Well, it was a month indeed.
Swim: 200 yards, 1 swim
Bike: 108.5 miles, 7 rides
Run: 55 miles, 9 runs, 1 marathon, 2 5k's
Strength: 5 sessions
Yoga: 23 sessions on the mat
I didn't swim at all in February. I've been trying to teach the kids how to swim, so I got in 8 laps while they were using the bathroom one time and that was it. Knowing that the one race took up 26.2 of those 55 running miles, that makes the other 8 sessions averaging 3.6 miles each (and that ain't much). The bike kind of crept in there at the end, as did the strength sessions. And the 300 days of yoga challenge is holding strong.
Monday started the training season for really reallz this year. It feels good to know that I'm back on a regular routine and schedule with lots of base weeks and build weeks. I'm ok with the low volume last month since it was a recovery time anyway, but now it's time to get regular and establish a pattern for the triathlon season. The first week is almost down and I am digging the pattern so far.
This year the focus is on speed, so the base miles have to be fast, not long. Swimming fast takes efficiency and good form. Practicing with the RAM team twice a week averaging 3000 yards per session will help, and that's good volume too. Bike speed comes from volume and hill work. Hitting the stationary twice a week and the roads once on the weekends will certainly make that happen. But running..... Running fast only requires, well, running fast. It doesn't take 40 mile weeks. It takes tempo runs, speedwork intervals or fartlek sessions, and consistency. Three sessions of 4-8 miles each should do it. Nothing less than 30 minutes, nothing slower than an easy 8 minute pace. Tuesday I did a 4 miles of speedwork, half mile intervals at a 6:38 pace. Today is a tempo run, 6 miles at a 7:30 pace. This is a good pattern. Once I'm ready for a summer build phase things can really get into high gear.
I have also started watching my eating this week. No processed carbs like flour or extra sugar, so no bread, pasta, or anything fried. Just for this week to kick start the metabolism. Whole grains like oatmeal are still good, and lots of fruit is still on the table. But I have to break this addiction to Hershey's Kisses and that's proving to be difficult. I'm taking my lunch workouts a bit early so I'm not running hungry. This is all working ok so far, but it's only the first week. Next week is new, and potentially quite different. hmmmmmm..........
Skill of the Week: Dress Sharp for the Holidays
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10 comments:
Nice February stats. Now, let's get busy on March. Cheers!
nice swim total :)
I have a snickers addiction... and salt and vinegar chips.
Get back in that pool!
Man, I just canNOT get myself to focus on speed. I guess it comes down, essentially, to not really caring all that much about it. Even my half-assed attempts seem to fail. The only time I really hope to be fast is race days and I almost invariably score my best times at those races where I've said "Fuck it. I'm not feeling great today so I'll just run it without putting pressure on myself and take whatever I get."
Then? I PR.
But this morning, on what turned out to be a 6.8-mile run? I was pushing to get it under a 9-minute pace and was sure I had. I was thinking, "Whoa, probably closer to 8:40!"
My actual pace?
9:00.
So ... fuck it, is my philosophy.
Ugh. You use that stupid word verification too.
O, and I assume in your comment on my blog you were referring to the Turing Test, Alan Turing's reductivist way of determining whether or not a machine could be considered capable of thinking. Turing basically said if you asked questions of a machine and a human (without being able to view either) and you couldn't tell whether the answers to your questions were being given by a machine or a human, then the machine could be said to be "thinking" like a human. This is kind of stupid and, as I said, reductivist, and I don't think anyone takes it seriously.
It's still way less annoying than these stupid fucking word verification things people turn on on their blogs.
I've been loving the paleo diet, it's been really working for me. I still eat diary and beans but have cut most everything else from that plan.
Sounds like you have plan and you're moving forward!
Wow, you did a lot of yoga last month! I think getting back to clean eating is a good idea. I try to pretty much stay away from sugars and bread and to eat more quinoa and steel cut oats. Good luck with your Hershey kiss diet!
Nice stats.. Way to keep up on the yoga!
Sounds like a good kick start to race season! I've been using (and I hate the name of the book) Crazy Sexy Diet, it is about eating really healthy and I've been using MyFitnessPal myfitnesspal.com to keep track of what I'm eating...it really helps.
Good luck getting back into training mode! I am sure you'll be back on the horse in no time and back in your groove!
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