Week in Review – w/c 5/28/12

Time for a step-down week. Here’s how it went:

• Monday – odd start to the week with a low key 5k at the Triple R Ranch in Chesapeake. Legs were a bit tired from Saturday’s 10k and Sunday’s 13 mile training run, but it was good to have some off-road fun on dirt, sand, grass and gravel. Ended up with 3rd place overall in 18:24 – not a bad effort on a tough course. A
  Decided to kill two birds with one stone after the race, and ride the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail with Ally. Managed just under 17 miles in an hour and enjoyed spending some time in the aero position to get ready for next weekend’s Breezy Point Triathlon.
• Tuesday – started the day with a steady 4 mile morning run to shake out any soreness from Monday’s race. Continued the recovery with an easy 6 mid-day miles. Too hot for anything quicker to be honest… Headed to the pool after work to meet Ally for a 1100 yd swim. Nice and easy – more of a confidence booster before the triathlon than anything else. The water felt great actually. I should probably hit the pool more often than I do.
• Wednesday – 3 easy miles before work, and that was that. Planned to run more later in the day, but the monsoon-like conditions killed that idea.
• Thursday – back at the 100pushups and 200situps before work, followed by another easy 6 miles during lunch. Ally and I met up with a few friends after work for a quick dip in the Chesapeake Bay and a final test of our triathlon wetsuits. I’m not exactly a fish in the water, so it was definitely a good idea to log an open water swim to help calm the pre-race nerves.
• Friday – started the day with my usual couple of miles to Starbucks for an oatmeal & coffee breakfast. Later in the day I managed to sneak in just over 8 miles in an hour. The legs felt good and the sun on my back felt even better.
• Saturday – met up with several of the Hampton Roads Runners to log some steady paced Saturday morning miles. Made a pleasant change from my usual solo runs, so I think I’ll try to incorporate a few more of these throughout the summer. The conversation was good and the miles ticked by quickly. Enjoyable!
• Sunday – triathlon day! Not my greatest ever swim, but I survived, which was kind of the goal. My bike leg was stronger and definitely more enjoyable than the swim. Again, average speed not fantastic, but better than expected. My run was solid [18:52] and actually the fastest run split I’ve managed in 5 Breezy Point Triathlons. Can’t be bad, eh? Overall, I’m happy with how things went. I hardly trained in my two weaker disciplines, so can’t complain at the results at all. It was a fun event for sure!

So, 51 running miles turned out to be the perfect step-down week. My legs feel good, and I’m [hopefully] ready to step things up a bit in the next couple of weeks. Also, I logged 237 miles in May, which is the highest since a crazy January that probably pushed me down the injury road. I really need to pay attention to my body if I’m going to have a solid summer and fun fall. Here’s to a successful June!