week two ...

so week 2 is about the same as week one.

except we missed a day of working out because of resa's school. we had to make it up sometime and it was always in the back of our minds. i think from now on i wouldnt try to make up a missed day as it played havoc with the whole week. otherwise i swam for 3 sessions of 1 hour each time. i am getting much better at swimming, can go the whole mile without really trying to hard now. what a huge improvement that is. the only negatives on swimming are that i use a small floaty thing between my legs to help keep me vertical, i am going to have to dump that sometime, but i was kinda hoping the wet suit would do the same thing. need to go out and buy some wetsuits for us and find out i guess! also the ear ache is gone and so is most of the nasty nauesia. for the first few months i would get so sea sick bobbing around that i had to get some dramamine or a handful of advil before i swam. seems thats getting better too. :-)

the biking front has been pretty non-eventful, pretty lame actually. we have done plenty of hour long bike rides, but more 2-3-4 hour rides than one hour ones. so all these one hour rides are pretty short. usually we run a bit afterwards just to get the distance up a bit. we are thinking of going off the schedule on the bikes, doubling the distance or more on the weekends at least. sounds snobbish maybe, like we are looking down on the bike parts, but really maybe we just need to up the intensity a bunch. rather than go one hour at moderate like the book says we could go very hard or go 3 hours moderate.

running is still my worst moments now that i dont feel like drowning any more. saturday the book called for a one hour bike and a 40 minute run. something like that. so we rode the one hour, and it was pretty hard oddly. then we doubled up the run to 10 miles. about 7 miles in i was totally cashed out. the last three were pretty hard. not sure what it is, i just get completely out of breath. it doesnt make much sense to me why i could run 7 miles breathing normally, then slow down a bit and still be totally out of breath. might be some mental thing, but really, if i wasnt in need of the oxygen all that heavy breathing would just make me pass out. so thats my biggest concern right now. i think if i stop every 2 miles for a drink i could run a ton more. but we put water every 3 miles and that just killed me. very odd.

that night i went to bed feeling pretty hammered. the next morning, sunday we had to make up the last of the missed workouts and ended up doing all three events. biked first, went one hour on the fan bike at the gym. went great. got off feeling tired and had the balloon legs, but not as wrecked as i feared i would be from the previous day. then on to the treadmill. i set it to a higher pace than i would run outside and the plan was to just pound out 5 miles quick. i made it 3 miles before backing off a bit and managed the last 2 ok. i think that at the time it sucked, but i didnt have to workout the next day and could let it all go, rather than trying to hold some in. in fact typing this right now has giving me the idea that maybe thats the problem, that i am worried about the next day while working out the current day and when i get tired - especially on the running, that i am going to really hurt the next day and therefor i try to not get tired and tense up more. hmm... that might be it actually. thinking back over the last half year, my more difficult runs were always the first of 2 long runs. ( well, i had some serious hard runs solo too ) but mostly the first of the 2 were the hardest. something to think on! :-)

lastly the swim was a no-thinking 1800 yards. got in the pool, started swimming, moved the floaty each hundred yards down the pool. got out showered and watched the sparties make it to the final four again. good day!

monday is rest day and i feel great.


give myself an 8 on the last weeks workouts - nasty explosion on the long run

currently my mental is about 9 - some lingering worries, but very confident. also some fear of the next few events coming up with 4 triathlons in a weekend and the 200 mile bike with 1/2 marathon and the trail marathon. all of which should be harder than i can handle. but otherwise feel great about things.

physically i feel about a 9 also. very fresh so far. too fresh maybe. we are going to try to turn the next weekends 5 mile run into a 15-18ish run and bump the bike up a few hours too.

Week One Done

well, we got this book. called essential week by weak training guide.

fockers.

well, they suggest working out all day every day. actually we got to pick from level 1 to about level 12 or so. and the level 12 does look like its for pros as a recovery day is a half marathon run. so we bumped it down a few notches and went with level 3. almost went with 6, but we dont know how many two a days we can fit in with the resa going to school most nights and homework and all. but on the weekends we decided to increase or about double the amount of the runs and bikes.

just finished the first week of the training. went pretty good i thought. we did all of the workouts. its a lot different than what we have done for the last year. basically we tried to get from a max of 5 miles run in a day to a marathon in the late fall. we did that, if not to the speed we hoped for, at least for the training runs we were in much better shape after 8 months of running. also started the swimming as you all know. went from once across the pool to a mile swim in 8 months.

well, anyway, the book doesnt just have you run 10 miles or 3 miles. you always mix it up with some sprints or some other odd human tricks. swimming especially is a set of about 8 different things you do. swim with closed fists, one hand up your butt. that sorta thing. and it has really helped me. which i didnt expect. yesterday we were to run 5 miles and went 10, then the next morning was swimmies. i think my form is actually a bunch better. i can now keep up with the resa on swimming and am actually having fun doing the drills. oddly i have a nasty ear ache though, so if any of you swimmers know about this... please let me know what you think.

good first week. today is monday and is the only day off. next week starts tomorrow and is about the same if just slightly harder than the first week. so far its pretty easy. but everyday is different. we probably only ran 3-4 times a week and swam once every other week up to this point. already rode more bike miles last week than the whole year and swam more too.

right now i am pretty happy. somewhat nervous that the plan is too hard and too easy. each day is easier than i like, and the working out everyday is harder than i like. so we shall see how this works out. :-)

11 and 3

ran 11 on saturday and rode 3 hours on sunday. my calves were just killing me on the run. kinda stumbled along towards the end there. on the bike the next day i was a bit worried that i wouldnt be able to go very far or fast, but it turned out to be a pretty good ride. my legs feel better today than yesterday which is pretty odd. but i will take it.


no much else going on. i am debating stopping my weight training as it makes swimming pretty darn impossible. but... not sure yet for sure, maybe a few more weeks and then drop it. i am, i feel over the hump in the lifting and am gaining more strength each time to the weight room. after a while i will platue and it wont mater too much if i go or not, but right now i am adding a good amount and would hate to stop right at the very best time.