Week in review June 22-28: Weather, wasps and other wackiness

A decent week.

Not my best week, considering crazy weather and other instances of life getting in the way. But, I'm not complaining too much as there were still some decent sessions.

Sadly, it rained all day Saturday, which threw off my weekend mojo. Last year I was spoiled with perfect weather pretty much every weekend, but this cycle I've already had to move things around at least twice. How dare Mother Nature get in the way of my training!

Swim: Once in the pool for my monthly time trial and once in the lake, for a total of 5,100 yards in just less than 2 hours. I missed my Tuesday morning swim because I was up half the night with a dog terrified of the thunderstorms rolling through. And I didn't make it out to the lake Saturday because it rained all day. (Yes, I know you get wet in the water, but it was chilly and windy and I just didn't feel like dealing with it.)

Sunday I went back and forth as whether I should swim in the lake for less time but the additional OWS practice I'd missed the day before, or go to the pool after my run for more yardage. I didn't want to risk swimming in the lake after my long run only to find in the middle of the lake I was too tired to continue. But I like the idea of swimming after my run as recovery, which had me leaning toward a pool swim after my run. I finally decided to drive out to the state park and swim in the lake before my run, and it ended up being fine.

Except when...

Ow!

Somehow this jerk got in my running shirt with me as I was changing from swim clothes to run clothes, and stung me at least three times on the back. I was yelling and cursing and finally whipped off my shirt and ran across the restroom, terrifying the other lady using the facilities (OK, that part was funny). One drawback to swimming at the state park, I guess -- the wildlife!

Bike: Four times, all on the trainer, for a total of 5 hours, 15 minutes. I ended up doing a long ride of 2 hours, 15 minutes on the trainer Saturday -- not ideal, but it was rainy, chilly and windy all day and like I said above, I just didn't feel like dealing with it. That was as much time as I had between errands and breakfast in the morning and a family party later in the day, so I made it work as best as I could.

I also used all that pedaling time to finish season one of Deadwood. SPOILER ALERT: "You can go now, brother." Oh my gosh -- I was crying on the trainer. Leave it to "that guy" to make me cry.

Run: Four times, all on the road, for a total of 37 miles in 5 hours, 41 minutes. That works out to one easy run, one medium-distance run, one amazingly excellent (for me) speed run, and a long run of 14 miles after the Wasp Incident. I did have to skip an easy run due to an evening commitment this week so, sadly, my stretch of 40-mile weeks has to stand at two for now.

I've been running 10-12 miles pretty much every weekend since wintertime, so this 14-miler marks my first "official" marathon training long run. Considering I'd just been attacked by an evil wasp, I did pretty well, even taking into account I got later start to my run because I took an extra 20 minutes to shake out all my clothes. I definitely did not want a surprise wasp in my running shorts! It was only mildly warm and muggy, and I was able to finish fast, with my final mile a full 34 seconds faster than my average pace.

And I am finding that even as I get better about letting my Garmin run during drinks breaks so I get a more accurate overall time, I'm still able to maintain consistent paces. I think I suffered during my marathon last year because I wasn't really running 20-milers in training; I was doing 2 x 10 with a bathroom break in the middle and additional drink breaks every 2. This is something I'm going to continue to work on as the training runs get longer.

Other: Nothing this week. Just not enough hours in the day.

Total: 10 sessions in just shorter than 13 hours. Not a superstar week but still pretty solid.

This week will have its own wackiness: I have another evening commitment tomorrow, and I don't see myself squeezing in an easy run. And I want to race on Sunday the same open-water mile and run-swim-run Aquathon I did last year, so that will mess with my schedule a bit. The good news is I have Friday off work, so I have a bit of room for some finagling.

Another week -- here we go!