Tri Training week 2

Week 2 is now over. Basically just like week one but have started to step things up a little bit.

All my cycling so far has been on stationary bikes at the gym, hopefully that doesn't come back to haunt me later. I plan to get some real bike time the last couple weeks of training.

Swimming has it's high points. Sometimes it feels like I'm gliding through the water, other times it feels like I am working like crazy and not going anywhere.

Had to wake up really early Saturday to run 4 miles because we were going boating. Two of the miles were "tempo" pace. It's embarrassing to see how slow my hard effort is, but it does feel good to be pushing it again.

Looking forward to week 3. Looks like it will be a few notches higher on the intensity meter.

Tri Training week 1

First "official" week of training over. I'm swimming, biking and running 2 days a week each. It has really helped to have a goal to go for and a plan to get me there.

The weather has been a little hot and humid, but not unbearable.

Later

Triathalon Training - The Preamble

Since the last post I was able to get out of Phoenix and into some cooler weather for a couple of weeks.

It was hard to make myself get up early and run while in "vacation mode" but it was so nice to experience running in cooler weather again.

Had an insanely awesome run up Provo canyon one Saturday morning. First time in a long time that I ran and just felt good. It's hard to explain but you could call it running "Nirvana". It's almost like I feel like I could run as fast and as long as I want. It definitely gave me a much needed confidence boost heading into my 6-week triathalon training program (thanks RW). However, my confidence was again shaken this morning as I got up and felt the hot sticky weather and thought "I have to run in this crap?".

I know I can complete this tri. I'm just working now to not have it be an ugly thing and meet my time goals. I need this to motivate me to get out and run in the hot sticky crap. I look forward to being able to say I've done a triathalon versus saying I'd like to do a triathalon someday. Who knows, maybe this will become my new thing. An Ironman seems inhumane at this point but so did a marathon at one point in my life.

I'll keep it posted on how the next 6 weeks goes.

Where did the last year go?

This is awkward. It's like meeting a friend that you used to be really close with but haven't seen or kept in touch with for way too long. A little excited to see them again, but also feeling a little guilty for not being a good friend.

Anyway, I'm going to try and crank this up again for a couple of reasons.
1) My running has gone to crap.
2) My running started going to crap about the same time I stopped writing.

Here is what has happened since I last wrote:
- Had big plans to do a tri and a half marathon.
- Gave up on those plans and opted to do a 10k instead
- Ran an average 10k
- Since the 10k been running sporadically
- Now running 5 miles seems daunting, I've gained about 15lbs

Alright, now that we have the awkward part out of the way I'll share my future plans.

First some thoughts on motivation. There are a lot of things that motivate me. Entering races has been one source of motivation. Not because I'm competing against the field or ever going to win but there is still a challenge. A challenge to push myself to new limits and achieve something I previously thought impossible. Sometimes it is to get a new PR, sometimes to finish a distance never done before. The pinnacle of these challenges was the marathon. The marathon was my Everest. From the time I started training until the moment I crossed that finish line I was hungry. Every run had a purpose and it felt good. So I think I need to be challenged, I need to find a new Everest.

Here is what I have in mind for now. Anthem Sprint Tri. in under 1:20:00
Then do the Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon in under 1:51:00

I'll keep you posted