Triathlon Training 2010: Week 6

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	OFF	Travelling
Tuesday	Run: 30 min	OFF	Tired from the travel so rested.
Wednesday	Swim: 400 yards	Swim: 400 yards (15 min, 3.75 min/100 yds)	I’m finding it difficult to keep track of the number of laps I’ve done. May need to come up with some sort of counting system like where I move a marble on the pool deck after each lap is completed.
Thursday	Brick… Bike: 30 min Run: 10 min Walk: 20 min	OFF	Went to REI to learn about road bikes.
Friday	Swim: 500 yards	OFF	Too tired. I know – lame excuse.
Saturday	Run: 45 min	Brick… Bike: 5 miles (26.5 min, 5.3 min/mile) Walk: 12 min (0.7 miles, 17.14 min/miles)	Got lots of sleep so back into it but aiming to take it easy since didn’t do much in the last week. Installed a cool app on my phone that helps me track distance, time, and other stats.
Sunday	Bike: 15 miles Walk: 30 min	Run: 25.5 min (1.9 miles, 13.42 min/mile)	First *real* run since nearly a month ago when I busted up my toe. Decided to alternate 1 minute running/walking, aim for 20-30 minutes, and see how it felt. Went much better than expected! Continuing to bike and swim kept up my fitness level in general I think.

Overall Thoughts:

• There are four weeks until the triathlon that I haven’t signed up for yet but plan to soon LOL. Also, briefly discussed doing a triathlon in September as a relay team. I think that could be fun.
• Learned that getting a road bike will cut down my time a LOT. That’s exciting news! I thought I was doing pretty well before so maybe I’ll be awesome later on! Kendall is looking into them for us so hopefully will have one soon.

Here is the Google spreadsheet I made to track my progress.

Here is the same week last year. It is the last week I blogged about but actually didn’t do any of the training that week.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 5

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	OFF	Recovering from sore neck/shoulder muscles related to the long bike ride yesterday.
Tuesday	Run: 30 min	Swim: 400 yds (12 min, 3 min/100 yds)	Keeping a better pace but still stopping briefly at the end of every length (25 yds). I can tell I’m being challenged because the last 100 yards or so my body does not want to keep the proper form which starts wasting energy.
Wednesday	Swim: 400 yards	Brick… Bike: 28 min (5.5 miles, 5.09 min/mile) Walk: 19 min (1.1 miles, 17.27 min/mile)	My legs started out feeling weird after just getting off the bike. I walked 2 minutes then ran 1 minute but my heart rate felt too high so I just walked the rest. It’s good to get an idea what the transition will feel like. I made a mistake by not having water available between the bike and walk portion.
Thursday	Brick… Bike: 30 min Run: 10 min Walk: 20 min	Swim: 400 yds (12 min, 3 min/100 yds)	I’m not sure if I did 350 or 400 yards because I lost count of my laps (14 vs 16). I barely paused at the end of each pool length and when I got to 14/16 I was at 12 minutes which was the same as Tuesday so I feel like it was most likely the total I needed to do.
Friday	Swim: 400 yards	OFF	Travelling
Saturday	Run: 40 min	Walk: A LOT	Spent about 10 hours walking and standing around an amusement park. Counts for something right!
Sunday	Bike: 15 miles	OFF	Rest and recovery day

Overall Thoughts:

• If I had to attempt a guess at how long it might take me to complete the triathlon (swim 400 yards/bike 12 miles/run 3.1 miles), I think I could maybe do it in just under 2 hours.
• My toe is still messed up but think it’s healed up enough that it’s not painful to run so I plan to get back into it. Since I’ve had about two weeks off from running it might be interesting but I’m hoping since I continued with swimming and biking it won’t be too horrible.

Here is the same week last year.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 4

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	OFF	Did a few strength training exercises.
Tuesday	Run: 20 min	Walk: 20 min	It is painful to wear closed toe shoes because I tore my toenail while swimming the other day. I decided walking in flip flops was better than doing nothing until my nail grows back out.
Wednesday	Swim: 300 yards	Swim: 300 yards (11 min, 3.67 min/100 yds)	Slow and steady wins the race…probably more like finishes the race. I think I’m slowly figuring out better technique but somehow have lost the ability to breathe from either side.
Thursday	Brick… Bike: 30 min Run: 10 min Walk: 20 min	OFF	Received unexpected company this evening so did not get out to do my first brick (back to back exercises instead of doing them at different times during the day).
Friday	Swim: 400 yards	Bike: 28 min (5.2 miles, 5.38 min/mile)	Only had time to do half of the brick but something is better than nothing. I wasn’t feeling too well when I started but there’s something to be said for endorphins because I felt better afterwards!
Saturday	Run: 40 min	Swim: 400 yards (13 min, 3.25 min/100 yds)	I’m feeling more relaxed in the water and starting to realize if I keep a slow steady pace then I don’t really need to stop and rest every time I get to the wall.
Sunday	Bike: 12 miles	Bike: 12.3 miles (1 hour 2 min, 5.04 min/mile)	I wanted to go explore the other end of the American Tobacco Trail but even though it’s only 10 miles away it takes about 25 minutes to get there. Instead I just drove several circles around our neighborhood.

