With eight days to go before racing at Oceanside, I had my last hard workout.  From now, until I start the race, none of my workouts will be as hard as those I did today.

My schedule today was a two hour bike ride, followed by a short run off the bike.  I had hoped to do both workouts outside, but Pittsburgh’s weather was against me.  It was very cold outside with some rain thrown in for good measure. There was no way I would risk going outside in those conditions, so close to my race.  It was therefore, a bike ride on the trainer and a run on the treadmill.

The bike was a tough workout because it ended with three intervals at 90% effort.  Each of those intervals was ten minutes long, with only five minutes of recovery between them.  The run off the bike was straight into fifteen minutes of tempo running, followed by a short cool down.

My legs on the bike workout felt terrible. Despite this, I was able to push some significant power.  I ended up with my best 90 minute average power of the year.  With how my legs felt, I was very surprised by this.  What surprised me even more, was that my legs felt fine on the run. The run was short, but it felt good.

Tomorrow I have a long swim session. This could have been classified as my last hard workout, but I will be doing the swim at only moderate intensity.  Hopefully it will be a relaxing swim, and that my legs will also feel good on the short run,  that I also have on my plan. 

The race is getting close….