Tiring and Rejuvenating

When I looked at the schedule for last week I immediately thought, ‘This is going to kill me’.  This is what was scheduled:
Monday – Off – THANK GOODNESS!
Tuesday  - :45 swim, 1:30 bike, strength training – upper and abs
Wednesday – 1:45 bike, 1:15 run, strength training – lower and abs
Thursday – 1:00 swim, 1:05 run
Friday – :45 swim, 1:00 bike
Saturday – 4:30 bike, 7 mile brick run
Sunday – 18 miles 
I’ve been following the schedule from the 36 Week Ironman Training plan from www.trifuel.com.  This was Competitive Week #6.  The whole training plan is a little aggressive, but I just try to get in what I can.  I don’t always follow the prescribed workouts, but try to get in the assigned time for the day.  Tweaks I’ve made:
Swim – starting 6 weeks ago, every other week for the long swim session, I do 7 sets of 6 X 100s… a total of 84 laps (down and back is 1).  Swimming is my weakest point.  So, I want to make sure that I can keep myself going for at least an hour.  Right now, 84 laps is taking me about 1 hr and 10 min with 30 – 60 sec rests between each completed set. 
Bike – Tuesday’s I do a spin class and usually come in a little before and/or stay after the class to finish the time that I need to get in for the day.  Wednesday’s I meet up with a small group to do sprints at Davis Island.  On the weekend for the long ride, I meet up with most of the same group from Wednesday (sometimes there are a couple of new people), and do whatever mileage they’re doing.  Starting this week and about every other week until the race (Beach 2 Battleship 10/20/2012) I’ll be doing a century ride.
Run - The max this training plan has me running after the long bike ride is 50 minutes and the longest weekend run is 2 hr 45 min. and that is even broken up with an hour bike ride.  That’s actually this week’s plan.  Starting a few weeks ago I started running 6, 7, or 8 miles after my long bike rides (depending on how many miles the bike was).  I’m working up to do a 10 miler after a 100 mile bike ride in 3 weeks and then a mock run of the ironman in 4 weeks where I’ll be doing a 30 min swim, 70 mile bike ride, and a 16 mile run after.  Augusta Half Ironman is the week after that where I’ll be trying to get the feeling of prepping for the race as far as nutrition before and during and calming down my nerves before and during the race.  I’ve also changed the plan to get in a 26 miler (or at least 24) 5 weeks before the race.
Strength and stretch – The plan doesn’t have anything in it for strength training.  I like strength training and I think it’s important to have it in any triathlon workout regimen.  I try to get in at least one day of upper and lower each, abs twice a week and I always stretch afterward.  Yoga is very important as well.  I’m not always as good about going to yoga class as I should.  But, when it gets about 4 weeks until the B2B race, I’m going to aim for once a week.   
The changes I’ve made are because I am OCD when it comes to knowing that I can finish a certain distance.  I spend my time during the week working on my speed and strength and I spend the weekends working on the distance.  I don’t necessarily take it easy on the weekends, but I listen to my body and if I’m feeling good, then I push a little harder.          
But, back to last week’s recap.  The training time isn’t a big deal to me.  It’s more of a “how the heck am I going to fit this in with work and sleep?”.  I’ve already given my boyfriend a heads-up that I will be almost non-existent for the next few weeks, but I still try to get in some QT with him.  I did manage to get in everything that was planned Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  I skipped everything on Friday.  I could have gotten it in.  But, I was bored with training.  It had consumed my every last bit of extra time I had during the week.  I wanted to just relax on Friday and kick butt on Saturday and Sunday.  And, that’s what I did.  Saturday was supposed to be a 90 mile bike ride, but turned into 98 miles because my biking group, including me, were feeling pretty good.  It didn’t hurt that we had a tail wind after the turnaround point.  My last 7 mile brick run was after a 70 mile ride 4 weeks ago.  I was 3 minutes faster on the run this week!  Sunday’s long run turned out to be the cherry on top.  Sarah and I finished the strongest we’ve finished in a long time and it was one of our longest run of the summer.
Actual workouts:
Monday – off
Tuesday swim, Tuesday bike
Wednesday bike #1, Wednesday bike #2, Wednesday run
Thursday swim – forgot my watch.  But, I finished the 7 X 6 100’s in 1 hr. 15 min.
Thursday run – ran on the treadmill and didn’t want to wear my watch.  This is what I did:
warm up: 15 min jog
main set: 3 sets of 4 X (7:02 min/mi for 1:45, 8:00 min/mi for :30); 8:00 min/mi for 4:00 between each set
cool down: 3 min @ 9:00 min/mi
Friday – off
Saturday bike, Saturday run
Sunday run, Sunday bike cool down

What’s coming up:
Monday – upper and abs (maybe)
Tuesday – :45 swim, 1:20 bike, strength – upper and abs if not done on Monday
Wednesday – 2:00 bike, 1:30 run, strength – lower and abs
Thursday – 1:00 swim, 1:15 run
Friday – :45 swim, :30 run
Saturday – 20 mile run (maybe break up into 1:45 min outside, indoor bike for :45 min, another 1:00 on the treadmill)
Sunday – :30 swim, at least 80 mile bike ride, :30 run