Thursday, February 22, 2007

Getting Rhythm

After a couple of weeks of being on the road, I am finally settling back into my training rhythm. I've been swimming twice a week, about 3500m in 1 hour and 15 minutes, with the Masters' swim club. I have not gotten any heartburn since I started swimming in the morning. It must be an evening thing.

I've been trying to bike to work as much as my schedule will allow it. On Tuesday I biked with the tri club for the first time since the new year. It was pretty great. We did two zone 4 intervals: the first one was two minutes long with one minute rest, the second was 2.5 minutes with one minute rest. It was pretty hard, but I'm not sure I was pushing hard enough. For some reason I can't work as hard on those really uncomfortable bikes at the university. It really makes me appreciate my bike at home on the trainer!

I've been running on the treadmill twice a week and once with the tri club doing intervals. Basically, I've just been trying to make it through the winter. It's been difficult, but I think I'm doing alright with it. Today I did 30 minutes with high intensity intervals of a couple minutes up with one minute rest. I ended up running 2.5miles in 30 minutes, which is pretty good for me. It was good to get the heart-rate up and the legs moving. On Tuesday I did "hills" on the treadmill for over 2 miles in 25 minutes. At one point I was at 6.0 incline and 6.5 speed, which was pretty fast and hard! It felt good. I can't wait to get outside and try out running again on the pavement.
I had a meeting with my coach yesterday and she thinks I'll be fine. I'm going to run the marathon at the end of May just so that I can know that I can run it because that's the part of the Ironman that I'm the most scared of.

I feel very lucky to have such a supportive significant other, who has been helping to make sure I've been getting fed. Now we just need to work on getting enough sleep!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Another week in review

I am really starting to get back into training, which means that I'll be updating more often from now on. Last week, I was on the road with work. Luckily, there was a gym in the hotel I was staying at so I worked out every day I was there. I didn't do a lot, but it was better than nothing!

On Saturday, I did an hour on my trainer at home while watching some Sex and the City. I'm hoping to increase the time on my trainer from now until spring, which is April 1st according to my personal calendar. If I get outside sooner, I'll be super stoked. However, I'm using April 1 as my glimmer of hope. After I got done that hour of hell... I mean, of biking on my trainer, I went to a show and danced. Apparently this made my neck very unhappy and I have had a slight neck headache for 3 days. I took Ibuprofen when it first started hurting, which must have helped with the inflammation, but I have felt it in my head ever since that day. So today I am going to my chiropractor to get it worked out. At least I know my body really well.

Today I ran on the treadmill and I'm going to do some intervals on my trainer tonight. My goal is to hit the trainer 3 times a week, which is definitely doable, but not enjoyable. I will make it, though. It's only 6 weeks until spring after all!

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Life gets in the way of training sometimes, but I persist!

On Tuesday I went for a quick 4km run and did it in under half an hour. That is about race-pace for me at this time. It felt good and I felt great.

This week has been brutal for traveling for work, thus making training very difficult. However, with the help of my new special friend, I have been pushing through.

On Friday, I hit the pool for my second swim workout of the week. We focused a lot on freestyle, which, of course, is what I prefer to work on. In total, I did 2100m in about 1 hour.

Today, Saturday, I just put in some time on the bike. I have a really hard time motivating myself to get on the bike, but L made me do it and I had to mentally push myself not to stop half an hour into it while I was on the bike. I watched a wonderful series of videos made for the Transrockies Challenge Souvenir DVD. It was very motivational! So I did the full hour of biking that I wanted to. I finished it off with some abs and push-ups.

This week will be touch-and-go with Tuesday to Thursday being on the road, but I'll bring my running clothes and try to hop on the stationary bike at least a little bit. Hopefully I won't be on the road too much in the next little bit so that I can get my bearings back. Not only is my training suffering, but my friendships, my house, and my sanity. I will hold on, though. This week will be tough, but I'll make it through with determination and perseverance. This is what this journey to Ironman is all about!