Triathlon Training: Week THREE

Another week of training. This week has felt looong. But that doesn't mean bad. I was able to conquer a few things and that makes me very happy and very hopeful.

One day, right?

First thing is I've noticed I've been doing a little better with my running intervals. Again when I went running earlier this week I would stop after five minutes and do some sort of interval training; push ups, jumping jacks etc. I noticed that I was actually going a little farther this time in my five minute runs. Hopefully this means I'm getting a bit faster. I've been having motivation issues where I can't keep a rhythm going and I keep stopping mid duration. The second run later that week I spent working on trail running. I'm getting better at it and even managed to survive going up a steep, long fire road. Was I a speed demon up this hill? Absolutely not! But the fact that I did it without stopping was a proud moment.


Cycling has been going pretty well too. My poor old bike needs to be lubed up and I think there's something up with the second gear but other than that it's been going fine. Last week I was thrilled that I made it up the hill that had been plaguing me. This week that hill was fine and I had a new hill to conquer.(Check out the pic below,) Once I finish the first hill I have a nice mile or so that is a pretty easy/down hill but then there's another hill. It is a giant cul-de-sac that goes gradually uphill and once you reach the other side it suddenly does a steep drop. Well I decided to tackle this cul-de-sac this week in the rain! Let me just say cool mist weather is great when you're  huffing and puffing up a curved incline but that weather is scary when your glasses suddenly fog up and you're dropping faster than 30mph. But I did it!

Sad and frustrated.

One thing I didn't get to do was swim this week. :(  My car's power steering is still not working and it is unsafe to drive it in these roads, not to mention driving it like that would kill the rest of my car. I was almost convinced I would swim in my camps pond, but when I walked over yesterday and put my feet in the water to check the temperature I cursed. The water was FREEZING! I do not have a wet suit and I promised myself  I'd keep myself healthy and not get a cold. I then, very grudgingly, accepted that I would not be swimming this weekend and instead I decided to start practicing my transitions.

Therefore, yesterday I tried my first bike-to-run  transition. Twenty minute bike ride with a 2 mile run after. Let me tell you, suddenly changing your work out feels WEIRD! My thighs and hamstrings were completely confused and trying to catch up for half a mile. My fingers were numb from the bike ride and I didn't re-gain feeling until a mile in to my run. By the end I felt fine but my run was slow and like I mentioned I kept stopping. Grrr.

So today, already acknowledging that a pool was not in my near future, and being really upset over the fact that I can't keep my pace going, I decided to do a long run just for the heck of it. I took off my watch, I turned off the sound in my RunKeeper so as not to hear any updates from my phone but still have it log my progress, and just went for it. I did the same 6 mile loop I do with my bike, except this time I jogged the whole thing. It felt AMAZING. I kept the pace steady and slow, the type of pace where you can keep a conversation going. I conquered both crazy hills and enjoyed the downhill treks. I worked out the few aches I was getting on my sides and knees and just. kept. going. It felt really good to just continue. I did stop a few times but none were longer than 20 seconds. Here are the results of today:

This map shows you what route I took, my mileage, my pace, my speed and even how many calories I burned!

Mile 1 and Mile 3 are the big hills I've been mentioning. Although my pace was crazy slow it felt great to just keep going and keep going without stopping. Once I finished my route I knew I could probably keep going, but I also knew my legs were tired and hadn't run that long in a while so I decided to stop and stretch instead. It wasn't about the mileage or the pace. It was about running and enjoying it. I haven't actually enjoyed my running in a long time. Thank goodness I can still have that feeling.

I'm a bit tired now and a bit hungry. My meals have not been going well. I haven't been tracking my food at all and I know I've been over eating. All this training will be wasted if I continue doing this. I am going to re-start calorie counting. I'm going to just count whatever I eat next week and then start lowering the calories little by little. I understand that I'm working out a lot more and I have to fuel correctly but this doesn't mean third helpings on bread and adding a ton of butter to my toast. I can do this.

I hope your Monday morning will bring energy and I desire and fire to do something good for your body and mind.

love
-w0rld

p.s. Weigh in will be tomorrow or Tuesday. The menstrual cycle is doing it's thing so I'm not too excited about the number I'll see on the scale.