Week 3 Recap

None, nada, nothing. I just flat out didn't feel like working out this week. I intended to several evenings, but just couldn't make it. Part of it was that I had some really long days at work last week, and was completely wiped out by the time I even got in my car to head home. Yeah, I probably would've felt more energized if I exercised, but I didn't. And I'm okay with that. I'm headed to the gym tonight to run and swim. Back on the horse.

Week 2 Recap

I've completed week 2 of my 20 week winter maintenance/base program. I did 7 of the 9 workouts and feel quite good about that, especially considering that we went to a snowboarding clinic on Thursday night and left town right after work Friday to spend the weekend in Wisconsin. I missed 2 of my 3 swim workouts, but will try extra hard to get all three of them in this week. I was very proud of myself for getting up both Saturday and Sunday to workout in the hotel "fitness center." I didn't have a very good workout yesterday because of too much beer and fried foods on Saturday, but I still stuck it out for the whole time.

Getting Better

I'm getting better as far as sticking to my training. I finally exercised in the morning today! Went for 35 minutes on my bike on the trainer. Wasn't going very fast, but that's okay. I have to cut myself some slack since I've been off the bike for so long. My butt needs to get used to the saddle again. Last night I went to the gym after work and ran 30 minutes and biked 15. Again, did the "slave to the HR monitor" thing. I felt pretty good, but it started to drift especially in the last 10 minutes. I just have to continue to be patient with this and remind myself that my fitness levels will come back and improve in time. I just have to stay focused on the right goals and not worry about pace/speed on the run at this point. I intended to swim last night, too, but wasn't feeling great on the bike (even cut that short due to not feeling well), and it was getting late and I had some things I needed to get done at home. So, I missed that 800 yard swim workout. I'm not going to try to make it up, I'm just going to accept that I wasn't able to get to it and be okay with it. Goal for tomorrow is to get up early early and run and swim before work. The catch is I want to be into work super early so I can leave work early and head out of town as soon as possible... that mean's getting to the gym super super early!

Late Riser

Ok, getting up to exercise in the morning is still not happening. I didn't even bother trying to today. Monday, I made it over to the gym after work and ran 20 minutes (went farther in the same amount of time while keeping my HR in check = improving my fitness!), then swam 400. I really focused on my swim form and felt quite good in the water. I rushed my butt off in "transition" so that I could get the whole thing done (parking, changing, running, changing, swimming, showering, dressing, validating my parking ticket) in under 60 minutes so I wouldn't have to pay to park. I'm cheap, I know. But I made it, with three minutes to spare. Whoo hoo me!

I got my bike set up with the special training tire (that thing is a PAIN to install), so I can ride on the trainer at home. I meant to last night, but was cold and tired and didn't do it. Tonight, I'm going back to the gym to run for 30 minutes, bike for 25 minutes, and swim 800. I will end up paying to park, but it's my punishment for not dragging my booty out of bed and exercising in the morning. My goal is to ride my bike on the trainer tomorrow morning, and then swim and run on Friday morning, since Heath and I are going out of town this weekend and I won't be able to work out after work on Friday. We'll see how well I stick to my goals!

Progress

I did end up going to the gym on Friday after work and doing the following: Run 20 minutes, Bike 20 minutes, Swim 400 yards. I was pretty pleased with how much I got done and wasn't too tired. I did notice that my back isn't as strong as it used to be, as it started to get very tired during the last part of my swim. For the week's training, I was under my planned training by 50 min for biking and 800 yards for swimming, but was over my planned running by a whopping 2 minutes. Given that I'm just getting back into training, I'm not going to be too hard on myself. I did an hour of pilates (plus running to and from the gym) on Saturday. Friday night, I also rode the mountain bike alongside Heath while he ran for about 2 miles.

My struggle right now is admitting how poor my cardiovascular health is for running. I can keep up a really good speed on the bike while maintaining an aerobic heart rate, but when I run, my heart rate spikes up really high. I am forcing myself to be a slave to my HR Monitor for this winter training. I have it set such that the treadmill will adjust in speed and incline to make sure my heart rate stays in an aerobic zone. This means (ugh) that by the end of my 20 minute run, I was going super duper slow. This is frustrating to say the least, but I'm hoping that if I train right and make sure I'm training aerobically, I'll get to a point where I can go quite a bit faster and still keep my HR in check. This will help me considerably going forward. I've been running my 5Ks at an anaerobic rate, which means I can't keep it up much longer than 30-45 minutes. I've never taken the time to make sure I'm aerobically fit for running. My legs and joints and everything are fine with me going faster than my heart wants to. I need to be okay with slowing down, so I'm going to suck it up and do that for the next while and hope that it pays off in the long run.

