Slow and Steady

Last night, I had an awesome ride on the trainer. I missed my pool swim but I was tired and very sore from the weights on Sunday. I think it's more important to have 1 solid workout than 2 half-ass ones. I rode for over an hour doing power intervals, spinning, and pushing in a higher gear. I worked on form, keeping my feet parallel to the ground (not pointing my toes) and pulling up at the back of the spin cycle. I got in the groove, found my "happy place" and was able to really focus. It felt so good.

I'm starting to realize that I need to be patient. Endurance athletes don't make gains overnight. I'm chipping away at things. Slow and steady, right? Hence the turtle. The fact is...I AM getting stronger. It's just that my expectations (like usual) have been unrealistic.

In addition, it's been hard for me to gauge how my training has been going. I design my own plans and listen to my body. Then, I re-evaluate and adjust accordingly. In my gut, I know this is the right thing to do. But I also read a lot. There are so many training plans out there. I've read many of them. Some of them are much less vigorous than mine. Some are much more. I guess it's good I fall somewhere in the middle.

Right now, I'm focusing on middle distance tris (Olympic). I'm in Base 2 phase (I've decided not to really start "Building" until I've done some solid base training for awhile). I know I'm past Base 1 because I actually have a base now! I feel stronger and I know I can train at a certain level without injury. Yea! My goal is to train somewhere between 5-10 hours a week (5 min and 10 max with 8 hours being the average). I would like to swim 2-3x, run 3x, and bike 3-4x. In addition, I would like to throw some weights in there 30-45 minutes, 2x a week. I think that is a reasonable goal. It seems attainable. So that's what I'm working with.

I've thought about what kind of workouts I want to do as well. The important workouts are: for running and biking: long run/ride, brick workouts, hills (for power--my biggest limiter); for swimming: open water swims/endurance swims and intervals to build speed and strength. Weights are straightforward--I focus on my core, quads and abductors, and upper body with particular attention to back, chest, shoulders, and triceps.

I think I'll feel better after I do a few more races. They give me a good read-out to indicate how the training is going. The San Diego International Tri is 2 weeks away (June 25th). That'll be my first International distance. I'm excited/nervous. I know I can do it as long as I take it slow and don't pressure myself. This weekend, the club is having a practice sprint tri on Saturday that would be good for me. On Sunday, there is an 8.2 mile run on the beach during low tide. I'm going to do that to up the distance for my long run. That will also help prepare me for America's Finest City 1/2 Marathon in August.

I also am planning on re-joining the club for more group workouts since I definitely feed off of other people and can learn tons of information and tips from other experienced tri-geeks. I also love meeting new people so it's perfect. Jason has been starting to rejoin me in my workouts again so, in addition, I may get my old training partner back!