Ironman Arizona Week 8: More Mental Prep

8 weeks down, 16 weeks to go.

That means we are a third of the way into the training program. Yikes!

Week 8 was the first week of the base 2 build phase. The goal of this next 4wk phase is to keep building base endurance and build up to a 95mi long ride and 20mi long run.

Week 8 started out a little tough. I was still feeling tired from the brick workout we had done the day before (reassuringly, so were several other people in our group) and at our quality run workout Monday evening Maurice made us do an hour of hill repeats. Grrrr... that was tough. The weather was also quite warm, for December, so that made it a little more difficult. That night I didn't sleep so well, my legs felt very restless and I tossed and turned most of the night. So I took a much needed rest day on Tuesday.

I had a good swim Wednesday night and a great run + ride combination on Thursday. Friday was another day off...

Saturday we rode 65 miles. It started out sunny and ended up raining for the last hour on the bike. I was glad to be done! I've really been struggling on my bike rides lately. Today was no exception. I felt great for the first hour then started dragging for the second hour. I don't think it was a calorie issue today because I made sure to take in over 1000 calories during the ride (probably still need to take in another 300-400). I did realise that I had a slow leaking flat and I'm sure that didn't help. Thanks to Gordon for changing the tyre for me. It's nice to be taken care of sometimes! I'm definitely learning a lot on these rides. The group we're riding with is much stronger than the group I was riding with earlier this year and last year. They also work together more while they're riding. I can feel that I'm getting stronger on these rides but I still have a long way to go. It's strange to feel that my running is stronger than my cycling at the moment!

Sunday we were supposed to run but due to bad weather we put it off until Monday. But we still did a decent long run on Monday.

Goal hours: 11.5

Actual hours: 8

Bike: 5hrs / 88 miles

Run: 1.67hrs / 9.5 miles

Swim: 1.25hrs / 3000 yards