Today, I'm headed back to the gym for 20 minutes of running and another 400 yards of swimming. My overall goals for this week is to stick to the training plan volume and stay in the proper heart rate zones.

Slow Start

So, yeah. I didn't get any workouts in. I have a million excuses and none of them good enough. I knew it was going to be a challenge to get going again. I'm motivated, but haven't been good about making myself do what I need to do. I brought my gym bag to work with me. I have to make sure I go straight to the gym right after work and get my exercise in. I know I'll feel better if I just go and do it. Once I get into the habit, it will be easier, but I'm having a hard time right now because I've let it slide so much. Fortunately, I'm still in decent shape so it won't be too bad to get back into it. I have to remember how much it will pay off next summer in making me faster and better in my races. I think that if I work hard and stick with the training, I could potentially place in the Time Trial Series that ABD puts on. I was close to doing it last year without having really a clue of what I was doing. This year, I might be in a really good position to place. Most important to me is beating my times from last year. That is a good motivation for me. I'll post an update after I go to the gym tonight!

1 Nov

Today's workout: 20 minutes on the bike. I'll do this on the trainer at home tonight, since I didn't get up and get to the gym this morning. My sleep schedule is off. Early to bed tonight because...

Tomorrow's workout: 10 minutes running and 400 yards swimming (but I may bump that up to 600 to make up for not swimming on Monday or Wednesday).

I'll check in tomorrow to update my progress.

It's Alive!

Time to raise this blog from the dead... Okay. It's been about two and a half months since I've posted here. That was my post-season break. It's November 1 and I wanted to look back on last season's races and training and think about where I want to go from here.

Triathlons

I only did two triathlons this year: Quad Cities and Steelhead. I definitely would like to do more races than that next year. I think the pressure of the 70.3 made it hard for me to enjoy my training as much. I'd like to avoid that going forward, so I want to focus on shorter races in 2008.

As of right now, I'm planning on Accenture Chicago being my "A" race. It's the biggest triathlon in the world and since I live right here, how can I NOT do it at some point. It's likely one of the best chances I'll have to race alongside (okay, behind) professionals, so I'm excited about giving it a shot. It's olympic distance (1500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run), so it's a reasonable distance to train for, but will still be a good challenge.

Other races I'm considering are Galena (May), which is hilly and challenging, a long sprint distance, and a good early season race. I'd like to try to do the Quad Cities Tri again to beat my pretty awful performance from last year. There is also a triathlon in Waukegan that would be good since it's so close to home.

Running

I did a few running races this year including the Shamrock Shuffle, the Corporate Challenge, the Race Against Hate, and just recently the Trick or Treat Trot. I plan on doing the 8k Rudolph Ramble the second weekend in December, and possibly a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot. I'd like to do more running again next year, possibly working up to a half marathon. I'll certainly do the Shamrock Shuffle and a few others again next year. I'll have to see if Heath is up for a New Year's Day run, like I did last Jan 1st. The running races I haven't thought out as much as the triathlons, so I'll be doing more researching on those coming up. I'd also like to do the Muddy Buddy, which isn't a tri, but a sort of adventure race.

Cycling

Last year I did the Indoor Time Trial series, and was very pleased with my results, especially since I was (and still am) such a cycling newbie. It makes me excited to think about how well I could do if I really turn on the training this off-season. I'd like to do that series again (though it's a bit farther away now that I live in Evanston - probably worth the drive, though). I'd also like to a few more outdoor time trial races as these will help with my triathlon cycling. The races range from the 10k indoor races, to 16k to 40k outdoor races. They're not very expensive, but they tend to be kind of far away.

My big challenge will be to schedule my races such that I don't feel like I have an obligation every weekend. I want to have a good balance so that I feel like I can relax and/or go camping or visit friends and family without feeling like I'm constantly on the go.

Overall, I'm really excited to think about how much I can improve for next year. I figure if I can do as well as I did this year on really inadequate training (have to be honest with myself here - there is no way I should have been able to finish Steelhead like I did.), just imagine how fast and fit I could be if I put in a more solid commitment. My new training plan starts today. I signed up for a winter maintenance/base building training program through beginnertriathlete.com, which is a great resource for triathletes of all levels. They have forums, training programs, training logs, articles, and all sorts of features that build a kind of DYI triathlon community. I don't have the $ to plunk down on a personal coach, so the online resources are great. Once I get my online training log set up, I'll link to it, so I can be accountable for sticking with my program.

My main initial goal is to get into a routine where I exercise in the mornings before work, rather than after work, when I'm burned out from the day and my commute and don't have the energy to exercise. Once I get into that habit, I should be able to manage the training quite well.