Training Update – 1/27/10

4 weeks into the training season.  I’m already feeling strong!  Granted, if I tried to do a triathlon right now I’d cramp up like hell and probably hurt myself… but still… I feel good!

I’ve been keeping the training light.  Still challenging, but nothing too difficult.  I’m trying to discipline myself to use January as my month to build up a base and head into the rest of the season with more challenging training. 

It’s difficult, though.  Not the first week… the first week I was missing my couch and was out of shape enough that I didn’t want to be pushing it.  Now, in my 4th week, it’s tough to try and maintain the base building routine.  A 30-45 minute run at 10:00 mile pace just seems so… slow.  But, it’s all about building that base. 

I did do some speed work on the track last Monday with a group of local runners.  It was a nice addition to the training and I think I’ll start working in more speed workouts once a week or so. 

I’ve also tried to incorporate some strength training.  Nothing major (still building a base).  But adding 30 minutes of weights twice a week (once for upper body, once for lower) is better than what I was doing before.

February I’ll start ramping it up a bit.

I’m BACK BABY!

Training season officially kicked off on Monday.  I’m attempting to get back into a routine… but as we all know, the first few weeks are the hardest. It’s cold out, I’m tired from work and I just want to go home, plop on the couch and go to town on the remaining Christmas cookies… but alas…

I decided to keep it simple on Day 1 and just did 60 minutes on the treadmill.  Wasn’t bad, although I kept the speed a bit low (6.0 for half, 5.5 for the other half… always at 1.0 elevation).

Day 2 was a swim day.  That one hurt.  Just last month I was strong and steadfast in the water… but after a 4 week hiatus and a binge on holiday food and laziness, I was certainly feeling just how out of shape I was. 

Not sure what I’ll do today.  I’ll be working on my calendar and trying to plan out month by month… just haven’t yet.

So that’s the latest.  I do want to take some before and after pictures so I can see how I’ve physically changed at the end of the season.  May be a nice motivator for future seasons.  Once I get that done and get some stats (weight & body fat %) I’ll post.

Here’s hoping for a successful and injury free season!

T-Minus 20 days until I’m back…

I bought a personal calendar for 2010 the other day.  Today I officially marked Monday, January 4th as the official return to training season.

No more excuses.  No more easy life on the couch being fat and lazy.  Time to get back to daily workouts, heart rate training, aerobic burn…

No more guilty meals or excessive snacks or multiple desserts because “hey, it’s the holidays”.  Nope.  Back to trying to keep it lean and healthy with appropriately timed, healthy snacks. 

No more coming home to a nice beer or red wine after a long day.  Back to my in season regimen of only drinking on the weekends and special occasions.

To get myself ready I’ll spend part of the next 20 days deciding on my goals for this season.  I’ll also need to start to iron out a workout plan for the season.  After all, as they say, “A goal without a plan is just a dream.”

I’ll be sure to post about upcoming goals as soon as I get them worked out.

Prepping for the 2010 Season

Fear not faithful readers (HA!), for I have returned.  Well… more like I’m just checking in to let my adoring masses (HA, HA!) know that I haven’t deserted the tri-blog… I’ve just been in the offseason, so there hasn’t been much to blog about.

I’ve been spending valuable time recharging.  Come January, I’ll be back in full swing. 

Actually, I do have one thing to report.  Last Friday I enjoyed a few adult beverages and a gluttons feast of mexican food, so naturally I woke up on Saturday feeling like a fat load.  Ironically, I was too lazy to go to the gym, so I decided to go for a run around the neighborhood.  It was nice… sunny, 40 degrees (F), quiet… I knocked out 45 minutes and felt better about myself.

Of course, that was the first time I have run since my last triathlon (unless you count going on a “beer run”).  So here I sit, Monday evening with quads that feel like I’ve been powerlifting oxen.  AKA: hurts very much badly.

When will I learn to stop tempting fate and just enjoy the offseason…

Silverlake Swim 2009 – Victory is mine!

Awww, yeah!

Swim Strong

4 days until the Silverlake Open Water swim! I’ve been rocking 3000 meter swim workouts lately, so I’m pumped and feeling ready for this race.  The only thing I’m concerned about right now is the weather.  It looks like we have a cold front coming in on Thursday evening that will have temperatures in the low 70’s.  So, it could be a chilly morning.  One of these days I intend on buying a wetsuit… maybe this will be my motivation.

I’ve had a few people ask me for an example of my swim workouts.  Here is a good 3000 meter workout that I did yesterday, you may enjoy:

Warm Up: 300 swim, 200 kick with board
Drills:  4 x 100’s – (Drill, Swim, Drill, Swim) each
Main: 4 x (300/200)
300’s – Cruise Pace; rest 0:30
200’s – Pull with paddles and buoy; rest 1:00
Last 200, swim regular, strong pace (cruise -0:10)
Warm Down: 100 Easy

Silverlake Open Water Swim Race

Well, I tried to stay in the offseason… but when this race came up, I couldn’t help myself…

I’ve signed up for a 1 mile open water swim race!  If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I am a triathlete, but my true love lies in swimming… so I was stoked to find out about this race!

It’s October 17th, so I have three weeks to be ready for it.  Luckily, I’ve been swimming twice a week regularly this offseason so I’m still in good swim shape.  I’m going to up my swimming to at least 5 times a week and mix in alot more endurance and long swims.  Plus I guess I’ll need a few open water swims between now and then.

Should be good!  I’m excited!

Off Season Workouts

One of my regular readers, Irene (check out her blog: http://blog.fithungrygurl.com/) asked about my off season training. I was going to just reply in the comments, but figured it was worth a blog post!

I’m not “training”, per se, but I still get some workouts in. After all, I made some major improvements this season and I don’t want to just get lazy and lose all that.  Not only have I built my athletic ability, but I also lost a bunch of weight (right before my main race of the year I was at 165 lbs. which is the same weight I was when I was swimming competitively… in high school…).

I still swim twice a week (2000-3000 meters per workout) and I am trying to do an 8 mile run every weekend. Aside from that, though, nothing is regimented or scheduled, like I do when I’m “in season”. If I feel like working out, I do. I just don’t stress over “requiring” a workout. If I want to clean my garage after work, I can do that instead of stressing about getting that bike ride or run done.

I want to use October, November and December to do a strength training program, maybe 2-3 times a week. However, I’m not very familiar with weights or a weight training program, so I haven’t ironed out the details of that just yet. I’m doing some reading on it and once I get something figured out, I’ll probably post about it.

Triathlon Off Season…

In case you haven’t noticed, lately I’ve been posting far less frequently. As my season is over, I fear my blog is pretty much on cruise control until January when I start up my training again.

Thanks for reading and special thanks to all those who supported me last season! Get ready to make the 2010 season just as awesome!

Half Full Triathlon

Just signed up for the Half Full Triathlon in Ellicott, Maryland, in October of 2010!

A friend of mine works for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults and they are hosting this triathlon to help raise money and awarness for their cause.  It’s definitely a great organization and worth checking out if you are looking for a good program to donate to.

It will be my first half iron tri, so I am pretty excited already!  I’m going to try to start a strength training program next week to mix in to some light run and bike training, and then, probably in January, really hit the training hard (I always take off in November and December… too busy with the holidays and work).

Here’s to the new goal!  Half Iron?!?  BRING IT!