A New Hope, er, T-pace

I've recently taken to watching Star Wars during my trainer rides, specifically Star Wars IV: A New Hope. I am captivated by the Battle of Yavin sequence, when the Rebel fleet attempts to destroy the Death Star. It's fast-paced, which is helpful for trainer rides that go over an hour. I mention T-pace because in my most recent 800y time trial, I set a landmark PR and have a new training pace, almost 5 seconds per 100y faster than my previous time. That definitely is in large part thanks to swimming with Michelle, Dirk and the masters practices. Basically, yards equal success! Also, since I've been running more for miles than speed, I've come to enjoy running more and feel better as a whole. I hope to keep up the 40-50 mile per week average I've been doing.

This is a little late due to being pretty busy at work... and looking for videos of Red Squadron:

Monday, Dec. 6 - Monday, Dec. 13 (6 swims, 6 rides, 6 runs)

Swimming: 19,800 yards

Tuesday -- Endurance swim at GISC w/ Michelle. Main set of 2x300 (1:20/100y pace, :15 RI), 4x50 (drill/build, :15 RI), 2x250 (1:20/100y pace, :15 RI), 4x50 (drill/build, :15 RI), 2x200 (1:20/100y, :15 RI), 200 kick, 2950y total. Swam alone at GISC around lunchtime, putting in 6x500 to give me 6000y total for the day.

Thursday -- TIME TRIAL! Michelle and I split the lane to add some competitive fire to the TT. It didn't start out well for me... my goggles filled up with water about 75y in, so I had to stop briefly at the 100 to empty them, losing about 5 seconds. However, after that it was SMOOTH swimming. I kept a constant pace and didn't feel tired until the last 50y, where inexplicably I forgot to sprint to the finish. Not at all sure why I forgot, but I hit the wall in 10:22, 1:17/100y average! That is a PR for me. Most importantly, I could have kept going at that pace... I was tired, but not done, totaling 1600y with warmup and cooldown. Another promising sign for the coming months! Michelle averaged about 1:41/100y, down from 1:45/100y a little over a month before. Huge improvements for both of us! In the afternoon I did 2000y of long pull sets for recovery.

Friday -- Recovery swim @ GISC w/ Michelle. Just swam long, easy sets with a 10x100 set (on 1:45) thrown on at the end, totaling 3200y.

Saturday -- CUBU masters swim @ AU w/ Dirk. The coach didn't show up so we had to alternate coaching with other swimmers. Put in 4x300 among other easier sets, with one of the 300s in 3:45, which Dirk proclaims is the fastest swum between us. Take that, Beastman! 3000y total.

Sunday -- Endurance swim @ GISC w/ Dirk. This was near the end of a long weekend and we agreed to take it easy on this swim. Main "set" was 4x300 around 1:20/100y pace, but I can't remember anything else we did. Still totaled 4000y.

Biking: 110 miles

Monday -- ILT on the trainer. 8 minutes on each leg in 30-second intervals. Felt fine, averaging around 180 watts per leg.

Wednesday -- Easy spin on the trainer, 45 minutes. Didn't want to do anything tough before Thursday's swim TT.

Thursday -- Easy spin on the trainer, 35 minutes. Was tired from the TT and a long day of swimming, so took it easy.

Friday -- Spin-ups on the trainer, 45 minutes total over 7 sets of spin-ups. Unfortunately I lost my Powertap info, so no power data!

Saturday -- Columbia ride with Dirk. We rode the Columbia course after a 30 minute jog, and I forgot how tough the course is! Inexplicably, I agreed to do it a second time... I got about 13k into the second go-round and decided to turn back. Too tough of a course to "just do" when you're not in the best bike shape, not to mention "just doing" it twice! Still, totaled 40 miles on a tough course, 213 watt average.

Sunday -- Long trainer ride w/ Dirk. We took it (er, I did, at least) easy on this ride after the Columbia challenge. Totaled 26 miles over 90 minutes, 145 watt average.

Running: 40 miles

Monday -- Trail run w/ tha boys. 8 miles.

Tuesday -- Solo run in neighborhood. 5 miles.

Wednesday -- Easy run around the track. 8 miles.

Saturday -- Columbia course run w/ Dirk. Took it easy with long bike ride ahead. Ran first and last 2 miles of the course. 4 miles.

Sunday -- Solo trail run. 6 miles.

Monday -- Trail run w/ tha boys. Ran some long hills. 9 miles.