IMCHOO Build 4 recap

The search for the bike shorts continues. I was really enjoying the Coeur shorts, but the way I sit on my bike led to chafing on the rear seam. I think the DeSoto 400 milers have a wider rear seam, so hopefully will get the pad under my weight instead of a seam in the middle of it.

I really like the look of the Coeur shorts and expect I will wear them often for shorter things and maybe even change into them for the IM run.

Overall this was a great build cycle. I've talked with other Choo people and we are all slower now than we were at the training camp, so I'm going to try to not worry about whether my race goals need to be changed based on my week-to-week training performance.

Mini-goal assessment

• Go to 2 Monday bootcamps - Success! I felt pretty rough on the one after the brick, but made it.
• Do 1 bike hills workouts with 3x trippple hill - Success! Not my best times on the course, but I did it three times
• Celebrate summer at post-biking picnic/potluck - Success! It was a gorgeous night and we hung out until like 9pm, enjoying a pink sunset and the magic of fireflies
• Celebrate friends marriage - Success! A beautiful afternoon in a park with great company.

Review of last three weeks

• 2 Monday bootcamp
• 2 Weds strength training
• 2 Yoga
• Swam
• at 6 swim practices
• at 1 post-run welcome-to-outdoor swimming
• at 1 Friday afternoon HH swims
• Ran
• 2 Monday night run lead
• 2 track practice
• 7 mi in long brick 
• 14 mi long run completed
• 0 run commute miles, but 1 right-hand-run recovery run
• Biked
• 2 flat workouts
• 1 hills workouts
• 1 trainer ride when thunderstorms cancelled the hills workout
• 50 mi in long brick
• 90 mi - New longest! Great until the end when my shorts got too irritating
• 28 assorted commute miles

Mini-goals for next build cycle

• Go to 2 Monday bootcamps
• Do 1 bike hills workouts with unprecendented 4x trippple hill 
• Responsibly address new leg ache with preventative PT
• Be independent with a long run on the holiday weekend
• Celebrate summer at 4th of July party

Tri games: Right hand Run

I find it challenging to get my recovery week workouts in, since there aren't group workouts on the schedule. Last night, I was supposed to do an easy run and I left work on time in gorgeous weather, so no excuses.

I live near a lovely bike path, which is a standby for running, but I was looking for a little more adventure, so I tried out a new idea for a running game, the intuitively named "Right Hand Run"

The rules are pretty simple

1. Start running
2. When you get to an intersection, either
1. Go straight, or
2. Turn right
3. If you get to a cul-de-sac, U-turn with airplane arms over the right shoulder, and continue as before
4. If you end up in a warren of alleys, hope desperately to cross over onto a road that bends to the left to get you back on your way again. Not that I did that.

This appealed to me because right-hand turns don't necessarily involve crossing roads, and it also gave me a reason to practice my right-shoulder airplane turns, which are embarrassingly awkward.

I had to start thinking about the end game pretty early in the run. By crossing a particular major road, I was committing myself to pretty much 1 route home, so I knew I had to try to connect up with that end segment.

It worked quite well. I was saved from having to do a looking-like-a-stalker loop around a playground by using an alley and having a road curve fortuitously left. I was still on the same road, so it wasn't that *I* made a left hand turn :)

I think it will be even better for an early weekend run where I can be on the road more vs. having to hop on and off of sidewalks -- I've been spoiled by running on trails, or for a run if I'm traveling in a new area.

IMCHOO Build 3 recap

This build cycle introduced the need for the occasional car-nap during the work day. I need to figure out how to get more sleep into my day. I took the recovery week very seriously, with a massage to work out some potential hip aches and some more real-food eating and prep that I hadn't made time for in the work weeks.

Mini-goal assessment

• Go to 1 Monday bootcamp - Nope! Memorial day group bootcamp was cancelled and I did not motivate myself to do it on my own.
  
• Do 2 bike hills workouts with 2x and 3x trippple hill - Nope! All the fun extracurricular activities came on Thursday night this build cycle, so I missed these, and then did not make them up.
  
• Race the lake swim mile with good sighting and body position - Success! A lake swim PR!
• FTP test on the bike - Success! It hurt, and I did a 20 minute test instead of pacing better for a 40 minute test, but I earned the numbers I wished for.
  
• Enjoy evening off for theater - Success! This was one of the Thursday extracurriculars, but it was worth it. Complete with pre-theater dinner and great company
  

Review of last three weeks

• 0 Monday bootcamp
• 3 Weds strength training
• 1 Yoga
• Swam
• at 6 swim practices
• 1 mi lake swim
• Ran
• 3x Monday night run lead
• 2x track practice - got the whole workout done, but it was rough with the heat
• 10 mi long run completed, but it was rough
• 12 mi long run in solid Z2
• Skipped recovery week run, and no run commute miles
• Biked
• 2x flat workouts
• 0 hills workouts with 2x and 3x trippple hill
• 70 mi - New longest! Felt great! Great company!
• 80 mi - New longest! Getting toasty, got it done.
• 12 assorted commute miles

Mini-goals for next build cycle

• Go to 2 Monday bootcamps
• Do 1 bike hills workouts with 3x trippple hill
• Celebrate summer at post-biking picnic/potluck
• Celebrate friends marriage