It was a good week of training last week with a great break through in the swim and a strong run and bike this past weekend. 

The end of the week brought cold tempeatures and snow.  The forecast was for more cold and snow on Saturday so I moved my long run to Saturday.  The day ended up being more or less dry but cool but I had a good solid long run.  I did a 2 hour run which covered 16 miles (7:31/mile pace).  The best part of the run was my legs really never got that fatigued feeling and I actually ran a few seconds faster per mile the second half of the run.  All in all a good showing 12 weeks out from IMCDA. 

I had switched things around based on the forecast and the fact that Sunday was supposed to be warming up and drying out.  Sunday morning was downright cold with temps in the low 30's and there had been snow overnight in the foothills.  I waited a little later in the day to head out on my ride and changed my ride route away from the foothills due to the wet and snowy roads.  It was a flatter ride so I was working to keep my cadence high for the entire ride. 

Things were going great as I came around the north end of Lake Washington I was headed towards my option point of heading home to finish up my workout on the trainer or continuing on around Lake Sammamish.  I opted for the extended route as I was feeling good and warm despite the tempeature just above 40 degrees.  As I made the turn back north at the south end of the lake I could see the dark wall of weather headed across the lake from the north.  A few minutes later mother nature opened a can of whoop-ass on me.  A blustery monsoon of freezing rain and hail and what felt like a 5 degree tempeature drop.  Needless to say I was soaked within minutes and no longer warm. 

I arrived at home 40 minutes later freezing and ready for a hot shower but first I had to squeeze the water out of my gloves and socks and dump the water out of my bike shoes.  It was a good ride all in all, 4:30 for 76 miles with an average cadence of 94 rpm.

March goes roaring out like a lion.  The next week is supposed be back to more typical temps in the mid 50's which will feel tropical at this point. 

 
 

There have always been those run workouts which I could point to and say that was a break through workout.  Well I had one of those today in my swimming.  Now I'm improved a bunch in my swimming since last fall mostly because I was swimming more and focusing on form. 

Well after my trip to Tucson I picked up a few additional tips from the coaches and I've been working on fixing those things.  The biggest was my stroke was coming across my body a bit so I've been working on keeping my stroke in line with my shoulder which has been tough.

Today I a set of 3 x 100 descending time by a few seconds, then 2 x 400 at steady state and finally 10 x 100 at a comfortable pace.  This last set was fantastic and I really felt my break through.  I did all of the 100's between 1:23 and 1:25 but most importantly these were all pretty comfortable.  These are by far the fastest and most consistent 100's I've ever swam.  I could really feel the extra power I was getting with my stroke keeping in line with my shoulders. 

I needed this workout because I think the long run and ride this weekend are not going to be so positive as the winter weather is back and things are going to be cold, wet, and windy or more specifically miserable. 

 
 

After a nice long ride on Saturday (cool and breezy but dry), we've got a return to winter today.  I awoke to a wet snow and rain mix falling from the sky.  It's getting old.

Since getting back from Tucson training has been going really well.  I've been feeling good and keeping to the training schedule and feel like I'm well ahead of where I was a year ago. 

I'm pretty stoked as my new bike frame is expected in a couple weeks early so I should have it built up by the second week in April and I'm expecting my gear from Zoot and Gu in the next two weeks.