Ryan Bickerstaff

I managed 40% of my total volume last week in one day…today!  It was a good start to this final base phase of training.  I started with a 2:30 ride (55+ miles) on the CompuTrainer in the morning.  I don’t feel like switching gears all the time, so I just set it at 100 laps of the half mile flat course.  When I ride in the morning, it takes a while for me to get up to a steady state speed/power.  The first 25 miles were in around 1:13:35 and the second 25 were in around 1:08:20 I think. 

After the bike ride, I went to work until my 6pm swim.  I need to do 32,000m this week, and I try to front load the volume slightly so that I can take it a little easier on the weekend or at least Sunday before starting up for the following week on Monday.  I started with a 5000y straight swim (really exciting, I know).  I wanted to do the first 4000 in around 50:00, averaging 6:15 per 500.  The first couple of 500s were in around 6:02, so I was happy, thinking I could ease up later on and still average 6:15.  Then, I put in a 500 that was under 6:00, and I thought, well, I might as well go a bit faster.  I went through 2000 in 23:55 feeling pretty good, so I picked up the pace a bit and did a couple 500s under 5:40.  I finished the first 4000 in 46:43, which meant 22:48 for the second 2000y, a nice descending split!  That was nearing a threshold pace, so I did the last 1000 easier, finishing 5000 in 59:45.  Then, I finished up the 8000y total swim with 2000 paddles and 1000 normal swimming.

I’ll probably be a little tired tomorrow, but I have a 45 minute run, some strength training and plyometrics, and another swim planned.  It should be a little less than the 4 hours of training I did today, but it’ll still be good.

Filed under: Training