Since it's been a while, I thought I'd fill you in on all that's been happening in training. Time is FLYING by - but I think February made me really strong. Here are the two highlights of training:
SUFFERFEST: I finished my first Tour of Sufferlandria! This crazy bike fest included NINE straight days of indoor biking. Racing, climbing, sprinting, standing and over/unders. One day included 32 x 1-minute all out efforts with only 1' rest between intervals. Another day included a 15' climb. It was not typical triathlon training, but I loved it.
In the fitness center of the Umstead Hotel.
On days SEVEN and EIGHT, Ace and I headed out of town. I didn't want to take my bike so decided to use the gym at the Umstead Hotel. Well, even the bikes at nicest resort on the planet couldn't handle the sufferfest. There were two videos planned for Saturday and I couldn't do it. I couldn't wrap my mind around NINE HAMMERS on a LifeCycle. Technically, a day in Sufferlandria lasts a lifetime and so on day nine, I did three videos. I finished NINE HAMMERS with almost four minutes to spare and spent 3H:17M total on my trainer that day.
It helped to know that other riders in Wilmington were suffering right along with me. A bunch of Sami Winter's rockstars were Facebooking and texting updates throughout the week and at the end, Sami had an awards ceremony. (I was still on my bike.)
Proof of Suffering proudly displayed on my fridge.
PURPLEPATCH TRICAMP: My hero came to town. Matt Dixon - world renowned coach to pros like Meredith Kessler and Jesse Thomas came to Wilmington for a tri camp. My body and my head are full of swimbikerun. I had a swim lesson on Friday, social run (10-miler) and swim workout on Saturday a 90-minute HARD cycle session followed by a 90-minute HARD run session at the track. In between all that we learned about each element of training, nutrition/fueling and recovery. HEAVEN!
February really launched me into the next phase of France preparation. I am up to 3H:30M on the bike, 12 miles on the run and I've added another swim to my week. March is going to shape up to be a bump in training load and I can't wait to see what happens.