I entered into the final base phase of my training after a nice and easy recovery week.  The only difference between this and previous base weeks?  There was a race on the schedule, Escape From Alcatraz.  I went into this week approaching it as a true ‘Base’ week and not a race week.  One of the big mistakes I made last year was treating all of the weeks before and after the early season events as ‘race/recovery’ weeks.  Why was this a mistake?  Because it essentially meant have 2 consecutive light training weeks every month (I was averaging a race month at the time).

This year, I’m making a point of making every single week have a singular purpose of preparing for Hawaii 70.3 in June.  That means that if a race weekend happens to fall on a base/build week, I don’t taper or rest leading up to the race.  So with that in mind, this past week was very much like previous Base weeks, albeit with a slightly heavier load.  This also meant that I approached Alcatraz like a training day and NOT a race day.  I’m working on a race report that will describe that in more detail, but the short version is that I raced a very conservative race with the intention of not completely wrecking myself (say what?) so that this week could also be a quality base week.  And conservative is how I raced it, which is paying dividends this week as I train in Base 3, Week 2.

As for Week 1, this is how it all went down:

Monday

Swim – Spectrum Pool: 2150 yards/45:00

600 warm up (kick every 4th length)
6×50 @:60 (#1: 25 FAST/25ez, #2: 25ez/25FAST, #3 all ez, repeat)
2 x [50 RACE @ :50
50 easy/recovery @ 1:10
100 RACE @ 1:30
200 easy pull @ 5:00
350 cool down

Strength Workout

50 minutes of strength/core/power exercises

Tuesday

Run – Grand Ave. hill repeats: 5.41 miles/1:00

5:00 walk
15:00 WU run
3 X 3:00 hill repeats
15:00 run
5:00 walk

Swim – Spectrum South Bay Masters: 3150 yards/1:00

1 X 500 WU
2 X 50 Kick @ :55 (fins)
1 X 50 Free @ :45 (fins)
2 X 50 Kick @ :55 (fins)
1 X 100 Free @ 1:30 (fins)
2 X 50 Kick @:55 (fins)
1 X 150 Free @ 2:15 (fins)
2 X 50 @ :55 (kick)
1 X 200 Free @ 3:00 (fins)
4 X 150 (2:30, 2:30, 2:30, 2:15)
4 X 50 @ 1:10 (50 Free, 25 Fly, 25 Free, 25 Back, 25 Free, 25 Breast, 25 Free)
3 X 150 (2:30, 2:30, 2:15)
4 X 50 @ 1:10 (50 Free, 25 Fly, 25 Free, 25 Back, 25 Free, 25 Breast, 25 Free)
2 X 150 (2:15, CD)

Wednesday

Bike – Trainer Ride (“Hill” repeats): 16 miles/1:00

20:00 WU
3 X 5:00 “hill” repeats @ HR4 w/2:00 recovery
20:00 CD

Thursday

Run – Aviation Track “Speed Skills”: 3.41 miles/40:00

20:00 run
8 X :20 Striders
2 X :20 High Knee Skips
2 X :20 Quick Feet
Walk CD

Swim – Spectrum South Bay Masters (race pace work): 2200/1:00

500m WU
3 X 100 (25 drill, 25 stroke, 25 drill, 25 stroke – free, back, breast)
1 X 300 Kick (fins – free, back, dolphin)
4 X :50 (RACE PACE), :20 rest
2:00 rest
3 X :50 (RACE PACE – Breast, Back, Breast), :30 rest
3:00 rest
2 X :50 (RACE PACE – Breast, Back), :20 rest
4:00 rest
4 X :50 (RACE PACE – Free), :20 rest
2:00 rest
3 X :50 (RACE PACE – Back, Breast, Free), :30 rest
3:00 rest
2 X :50 (RACE PACE – Fly, Breast), :20 rest
1 X 200 CD

Friday

Bike – Trainer (Speed Skills): 12 miles/40:00

10:00 WU w 2 X :30 spin-ups
3 X 1:00 One leg drills each side
3 X 3:00 High Cadence (105)
CD

Saturday

Rest

Sunday

Race – Escape From Alcatraz

Swim: 1.5 miles/47:00

Bike: 18 miles/1:03

Run: 8 miles/1:19

#2500 crunches challenge

Finished the #2500crunches challenge on Friday with a total of 2625 crunches.