Going a little Loopy!

There has been a pattern to my workouts lately...

LOOPS

and lots of 'em.

The fact is, if you are self supporting a 100 mile ride or 20 mile run, looping back to a cooler just makes good sense.

What I've noticed though, is that it makes the workouts that much easier! and a little harder, but we'll get to the harder part...

When it was time to do a 16 mile run the day after my first 100 mile ride it was somehow much easier to think of it as 1 mile warmup and 3 loops of 5 miles, than it was to think "I'm going to run 16 miles" (the farthest I'd been on foot to that point).

I really just thought "only 3"

Here is the tricky thing to the loops... Coach Laura has prescribed the looping, the trick...

DESCENDING

i.e. every workout is a negative split.

This has been the absolute perfect melding of the two things I need to learn the most:

1) Zone2 and the Art of Ironman

AND

2) Suck it up buttercup!

The first loop is patience, patience, patience...

middle loops are work, work, work

and the last loop is Guts, Guts, Guts

Looping might be making me a little LOOPY, but it has now seen me through

2 100 mile bike rides
1 60 mile hill repeat ride
3 runs over 15 miles including my first 20 miler (ever)

Luckily for me, I've been blessed with some awesome company over these long rides and runs! I had pictures up of Casey, my bike ride buddy last post. Here is a picture of Andrea and me getting ready to head out for a long run:

From Racing and Training 2010

Thanks Dre, you make the miles fly by!!



Once the loops are done, it's time to eat!!! I've been working on seeing food as an important part of fueling my training, so I've been trying to make sure that I don't skip lunch. Here is one of my favorites to date:

From Racing and Training 2010

Chicken Paillard over Arugula with Feta and homegrown tomatoes!