Overall Thoughts:

• This is about the time I started slacking off last year. I have a busy weekend coming up but hoping to do what I can to work around it. Beyond that I don’t think I have as many plans as last year so I’m hopeful.
• I have plugged all my data from last year and this year into a Google Spreadsheet so I can get a better visualization of my progress in each of the three disciplines. If you are interested, my stats are here.
• I think I’m actually starting to believe I can do a triathlon. I don’t have 100% confidence by any means but I have greater than 50% confidence now and that’s a good feeling.

Here is the same week last year.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 3

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	Run: 22 min (1.7 miles, 12.94 min/mile)	5 minute walking warmup and cooldown with 1-1.5 minute running alternated with 1 minute walking. Almost 8 minutes of running total. Getting better!
Tuesday	Swim: 300 yards Run: 20 min	OFF	Planned to swim but it was thunderstorming when I got home. Also, was dealing with some personal issues and didn’t feel up to snuff.
Wednesday	Bike: 8 miles	OFF	I need to catch up on sleep or take naps because I’ve been too tired to want to do much. We’ve been having lots of storms and rain so makes it more difficult to get out and do stuff. I keep forgetting instead I could do My Fitness Coach on the Wii.
Thursday	Swim: 300 yards Walk: 30 min	OFF	It appears I’m doing the opposite of what I should be doing each day. Unfortunately, it is much too easy to get off track, here’s to hoping I get back on track.
Friday	OFF	Swim: 300 yds (13 min, 4.3 min/100 yds)	Swimming is like riding a bike, you can do it after significant time off but it takes several tries before you find your rhythm again.
Saturday	Run: 40 min	Volleyball: 2 hrs Swim: 100 yds	Today was an unconventional workout day since it’s a holiday weekend and friends were involved but I still think it should count for something!
Sunday	Bike: 10 miles	OFF	My excuse (pathetic it may be) is: it was a holiday, I have many sore muscles from volleyball, I have a bruised achilles tendon from getting hit by a grocery cart, and I have a toenail torn in half from a push off the swimming pool wall gone wrong. =D

Overall Thoughts:

• I finally sign up for a triathlon and days later I get an email stating they had to change the date due to construction on the facility where the swimming was going to be held. Unfortunately, the new date does not work for me but I will get a full refund which is nice. Now I think I will aim for the one in August which Kendall will be able to do with me and it will give me more time to train too. The August one also matches the training schedule I’m following so it would work out great!
• So far it seems I am taking more days off instead of the 2 scheduled. Soon the schedule will go to 1 day off so I need to figure out how to make the schedule work better for me.

Here is the same week last year.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 2

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	Swim: 200 yards (8 min, 4 min/100 yds) Run: 26 min (1.9 miles, 13.7 min/mile)	Swim stroke mixture for the win! I have to stop briefly after each 25 yards because I’m winded but hopefully I can get past that eventually. After I left on my run I couldn’t remember if it was supposed to be 20 or 30 minutes so I did somewhere in between. Still alternating every minute but starting to kick up a notch with longer running periods. I don’t like hills.
Tuesday	Swim: 200 yards Run: 20 min	OFF	Ugh, not a good day. Decided catching up on housework and such was more important for my sanity.
Wednesday	Bike: 6 miles	OFF	Not enough sleep means not enough energy to exercise.
Thursday	Swim: 300 yards Walk: 30 min	Bike: 6 miles (34.5 min, 5.75 min/mile)	Had my first equipment incident, somehow popped the chain off when changing gears. But, I was able to pull it back on then wiped my fingers in the grass and continued on my merry way.
Friday	OFF	Swim: 300 yards (15 min, 5 min/100 yds)	Tried applying some of the techniques I’ve been reading about. Requires more concentration but I can definitely notice how they will help once I “master” them.
Saturday	Run: 30 min	OFF	Didn’t intend for this to be an off day but got distracted doing other things.
Sunday	Bike: 10 miles	Bike: 9.7 miles (57 min, 5.88 min/mile)	Explored part of the American Tobacco Trail in Durham. It was nice to be on an actual trail intended for bikes, less traffic to look for even though there were still several road crossings. Also, since it was an old railroad path it is much flatter terrain which I like a lot! I get a workout on the roads around our neighborhood because they’re somewhat hilly.

