Originally written in German. Translated to English by AI — please excuse any awkward phrasing.
The last rest week was coming up — well-deserved after the previous brutal training block with the Challenge Kraichgau as the small highlight. Looking back it was probably too much rest; the legs weren’t really great for last Sunday’s test race. And too much lying around gives you unnecessary neck pain, which then radiates down to the Achilles tendon … very unpleasant.
- Monday: 1h swimming
- Tuesday: easy 45min continuous run (in Frankfurt city center — glad I don’t live there)
- Wednesday: 90 minutes cycling in the rain, an absolute mess
- Thursday: 90-minute continuous run
- Friday: 75-minute swimming
- Saturday: 45-minute easy continuous run
- Sunday: “private test race” — 1h swimming at race pace, 3h cycling above planned race pace, and 1.5h brick run with progressions
The test race went anything but smoothly and left more marks than the Challenge Kraichgau from the weekend before. Swimming wasn’t great — no power and even less technique. The first 45 minutes on the bike were especially tough mentally; after that it got significantly better and I could hit the planned wattage. The last 15 minutes were full gas — everything left in the tank. The brick run started easy at race pace, then the first progression after 30 minutes to above-race pace, and the last 30 minutes everything left. Afterward I was completely cooked.
After looking at the data, it wasn’t as bad as I felt during training.