Week 4 Training

It's only week 4???? AAAHHHH! How much longer?
Wait. I only have 8 weeks left to train? AAAAAHHHHH. Am I going to be strong enough for this???

As you can see, my lovely readers, I am of two minds right now regarding this race. The past couple of sessions have been rough for me. Not impossible, but definitely challenging. I'm tired. All the time. I believe it's how I'm eating. My appetite has vanished. That's not good because I'm pretty sure that I'm not fueling properly. This week. I'm going to eat something every 3 hours whether I want to or not. I'm going to start with snacks of almonds and protein shakes until I get back into the groove. If I go for a week or so and am still dragging butt, I'm going to hop over to my doc's office and make sure I'm not anemic or something.

I did miss a couple of workouts this past week due to life. End of school, graduation and all of that. I can only go into this upcoming week with a militant attitude of not missing a single session! Here's what's on the plate:

Monday: Bike (w/LBC)
Tuesday: Run/Swim/Kickball
Wednesday: Run/Swim
Thursday: Strength/Drum Lessons
Friday: Run/Strength
Saturday: Bike/Swim
Sunday: Swim/Softball
The orange events are early am. Before work. Before civilization awakens. Ugh.

Week 3 Training Plan

This week's going to be nutty! It's the last week of school, so lots going on. Kiddo's graduation is tomorrow. We had a band audition last night, so I worked through lunch, hit the gym early and got Monday's strength training out. It was ok, but I rushed through the rest period between sets and also, I apparently was there at the same time as all the high school kids, so I had to wait several times for dumbells that I needed. Amie thinks that they need 2 sets upstairs and I heartily agree.

I was very surprised at the difference in the amount of weight I used on different muscle sets. My shoulder muscles are alot weaker than I thought that they would be and I had to back way down off of my planned weight. The only set that I thought I got to a "10" on the effort scale was my triceps work. I was really shaking at the end of those sets.

After that, I took my kiddo to his high school band audition where I found out that I would be shelling out around $300 and I would need to be something called "involved". Wha? Don't they know I'm in training? sigh. I don't mind to be involved, I just always feel like I come up short in that department. I would really really like to be a good band mom for my kid, I just don't know how that's going to work. It's just me to get him around town. I mean I can't be the only working parent here, right? So why on earth does it seem that all the summer programs for kids are scheduled for 9am dropoffs and 3 pm pickups? His dad lives 2hrs away so just by factor of distance alone he's of pretty much no help with these kind of things. Not whining. Just fact.

Anyway, this week is packed!
Monday - Upper Body Strength
Tuesday - Run (Strides)
Wed - Graduation/Swim
Thurs - Run/Strength Upper Body
Fri - Bike/Swim
Sat - Bike/Swim
Sun - Run (distance)/Lower Body Strength/Softball?/Visit my mother

How's your training going?

My Training Partner

I have found a new source of motivation! My friend Amie has been "hoodwinked" into competing in the EPTS triathlon, too. Bwaaaahhaaaaahaaaaaa. And after about two weeks of training together, I have to say, she's just as eaten-up with it as I am. I am finding this a fabulous previously unknown side to my friend. She's reading the books, charting training plans, considering stats and making goals to the same extent I am.

She has a bit more training under her belt than I do. I've only been seriously and consistently working out since February. However, we train together on treadmills so each of us can go at our own pace during our run workouts. Separate lanes in the pool so she doesn't have to worry about passing me. I think we might be on the same level cycling. We did a 17 mile ride on Saturday and stayed pretty much the whole way.

I think we also go together well in the motivation department. We oooh and ahh over each other's new training purchases, we have an every-other-day or so conversation about which body part is hurting most and we give out the appropriate YAYs when the other makes progress. I think everyone should have a training partner that fits these qualifications!

I've asked her to answer a few questions for the blog:

Say Hi to Amie, Blogworld!

What made you decide to train for a triathlon?
Dawn made me do it. And maybe to lose the last ten pounds that I have had for a decade. And maybe to be a faster runner. And maybe so I can throw out the "I can't this weekend, doing a triathlon."

What do you feel will be the most challenging part of the race?
Getting a good night sleep before and waking up that morning and not having my stomach do somersaults with nervous butterflies. I'm definitely more worried about the mental aspect than the physical. I will over think everything.

What scares you most about the race?
Falling off my bicycle and taking someone else with me or tripping in the transition area.

What excites you most about the race?
Bragging about finishing it. I can't imagine how awesome Kelly Wilson feels every time she says she completed the Ironman.

Do you think you will do more than one race or will you have to wait and see?
I feel like the cheap bastard in me wants to do more for a better return on investment. The challenger in me wants to do the Oly distance, maybe the Kentucky Derby mini-marathon and the half Ironman. But that's it…..my brain cannot even begin to compute anything longer. Ask me this question again on August 3rd.

Pre-Week 1/Week 1 Training Plan

Sometimes things just work out perfectly! It is 13 weeks and 2 days until my first triathlon. This is just the right amount of time to fit in the 12-week training plan from "Your First Triathlon" and then have a week to do light workouts, continue fueling properly and get all my gear in order! Sweet.

For the remainder of this week my workout schedule will be as follows:
Wed. - Strength Training; Spin Class
Thurs - Run
Fri - Swim
Saturday - Strength; Run or Bike (depending if I've found a bike yet. Did I mention that I don't have a bike yet? Yep, my lovelies, this is truly a ground up situation!)
Sunday - Yoga and Rest

Next Week - Official Week 1
Mon - Run/Swim (This is switching to Bike because of the Bike class I'm taking)
Tues - Strength
Wed - Bike (Switching to Swim. See Monday's notes)
Thur - Strength/Run
Fri - Rest
Sat - Bike
Sun - Swim

I'm going to try to get two workouts each of a Run, Bike, Swim and Strength. We'll see how it goes.
I will come back in and post Actual results each day in blue.

You'll notice that I do not have a "Rest" day scheduled for week one. This is because, in the book, Joe suggests that if you still have a few extra pounds hanging around, that the rest day is Optional. Right now, I'm feeling feisty, so we'll schedule some movement every day and see what happens.

He's pretty matter-of-fact about that extra poundage slowing a person down. I like that. He goes in to all the stuff about how extra weight damages your heart and all the physically bad stuff that I know and am working on, but something about "it makes you slow and you're trying to race here" statements were something I never had heard from anyone and it is sticking with me.