Week in Review - The IMoo Edition

The second weekend in September = Ironman Wisconsin.   Good luck to Pen and all the other athletes who are biking all over Southern Wisconsin right now.

I went out to run this morning and there were tons of signs all over the bike path near our apartment where a large part of the run will be done.  Even though I was only doing a turtle-paced 6mi, and none of those signs were for me, it was still inspiring.  I wish I'd had my camera!  Some of my favorites were:

• Dad, you're a PowerMan
• MnM's at the finish line
• Swim like a fish, bike like a wolf, run like a cheetah (A wolf bicycling would certainly be impressive!)
• We'll go out for drinks after

I was not keen on going out to run this morning because I was pretty tired from my run yesterday, but when I thought about how tired the IMers were going to be when they got to that same section of the run, I felt pretty wimpy.  Plus, I plan to go down later and watch part of the run, and how can you go watch people do an Ironman if you haven't worked out yourself?  

As for my week:

M- Strength training and yoga

T- 8mi with 2x4x800 at 10k pace.  This felt much easier than the last time I did this workout because it was a lot cooler.  Even though it was really windy, I was able to keep around 10k pace for all but the first interval (which is always slow).  Average time per 800: 3:51.  Yoga in the afternoon.

W- 8mi easy and yoga

R- 8mi with 2x15 min tempo.  First 15 at 8:46 min/mile pace (kind of slow but this is the hillier part of the run).  Second 15 at 8:04 min/mile.  I was really surprised at my pace for the second section because I actually thought I was going slower than the first.  Oh well, I'll take it!.  Yoga in the afternoon.

F- Strength

S- 20mi.

The last 20 of this training cycle and the fastest by 2 minutes.  YAY!  It rained for a lot of the run, and it was kind of boring because I ended up doing 3 loops around campus.  The forecast called for possible thunderstorms during the time I was running, and I was confident that I could get under cover on campus if it started booming.  

I didn't get really soaked until the second loop.  If the City of Madison is interested, I'd be happy to consult with them about a huge drainage problem on the newly re-constructed part of University Bay.

I also did my bad deed for the day by refusing to stop and give a driver directions when I was 18.76 mile through and was wet and cold and just really really wanted to be done.  
  

U- 6mi very very slowly.  I'm almost regretting having run this morning because I'm really tired right now.  Like I want to go back to sleep.  Actually I want to eat a second English muffin and then go back to sleep, but that's getting ridiculous.   At least I got all the laundry done on Thursday so I don't have to haul anything heavy up and down stairs today.     

I guess this week officially begins my race taper.  My schedule doesn't change that much this week, but the long run will be shorter.

Have a great Sunday, all.