Columbia Triathlon Training Week 1

If you've been paying attention you may have noticed that these posts went from Cherry Blossom training to base training to Columbia Triathlon Training. As much as I wanted to do the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler it just wasn't in the cards for this year. I had bought my dad Pirates tickets for the same day for Christmas and didn't realize this when signing up. It was a really hard decision to make but my mom and I want to go to the game instead. This was not going to be a goal race for me and my heart wanted to cheer on my bucs.

The good news is that I am officially registered for the Columbia Triathlon May 18. While this is not a goal race for me I do want to put up a solid time to kick off triathlon season. My mind is having a hard time comprehending triathlon training when there is still so much snow on the ground but focusing on my goals for the year is keeping me going. With that, here's how week 1 played out:

Monday

I kicked off the week with my first swim speed workout of the year. It wasn't long but it got my heart rate up and got both my arms and legs turning over faster. I'm notorious for having a slow turnover in all three sports so I'm making sure to get things moving faster early in the season. This workout was not about increasing endurance or even speed really but more about getting things moving and waking my body up for the work that's going to come in a few weeks/months. Here's the workout in case you're interested:

200 warm up
3 x 100 kick @ 5 seconds rest
200 drill
20 x 25 @ :30 [pull/fast arms]
20 x 25 @ :30 [swim/fast legs]
200 drill
4 x 50 descend 1-4 @ 1:00
100 warm down

2200 yd swim

Tuesday

We got another few inches of snow Monday night into Tuesday morning so I pushed back my Tuesday morning yoga to Thursday. I was able to get in a nice easy morning run. About half of the run was me trying not to fall from the slushy mess on the roads. Although I've been doing better about getting my butt out of bed for workouts in the morning, I'm finding that what really seems to be doing the trick is telling myself that I can run as slow as possible. The last thing I want to do is a hard run first thing in the morning.

I chased my run with a solid gym session.

4.35 mile run, 10:02 avg
46 min strength

Wednesday

I did hill repeats. They kicked my butt.

6.7 mile run, 9:37 avg

Thursday

As hard as it is to get out of bed for the 7:15 yoga class on campus I am really glad I'm making it a regular part of my schedule. I know getting up at 6:40 is nothing to most working people but to a college kid it is early! I was rewarded for going to class with an incredible sunrise.

After yoga I went to the pool for 30 minutes of technique work. It was easy. It was slow. It was just what I needed after bawling during savasana. Sometimes life is hard.

55 min yoga
1500 yd swim

Friday

Friday started off good with a strength session but went downhill after that. I was planning on doing a trainer ride focusing on high cadence and getting my legs turning over faster. About 15 minutes into my ride my bike/trainer started making this whistling noise. I tried to adjust things but the noise wouldn't go away. Not knowing what it was and not wanting to break anything I called it quits about half way through the ride.

I quickly changed into running shoes to head out for a quick 15 minute transition run. I know I hardly biked but my legs felt pretty good while running. My pace was pretty slow but my legs didn't feel heavy or any of the usual adjectives that are used to describe running post bike ride.

45 min strength
4.08 miles bike, 13.6 mph
1.5 mile t-run, 10:15 avg

Saturday

Thanks to unseasonably warm temps I was able to take the bike outside for a ride despite there still being half a foot of snow on the ground. Despite some nasty winds during the first half, the views of snow covered farm lands and fresh air made this ride pretty spectacular.

18.72 miles bike, 14.86 mph

Sunday

Rest day

3700 yards
22.8 miles bike
12.55 miles run
7 hrs 18 minutes