IMAZ Day 14, end of week 2

"I believe that what doesn't kill you makes you...stranger" - The Joker

I'm feeling pretty strange these days, then. After Saturday's tire and century mishap, I went for some retribution yesterday, attempting to make up for missing 100 by getting there on the 2nd day, plus some. It took about an hour for my legs to wake up, but around 20-21 miles, I felt great! I ended up with 46 miles at a bit over 17mph. Since I was already sweaty, I decided a brick was in order, changed and went out for a run. Since I was near a track, I decided to split up the run into a moderate warm up, a tempo and an easy return. After 20 minutes, I hit the track for a 4M run. I was able to run 25:36 (6:24) fairly easily and felt better than expected, though by the end of that 46 minutes or so, my legs were feeling it. Ran back for 1:10 total.

Though it's the third week of training, it's the end of the 2nd week of blogging...I had to look back - I THOUGHT I'd been going since Aug 20 or so! Anyway, yesterday completed a 17-hour week, and while I didn't get the 100 in (next week, perhaps, though racing), I'm feeling good about my progress. I also feel that - and I believe this was my intent in the back of my mind - I just didn't train nearly as hard as this earlier in the season. I trained hard pace-wise, but not strength-wise as I am now. I think that if I had trained this way in, say, April and May, I'd be able to go 4:25 for a 1/2 IM, that's how strong I'm feeling. On the other hand, I'd be TOTALLY burned out physically at this point, so it's just as well. Onward!