Friday, May 28, 2010

One Last...

This week has been fueled by the expression "One-Last" before Hawaii 70.3. I'm super excited about the race and feeling ready to have a good one. You never know how the day is going to play out, so I just want to go into it as prepared as possible.

I had been reading some blogs and Facebook posts, and was confused why a lot of people seemed to be really keyed-up about this race. Then I remembered it's a Kona qualifier. I have no intention of going to Kona, so I guess that I why I have maintained a more mellow out look. My main goal is not dehydrate like I am know to do!

Last weekend was "One-Last" hard brick. Started off with some efforts and some easy around the GWL to Honey Springs. I was super nervous about the TT I was gonna do up Honey Springs. I have a few TT's that I do ever so often, to gage my progress, and this is one. The last time I attempted it went awful! Head-wind and dead legs made me turn my Garmin off half way up. Couldn't bear to see the time.

This time I was not feeling super fresh, as I was at the end of a hard block, but I was determined to give it my all. Pushed it pretty much as hard as I could from the bottom to the top, and was shocked to see I had taken a significant amount of time off of my previous PR! That boosted the confidence.

Then on to "One-Last" tempo run off the bike. I've done harder, but after 4 hard hours on the bike and three solid weeks of training, I figured this was good run-on-dead-legs training. In addition I had forgotten my water bottle, so I was getting more and more dehydrated the further I went (?Dehydration training?) Got it done!

Sunday was "One-Last" long run. Let's just say it hurt. Not in any specific place or that lungs and quads burning hurt, but more of a total body, achy hurt. Had to play mind games and crank up the MP3 player real loud to keep going. And a good Epsom's Salt bath was defiantly in order that afternoon.

Tuesday I was up for "One-Last" tempo ride on my trainer. My bike was shipping out to Hawaii with TBT that afternoon, so I knew I had to put in a solid effort. It was all about visualizing how I want to ride over in Kona and trying not to spray too much sweat all over my living room.

Later that day I did "One-Last" tempo run in Balboa park. It was a gorgeous night and the legs were feeling quite springy. I hit each interval hard and negative split them all!

Wednesday was "One-Last" Master's Swim. It was a great morning, as it was just me and my two favorite lanemate ladies. They are both the age of my parents, and can kick my ass! But are both so nice and encouraging while doing it. We had some long sets, and after getting dropped a few times, I threw on the paddles to keep up. Too bad I can't wear those at Honu!

Thursday was "One-Last" Braveheart Brick session. I'm finally able to approach these without the anxiety I had last year. I know it's gonna hurt and I just accept it. As it's a go-at-your-pace workout, they NEVER get easier. My legs were crap during the first set, and after the second Lesley shut me down. "Your work is done! End on a high note!" is what I was told. And that I did, with only a little whining about how I really wanted to finish the last set.

So now it's time for some serious tapering and getting ready to have a great race in Hawaii!

3 comments:

Jennifer Yake Neuschwander said...

Good luck! Have a dream race.

Julie Dunkle said...

Good luck girl!!! You have trained hard so now race hard too. Oh and have fun too

Rachel said...

best of luck girly! kick some butt out there tomorrow. i'll be thinking of you.