Week 8

I've had some rather discouraging workouts this week.  On Tuesday I did another 2500 yard straight swim, and it took me 8 minutes longer than the last time I did it.  Wednesday's bike ride (45 min at 90 rpm with HR between 137 and 156) was also a struggle.  It was my first indoor workout using my new bike computer and I couldn't get my heart rate high enough without simultaneously having my quads burning.  Maybe my rpm's were too high before, so I could stay in zone at a lower resistance?  I guess it'll make me stronger on the bike, which is necessary, judging by an outdoor ride I did on Saturday.  I rode up the City Creek Canyon, which was really pretty, but averaged a 5% grade on the lower portion, so at times my heart rate was over 170 bpm and I was only going 6 mph.  I think my average over the whole 2.5 hours was only 13 mph.  I need to average 19 mph to meet my Ironman goal.  On the plus side, I tipped over again, but this time into a pile of snow, not a pile of rotting crayfish.  Apparently road bikes aren't meant to be ridden in the snow...

So this morning I took my new heart rate monitor (the Polar RCX 5) to the pool for my 12 x 100 workout.  Each 100 averaged 1:50 and while I've never timed myself before, I felt much slower than normal.  I felt super awkward and out of rhythm, my heart rate was over 150 at the end of each 100 and
it was a struggle to even finish.  I'm not really sure what the cause was.  Tuesday's slower workout was probably caused by a lack of sleep but I should be recovered by now.  I had some cereal and a couple bites of chocolate cake before the workout, but my stomach didn't bother me at all.  Whatever the cause, it was really frustrating, hopefully next week is better.