One thing is becoming clear to me as I move from off-season to early season training – I am probably the most consistent I have ever been. I can’t recall a time when I trained through the winter, making sure to hit the gym SO REGULARLY – and I can’t remember looking forward to trainng as much as I am at the moment. Maybe I have finally hit the point in time where exercise really and truly has become a way of life?
Week in Review
It is nice using the #bestfoot challenge as a way to document this consistency, to reflect weekly on how things are going. Last week was another solid training week for me, with two bike sets dedicated to learning more about training with power, and some shifts in the way my week unfolds to try to ensure my arms aren’t exhausted going into my club swims. It is not a perfect schedule yet, but it is getting more “comfortable”. It was a good week, in terms of training and also socialising, as we went to the theatre and dinner on Saturday as well as having friends over for dinner on Sunday. It is great to feel balance – in training, work and personal life – it was a close to perfect week for me in so many ways!
Swim: 2 hours
Bike: 4 hours 11 minutes
Run: 30 minutes
Bootcamp: 30 minutes
Yoga: 1 hour
TOTAL: 8 hours 11 minutes
(sessions dropped: 1 run, still trying to figure out how to best manage recovery and fatigue levels with my training load and job)
Rehab: 40 minutes (shoulders and glute repatterining work)
I have entered my rehab blocks into TrainingPeaks now, and it is really giving me the extra reminder to just get it done. All it takes is 10 minutes a night to work on my shoulders or legs. Not much time at all, but something that I have so willingly skipped in the past. But not this past week. The combination of logging the work plus the #bestfoot challenge is really helping me to develop new good habits.
It’s Not A Sprint…
But it is… My first race of 2013 – a sprint triathlon – is just around the corner, in two weeks time.
This will be our third year doing the Egg Hunt Triathlon, and I am hoping my sister and niece will also be able to join us early that Saturday morning for some on the course cheerleading. I love the race – it is small, friendly, and warm. A wetsuit free swim!
I am still not loading my knee, and have to admit to being a bit worried about doing the Egg Hunt this year because of the run leg. I know my fitness is there, I am feeling good on the short 1 kilometre runs at full body weight that I have been doing. But there is a big difference between 1km and 5km – how will my knee fare?
I am also at a decision point with my April plans. Should I get on the plane to do the MS150 Houston to Austin ride – a ride that I did in 2011 and that I absolutely loved… Or should I hold off?
I haven’t been doing long cycle training, I’ve been holding off loading my knee. To try to re-build sensibly with the hope of doing a 10k run in July and the London Triathlon. Because it’s not a sprint… I’m trying to be in it for the long run…
But I still just don’t know how long that is going to be.
I need to make a choice about April. A choice that I really don’t want to make.
Sometimes living with the uncertainties of a body that is probably not built to do endurance sport can be trying. And other times – like when I finish a tough set on the bike trainer or hit a new 100m best swim time – the uncertainties just don’t matter. Because the success of the moment erases the uncertainties of the future.
That’s what I am trying to keep focused on – focused on what is happening only at a given moment. That, and consistency and patience.
Because it’s not a sprint, even though it is…
Keep up the consistency Donna! You are rocking it!