View from the bike route
So as I start on this journey, I think back to my training for the half Ironman, I found I really enjoyed crossing my workouts off as I completed them. The problem with creating a calendar in advance though, was my weeks always shifted around so I never did the workouts on the day I expected to. So I am trying to come up with a good way to track my workouts that involves crossing out each workout as I complete it but also allows for some flexibility. I found a few apps and decided they were too complicated. So below is a picture of what I came up with:
Before with my "plan"
After with almost every workout shifted
The calendar method is kind of working but it isn't perfect yet. Of course I love to get the hardest workouts over first so I started with my first long bike ride. It was 40 miles which of course when I think back to last year, wasn't that long ago. But I can say at like mile 10 I thought I was going to die. I seriously overestimated my fitness levels starting this thing! That is ok though I can still complete every work out, and at this point, this is all I care about.
The swim is going pretty well. I have made a conscious effort to go slow and work on building strength before I start trying power through the longer swims. So what it looks like, is I swim 50 yards, stop for a few seconds to catch my breath, and then takeoff again. Eventually I am going to have to skip those little breaks but for now it allows me to focus on my form. I had a little scare a few weeks ago where I pulled my back muscle trying to ramp up too quickly. This new method has not seen a recurrence of the pulled muscle so I am going to stick with it for now. Plus it's way more fun to swim when you don't feel like you are drowning.
As far as the running goes, this is probably where my fitness was furthest from where it needed to be. I always feel so sluggish and heavy. Part of the problem could be I actually am sort of heavy right now. I have also taken this training as carte blanche to eat whatever I want. So my diet has been crap - yesterday it was McDonald's and cereal. (Yes in that order.) Another thing I am sort of dealing with is I have a little bit of foot pain. I am hoping it is just my foot getting used to the new training levels and is not something more serious like a stress fracture. I am gonna buy some new shoes and hope that is enough. We'll see!
My trusty steed
I have a couple of busy weeks coming up with school and travel so we will also see how it goes sneaking all these workouts in. The weather is also starting to turn so I am having to do more of my workouts inside. I really prefer to do them outside haha! Running I guess you can do outside no matter what the weather. I do want to try and swim in Lake Michigan one time before it gets too cold but well see. Biking might be the one thing I have to just give up on and start training indoors. The trainer at least keeps me honest and builds a TON of strength quickly. 23 weeks to go!!
