Great Article

Great article!

http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/10-Training-Rules-for-Triathletes.htm?cmp=306&memberid=89619206&lyrisid=24492888&email=bkrasinski@gmail.com

Great week!

After struggling the last few months to get motivated to start my out season training plan (and only very sporadic running and biking), this was a much better week -- I only missed / skipped one workout and it was simply because I was feeling too sore (and my back was in a little pain).  This was truly a "listen to your body" moment that I think paid off.  Although I skipped a 60 minute bike ride on Friday (with two 10 minute intervals in zone 4/5), I just wasn't feeling it.  Additionally, during my 50 minute run the day before, my legs felt extremely heavy and slow.  The combination of the two convinced me to take Friday off and skip the bike workout.

Well, I feel like it paid off because I had great workouts on Saturday (a 75 minute bike ride which included 2 x 12' intervals in zone 4/5 & 2 x 15' intervals in z3, followed immediately by a 20 minute run (i.e., a brick workout) with 10' in zone 2 and 10' in zone 3) and Sunday (a 60 minute run with three 8 minute intervals at high (zone 4/5) effort).

I really feel like things are starting to take shape, and I'm feeling good about my workouts!

See below for my workouts:

Saturday


Sunday

Too much time off

Wow!  Last night, I went for my run (a 50 minute run with three 1 mile intervals during the run) and God how far I've fallen since running the Georgia Thanksgiving Day 1/2 Marathon.  During the marathon, I maintained a 7:30/mile pace.  Last night, only running for 50 minutes, my pace was about 1 minute / mile slower.  It really goes to show that once you are in shape, you should stay in shape.  I've also realized that I really need to start stretching more often.  All this time running and on my bike is starting to take its toll on me.  On a much more positive note, although I'm disappointed with my pace, I'm very happy that, despite being tired and hungry last night, I got my run in after feeding and putting girls to bed!

Flexibility and commitment will be the key

This week marked the third week of my out season training program, and work already tried to get in the way.  Monday evening,  I had to travel to Gainesville, Florida for work and woke up in a hotel Tuesday morning.  Looking at my schedule, I saw that I needed to do a 1 hour bike ride (which included 2-12 minute intervals at high intensity) followed by a low intensity 35 minute run with a few (three to be exact) 30 second strides thrown in for good measure.  My initial thought was to head to the fitness center and use a stationary bike for my ride, and follow it up with a run.  But because I really like training on my OWN bike (I'm still getting used to the seat), I opted to wait until I got home from my trip Tuesday evening.  That was almost a big mistake.

By the time I got home from the airport, I was hungry and tired, and the last thing I felt like doing was putting in 1.5 hours between a ride and a run.  So I changed plans again ... I decided I'd wake up early and do my workout for Tuesday on Wednesday, and then shift the rest of my workouts.  This meant that instead of Friday being a "rest" day, I'd have workouts until my next day off ... Monday.  As much as I didn't want to get out of the bed this morning to do my workout, I made myself and it felt great.  I really do enjoy working out in the morning much better than the evenings...

Here is a link bike workout.

And here is a link to my run workout.

"New" Purchase

For the last two weeks, I've been missing may Charging Cradle for my Garmin Forerunner 305.  I would have bought another one immediately when I couldn't find it (it's less that $20), but I noticed that Amazon has a great deal on the newer model (the Forerunner 405), so I was very tempted to buy the new one.  In the end, I decided that the Forerunner 305 has served me VERY well over the last few years, so for $20, I decided to just order a new cradle so that I can begin syncing my workouts again (and more importantly charging my Garmin).

If you are in the market for a GPS-enabled training watch, I highly recommend checking out the 405 because it's much smaller that the 305 and right now, it is also much cheaper!

UPDATE:  I found my other charging cradle ... I now have two.

Training is picking up

Yesterday, I blogged about my first full run workout that I did Wednesday (45 minute run with two 1.5 mile intervals).  Last night, I stuck with my training plan and got on my bike for 60 minutes (2 x 10 minute intervals in zone 4-5 with the rest of the ride in zone 3).  So that's two days I've stuck with the plan, which is my new out season record, but again, I'm going to dwell on the positive and see it as a good thing.  Now, if I can be sure to get my bike AND run in Saturday (75 minute bike ride followed by 20 minute run) and my workout in Sunday, I'll have done REALLY well this week.  Funny thing, my run workout wasn't that long, but I can really feel it.  I guess taking 2 months off after my 1/2 marathon wasn't the best idea in the world (although I do feel fairly recharged).

First (full) Running workout

I'm still in the out out season (week 3), which means I haven't actually started to ramp up my training.  That's good, because at this point, I don't feel like I've really committed.  It's disappointing because in the past, I've been really good at putting my workouts on the calender and working them in.  So that's the negative.

The positive ... yesterday I completed my first full running workout, so I choose to dwell on the positive rather than the negative.  Yesterday's workout involved a 45 minute run with two 1.5 mile intervals with my heart rate in zone 4 with four minutes of easy jogging as "rest" in between each interval.  In terms of pace, each 1.5 mile interval ended up being about a 7:15/mile pace ... slower than I would like, but better than it could have been had I not trained for the 1/2 marathon.  I hope to have these workouts below 7 minute miles.  Still, I felt good about getting it done (after work no less), and hope that this will put me on the road to serious training going forward.  NO MORE EXCUSES!

Note: I can't find the dock for my Garmin, which means (1) I can't share the run at this point (I'll add it when / if I find the dock), (2) I can't upload workouts to my watch (bad), and (2) I can't charge my watch (worst!).  Guess I know what I'll be doing tonight when I get home.