No more messing around

That was my reaction when my coach gave me my March training schedule. I've been training for Ironman, really, for a few months now. But March will see the biggest gains yet. And it only gets longer and more intense from here. By the end of March, I will be swimming 3/4 of the final distance, biking 75 of the 112 miles, and running over half the marathon miles.

This post has two topics. First, I want to reflect on the past week, my first week back to training after spending last week in Florida (see previous post). Second, I'm starting something new, something that I want to do at the end of each training week. I often get asked how much training I'm doing, so every Sunday evening I will post here my training totals: how much swimming, biking, running, and "other" activities I've done for the week. The "other" category will include yoga, strength training, and other cross-training (e.g., hiking).

First, the past week. It was in every sense a rollercoaster of emotions. Monday was my first day back to work and I quickly found it therapeutic and healing to talk out loud about Dad and the events of the week prior. It was difficult, for sure, but I needed to be surrounded by people who cared. And, blessedly, that's what was waiting for me at work. As the week went on, my spirits picked up. Then Friday came. And I bottomed out. Sigh.

As far as training went, I completed all scheduled workouts. With the onset of March comes an even more focused and serious mindset with regards to both training and nutrition. No more messing around, indeed.

Second, my training totals for this week (time is listed in hours:minutes).
Total time = 11:10
Total mileage = 80.45
Swim = 2:30, 3.85 miles
Bike = 4:05, 61 miles
Run = 2:35, 15.60 miles
Other = 2:00

I feel pretty terrific in the pool and on the bike. My running is simply good enough--not stellar and yet not awful. Today's run was 8 miles. The first 7 were great. Bummer I was still a mile from home. Apparently my left knee thought 7 miles were plenty. I had to sweet talk it into finishing the run and then I treated it to some good stretching and TLC once home. I have a feeling I'll be doing this a lot this spring.

And speaking of spring...I'm trying hard not to get ahead of myself. But Saturday's 3-hour bike ride was outside and boy was it rejuvenating and exciting. The temps hovered around 45-50 and the sun did her best to show her face. Even better than the close-to-ideal riding conditions was that I rode with my dear friend Cindy. A few days prior, I'd gotten a solid bike fit and bought aerobars--extensions off the front of my handlebars that give me another riding position option, one that's more "aerodynamic." Short of buying a tri-specific bike, these aerobars are designed to put the load on my skeleton, not my muscles, while riding and thus will help save those muscles for the run. They also give me more power, just with how I'm positioned on the bike. And, being more aerodynamic, I should shave some time off because there's less wind resistance. All that being said, I'm very happy with both my new bike fit and aerobars. 

And on the topic of spring, I can't wait to "spring forward" next weekend! It will make training outside after work that much easier. 

I hope this post finds you happy and healthy and at peace. Thank you, as always, for reading.