Friday started with an early departure from work (hello summer hours!) to meet up with Tom to bike the hills in Milton. We put in a solid 83k ride and I really put the hurt on up the several escarpement climbs. I also threw in some very solid "bike fartleks" on the straight aways into the wind. We seem to have an abundance of the blowy stuff these days so might as well get use to it.
Saturday, we had a busy day. I got up before the family and put in a decent 10k run. I was going to run longer and harder but I also had planned to race 15k on Sunday so wanted to save a little for a respectable time, even if it was for training purposes. Second order of business was to pick up my Garmiin 405 from Running Free in Milton. I was on the fence about buying a new watch this season but, thanks to a lot of $$ support from my mom for this purchase, I was happy to have the opportunity to get this awesome training upgrade. Map my Run is a great tool but so time consuming after a work out. Then it was off to Orangeville for some fun with the old high school boys and our families.
Sunday, I was going to race in the Bread and Honey 15k. Took my wife's readings in the newspaper as the correct start time (I was too tired Sat. night to check for myself). When I showed up to register I was 5 minutes too late as the race started at 8am and not 8:30am as per Tanya's words. To be honest, the cool weather, my tired legs and next weeks race made the miss in registration a blessing in disguise so I was not disappointed when I was turned away at the registration table. With this pressure out of the way, I could enjoy some extra family shopping time as we went to the Brook's outlet and picked up some new trail shoes and trainin tops. Not racing had bought me some training time and I used it to the fullest, putting in a very solid 62k ride over to Milton and back. I did not let up at any point in this cycling tour. The wind on the way home was very strong and really pushed the HR. Got off the bike in under 2 hours and took off immediately for a 10k run on the asphalt walking trails. I was clipping along at close to race pace for the first 5k. It was so nice to have the Garmin showing my pace as I usually just run out blind, only knowing the elapsed time in the run. From my new watch, I could tell I was pushing very hard but wanted to hit the 5k mark before slowing it down. My legs were bushed and ready to fall off so just before 5k (4.7k) so I shut things down for a quick walk for 1 minute and then resumed with a 4:20 paced run for the next 5k.
Due to the lack of long consectutive, training periods I had not been able to do as many big brick sessions this season so it felt very good to put this together today. Last year I did the Peterborough 1/2 IM distance so really had to put in the long bricks but Muskoka LC will be my longest race of the season so I can think I can get away with multiple, smaller training periods in a day. I just break it up into 2 workouts instead. For me, duathlon is only a lifestyle and not a profession so I must keep family a priority, especially at the stage the kids are at these days.
Now, hopefully the weather holds and we can get our TT in on Monday night before putting in some lower intensity efforts before the Muskoka Weekend!
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