Swimming and 10k PR

A 10k PR and lots of swimming! It’s been a long time since my last post, so I thought a Thanksgiving recap was in order. Since October, I increased my swimming to 20k/week and backed down on cycling/running. So for October and November, I hit 170,000 yards (just shy of 100 miles!)

Before 20k/week when my beard was shorter

To wrap up the month, I decided to put all of my swim fitness to the test. On the last day, I swam a 2.4 mile (4250 yard) TT to cap off that training block. To my surprise, I felt great and finished in 1:00:44 (1:26/100). I rarely swim that long without giving my eyes a break from the goggles, so I did flip on my back to readjust them around halfway. It only cost me a few seconds, but I don’t normally have issues with my open water goggles. All in all, I was pleased with the results (now to fix that efficiency!)

10k

The highlight of my Thanksgiving was definitely this 10k. I originally signed up for a local 5 mile Turkey Trot to remember what it’s like to run fast. After it went virtual, I decided to shoot for a 10k PR since I’ve only raced 1 during an Olympic Tri. My dad was also in town for the race and wanted to set a new 5k PR for himself as well. 

I jogged down to my favorite flat back road to warm up, and my wife and brother met me with the car. After ditching the sweats, I took off with my personal escort. I was hoping to hold 5:40’s, so that was my target off the bat. I didn’t really set a HR cap for myself since I naturally slow down when I’m pushing more than I can sustain. Not gonna lie, I felt pretty smooth out there and hit the first 5k in about 17:14 (18s off my PR). At that point my HR was at 180bpm, but I didn’t feel like I was “struggling” until about 4 miles. I hammered down until the end and posted a 34:42 (5:35/mi). I was very pleased with my splits since the back half was into the wind. Mile splits were: 5:34, 5:37, 5:30, 5:37, 5:38, 5:36. Being my first standalone 10k, I think I prefer this distance over a 5k. 

Pre-5k smiles

After catching my breath, it was my dad’s turn to race his 5k. I wasn’t sure what his exact goal was, but I believed he could hold 8:20 pace. We set out, and I could tell he was pushing it early on. He ended up having a fantastic race and finished in 25:41 (8:16/mi). This was a 1:43 (over 30s/mi) PR from his time 1 year ago! 

As for me what's next, there is less than 6 months until Ironman Tulsa. All of my focus will be on building to peak performance for race day. 

All the best and stay safe!