Week #27

Hello All,
This was a HUGE week. It was the third week in our four week cycle program, so that means heavy duration and intensity.
Since my knee seems to be much better, I arranged to have lactate testing done. With this information, I will know at what point my body is producing too much lactate acid for my body to handle, therefore, I can train below this threshold and can work to raise my threshold.
So Tuesday, I wanted to test my knee on hills. I originally was going to do lactate testing this day but changed it to Wednesday so I could do the hill repeats. Well, I pace my gear the night before and I put my cycle shoes with the bike trainer for the testing. So, when I loaded the car for hill repeats up Mt. Diablo, I forgot my cycling shoes. Well, you know you are IRON when you do hill repeats up Mt. Diablo in sneakers. Yup, I sure did. There was a whole lot of pushing from the quads and not alot of pulling from the hamstrings since I wasn't clipped in. I wouldn't recommend doing that.
On Wednesday, I swam at Shadow Cliffs for the first time outside the lane. We did alittle over 1.2 miles in about an hour. We didn't want to do much more because we had lactate testing with Coach Mike later in the evening. Lactate testing is only a 20 minute test, but you go until you can not go anymore. I'm sure the results will come in handy as my training continues.
I decided to stay for a spin workout after the lactate testing but cut the intensity in half because I knew in 2 days, I had an 80 mile bike ride.
Saturday came and I was back up on the Vineman course, only this time my goal was to complete it without using alternative routes. I achieved my goal. This 80 mile ride was much better than my 60 mile ride the week prior. I was able to see parts of the course I did not see before and finished in 6 hours and 44 minutes. Now that my knee is better, I need to work on increasing my speed.
I finished up my weekend workouts with a 1.2 mile swim back at Shadow Cliffs on Sunday morning.
Next week is a much needed recovery week so I'm looking forward to that.
Here's to a great week ahead.
Cheers,
Dana