Overall Thoughts:

• Since unplanned activities come up a lot, I’ve decided to just do something on the schedule when I have time even if it is not the right day. So when unplanned activities do come up I won’t be stressing about missing training. I’m so smart thinking ahead! ;-)
• I think I’ve convinced a friend to be my mentor/coach/motivator/fill-in-the-blanker. Words of wisdom and advice from someone that has done this before cannot be a bad thing. I kept trying to convince Kendall to do this for me but he seemed more interested in just doing the training with me than dealing with all the other stuff. Perhaps that is wisdom on his part, I dunno, lol.
• Motivational words I received: “you know what whining is like right?”, “its like a rocking chair, you spend energy but get nowhere”, “its all a mind set”, “if you feel down or not good enough, go be awesome”, “so, quit whining and go be awesome”
• I was reminded of a book I picked up last summer at a used bookstore about swimming, Total Immersion, that might be helpful for me to read. The book has been added to my lunchtime reading material pile so I’m hoping to get some tips for long distance swimming while trying to conserve as much energy as possible. Something I am failing at in general right now!
• I am officially registered for the She TRIs Wilmington triathlon. Eeek!

Here is the same week last year.

Triathlon Training 2010: Week 1

I am not starting at the true week one in the plan because my target triathlon date in August is one week less than the plan I want to follow so I’m just going to start in week two. Hopefully this will not be an issue since I have been running once or twice a week and playing volleyball for a few hours about once a week for the past couple months. Last year I had literally been doing nothing before I started in on the training plan so I *think* I’ll be alright.

DAY	SCHEDULED	ACTUAL	COMMENTS
Monday	OFF	Swim: 200 yards (10 min)	Wow, it’s amazing what comes back to you! This was so much better than when I started last year. However, I am obviously out of shape. I was slow, huffing, puffing, and had to use a mix of breast, back, and freestyle strokes. But, I have confidence I will get better and that’s all that matters. I’m excited for a good start and the good feelings that came along with it.
Tuesday	Swim: 200 yards Run: 15 min	Run: 20 min (1.3 miles, 15.4 min/mile)	More like a 5 minute run since the time includes a 5 minute walking warmup then alternating 1 minute running with 1 minute walking. I didn’t mean to go 20 minutes but I went farther in distance than I intended and also had our 2 dogs with me to deal with. Note: I did the swim part the previous day because I knew I would not get around to doing both on the same day. Learning to adapt!
Wednesday	Bike: 6 miles	Bike: 6 miles (39 min, 6.5 min/mile)	This was not as easy as I had hoped and my quads were BURNIN’! I did find a new route which helps keep me entertained with new scenery. I got tired of seeing the same stuff last summer. The mountain bike I’m using is not designed for roads plus has some technical issues like a noisy chain/gears so may need to look into getting a better bike.
Thursday	Swim: 200 yards	OFF	I was feeling lazy and my shoulder muscles near the base of my neck were feeling pretty sore so I decided to adapt the schedule to suit how I felt.
Friday	OFF	OFF	Got busy doing other stuff and didn’t do the swim workout from yesterday like I planned to. Bad.
Saturday	Run: 20 min	Run: 23 min (1.75 miles, 13.1 min/mile)	Like before, 5 minute walk warmup then alternating 1 minute run with 1 minute walking. Felt pretty good while running this time so that was encouraging! I was in Wilmington and the run was over much flatter terrain than around my usual area. Elevation changing is good for training but doing well on flat ground really gives a confidence boost.
Sunday	Bike: 8 miles	OFF	Planned to swim today but was travelling and then had a migraine when I got home so wasn’t feeling up to doing anything. Ugh. I want to try so hard not to skip workouts but I’m not off to a great start!

Here are week 1 and week 2 from last year.

Triathlon Training – Round 2(010)

Since I did not get the opportunity to suffer the abuse of completing a triathlon last summer, I am back for more! Wait…what? Opportunity? Suffer? Abuse? More? I think I meant to say I never finished what I started last summer so I’m attempting to try again this summer. =) I feel like I’m far ahead of the curve in starting this year since I have a less vague idea of what I need to do than last time.

Again, I’m planning to post my progress here to hold myself accountable and hopefully keep encouraged to continue. I am following the same plan but I am starting about three weeks later than I did last year so I may have to slightly modify the schedule to work with the triathlons I’m tentatively thinking about doing. I haven’t signed up for anything yet but the 3 triathlons I am currently eyeing are:

• Saturday, July 31 – She TRIs Wilmington (Women Only) – Wilmington, NC – 200 yard swim, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run
• Saturday, August 21 – Sportsplex Super Sprint – Hillsborough, NC – 400 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run
• Saturday, September 25 – Wilmington YMCA Triathlon – Wrightsville Beach, NC – 1500 meter swim (with the current), 12 mile bike, 5k run

Here is what I had to say last year at this same time.