Training Week # 10 - Monday morning run and swim

Woke up this morning at 4:10, 5 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off, not sure I feel about this. On the one hand I'm glad I'm becoming so accustomed to waking so early that I'm getting up before my alarm, but on the other hand I feel robbed of a little bit of sleep, even if it was only 5 minutes.

Seeing as how I woke up so early (I usually hit the snooze a couple of times) I took my time getting ready for my run and really allowed myself to wake up, and it showed in my run. I started out fast, faster than I normally want to but quickly settled into a nice rhythm. It was a great morning to run, cool and crisp with hardly any wind. The streets and sidewalks were a little slick in some spots from the snow yesterday afternoon/evening which made for some interesting moments, I almost bit it once turning a corner, did not see the patch of ice. All in all another good run, and no knee pain which is hopefully all in the rear view mirror.

After finishing up my run I headed out to the Y for my swim workout, I was not looking forward to this workout. My arms, chest and back were still sore and tight from lifting weights on Saturday and I was dreading having to do 50 yd repeats. I went through my warm ups and kind of loosened up a bit and got started on my main set of repeats. The first 8 went by with some struggles, I ended up taking a minute break half way through to catch my breath and let my heart rate drop. After that I was able to pick it up a bit, plus its always easier when you know the majority of the workout is behind you are almost done. I finished up strong, did my cool down and ended the workout feeling good about what I had accomplished. I could have very easily skipped this swim or cut it back but I stuck with the plan and made my way through which is always reassuring.

Thanks everyone for reading and don't forget to check out my Revolution Race Team Page and consider making a charitable donation.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Triathlon Training: Week 4 - Tuesday

Today's workouts - AM - Long Swim 1500 yd, PM - 4 mile run

Tuesday has in fact become the end of my training week in a way with Wednesday's being my rest day and let me tell you what I look forward to them.

My swim went well, the main set workout was 4x200's with 20 sec rest. I was actually pretty amazed at my splits I was completing them in 3:40 - 3:50 range, I know that's not blazing fast but it was how effortless it felt for me. I wasn't pushing hard, my main focus was to remain constant on each pass in the pool and stay constant in my stroke and kick and I feel like I accomplished that. I am getting more and more comfortable in the pool each time and I'm really starting to enjoy my swim sessions each and every week. Especially right now with running being somewhat laborious and all of my bike sessions have been done on a trainer for the past few months, swimming has really become my favorite workout. It's also new, and that makes it more of a challenge and exciting as well.

After a long day at work with traveling and meetings I got to my home hotel around 6:30 after yet another 2+ hr drive in which I nearly convinced myself to skip my evening run. I don't like running at night, period, end of story. Running is something I have to do first thing, its not like cycling where I can jump on the bike after a long day and knock out the miles. I've never been an evening runner and with triathlon training it is now just something I have to do and I'll do my best to make it work. After procrastinating for minute unpacking I finally said to heck with it and threw on my running clothes and headed out. I would love to say that I had an epic run that felt amazing and I had some kind of break through with running at night, but...I didn't. It hurt, my legs were still pretty sore from the bike session the night before and I was sore from sitting in a car for 2.5 hrs not once but twice today, but I did it and I felt good about the fact that I completed my workouts even though I didn't want to.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.