« Happy Easter! | Main | Ouch? »
March 24, 2008
Back on Track
So to be quite honest, last week's training was a bit lackluster. I did 100% of my workouts and even had some good ones (nice hard bike on Tuesday and a good track session Wednesday) but overall I felt all last week like I was doing my workouts just to get them done. Yuck. Perhaps it was in part due to my shoulder freaking out on Monday or maybe I was just tired and not as motivated. Either way, I don't like having weeks like that. Because we all know that just doing the workouts isn't enough. You have to DO each workout. And DO it with purpose. DO it with focus. And make sure each and every workout from the toughest swim intervals to the easiest run are done with a goal and count for something. Randomly pedaling on the bike for 3 hours or running aimlessly for 60 minutes just doesn't get you any where.
Now I try not to be too hard on myself when a week like this comes along because, lets face it, it's hard to be 100% focused 100% of the time. If all goes well my biggest and best races this season will occur in October and November. It's okay to lack a little focus in March. It's not like I skipped all my workouts for the week, laid on the couch and ate bon-bons. But still. It was time to get back on the horse this week!
So this morning I said "Shutt - LETS GET BACK IN THE GAME!" Let's get fired up and ready to go. Focus. Purpose. And remember all those goals (some a bit lofty I will admit) that are not going to get accomplished unless I shape up!
It helped that I had the day off work. :) So I slept in a little, gave myself a little pep talk and then got moving. As I lay in bed right before I got up I had this feeling that it was nice and warm outside. Dare I say shorts for my run? It was still dark outside when I peaked out the window but it just "felt" warm...you know?
A quick check on weather.com though confirmed that I was pretty far off. Low 20s and instead of shorts it was tights, 2 long sleeves, windbreaker, hat and gloves! Oh well!! :)
Even though the temps were cold it still is really starting to feel like spring. I heard birds chirping. BIRDS I tell you! They are smart those birds - they don't come around until it's almost spring. And it's almost April. APRIL!!!! April really is spring. And there will be sun. And I am really, really excited about all this!
So anyway, I started off the morning with a fartlek run and it felt great. Bri wrote a few days back about how she does her running speedwork on the roads or trails because she doesn't feel like track work necessarily translates into fast triathlon running. I agree that that can be the case. Because tracks are flat and they have long sweeping turns and it's all nice and controlled and easy to figure out pace. I do have track work in my training but I also have a good deal of fartlek which I like. Because fartlek day is my chance to run HARD uphills, downhills, around turns, all the kinds of running that you do in triathlon. AND it's my day to force myself to focus and run hard without the help of the track to keep me on pace. It's so easy to say "okay, let's just relax a little up this hill or out of this turn". NO, NO, NO!! The whole first half of my season is short course racing and there is no time for relaxing on the run!
So the fartlek was good. I felt strong and on top of my mental game. I have a 5K running race coming up this weekend, my first stand alone 5K in a longggggggg time. And I'm getting REALLY excited for it. I'm sure around the 2.5 mile mark I won't be too excited but this is my opportunity to get out there and really run hard.
Anyway, after the run I came home, stretched a bit, ate breakfast and did some odds and ends waiting for my breakfast to digest.
After about an hour I deemed myself ready for my swim workout and lift. To the YMCA I go!
I was determined to make my swim workout a good one too. My shoulder is definitely feeling better so it was time to stop babying it.
I've been doing pretty good with my flip turns so I decided today I would try them for my whole workout (usually I just do them for wu/cd). I've done this about 3 or 4 other times but not in a workout where there are long intervals (anything 500 yds+). I feel good doing them for 50s or 100s or even 200s but I get oxygen greedy in the longer intervals and I want that extra breathe that the open turn provides. The swim coach at O's school told me I just need to commit to doing the flip turns all the time and then I will get to the point where I can handle them all the time. But I'm a flip turn sissy. Slowly but surely I will get there. Slowly but surely.
Regardless, during my warmup today I was doing my flip turns pretty well but I started to feel like an hour wasn't quite long enough for that breakfast to digest afterall. Hmmm. Flip turns definitely made the situation worse so I did end up with open turns for the main set. Oh well. I usually swim on an empty stomach so during my next swim I won't have an excuse. :)
As for the actual workout, I was thrilled. My sholder didn't hurt and I felt strong and fluid in the water. And with less effort I swam faster. The workout was a mix of longer stuff (800s) with shorter stuff (150s). I always find it challenging to pick up the pace for the shorter intervals after swimming at a more controlled pace for the longer stuff. But today I pretended I was trying to swim hard to get up on someone's feet in a race and my visualization tricks worked. So good swim and good shoulder. I won't call it 100% yet because it still gets sore but it has been fine in my workouts.
Last workout of the day was the weight room and then home for lunch.
So that's my story for the day! I was very excited to get a box in the mail from MarkAllenOnline, my team, with our uniforms and some other goodies! The team is sponsored by a couple different companies, one of which is Polar. So we got some Polar HR monitors for running that actually have a sensor you wear on your shoe to monitor distance and pace. Not sure I will want to know that kind of information ALL the time, but it will be useful for some of my runs. :) Also a Polar cycling computer for the bike which I'm also looking forward to! Now if I can only figure out how to make them work. O might be a busy equipment manager tonight! :)
Posted by beth at March 24, 2008 3:34 PM
Comments
Nice gear, Beth, and glad that you are reinvigorated this week. A few more degrees of warmth and this will all get easier!
-Danielle
Posted by: Danielle at March 24, 2008 7:03 PM
Aww, you had a great day of training!
I'm at the very edge of being injured right now. And I'm doing all I can to not fall off that edge. Recalling how much pain you were in last week with your arm to where you are this week being able to lift and swim hard is giving me hope that I might get through this scot-free. Thanks for the uplift!
Nice gear, by the way!
Posted by: Meghan at March 24, 2008 10:51 PM
Have you ever considered a career in window displays??? That is a lovely arrangement of new gear! Glad your motivation is back and your shoulder is holding up.
Posted by: Ness at March 25, 2008 8:45 AM
Cool Stuff! It's ok to have mental break weeks too. You have the best attitude of anyone I know. Thanks for the upbeat posts!
Posted by: Kellye at March 25, 2008 3:44 PM
Awesome stuff! OH YES, Beth...we all have these weeks - AND I sometimes have to slap myself b/c I find myself just, "going thru the motions" too...so, no biggie, you sound on track now! Good luck at your 5k this weekend!
Posted by: Jennifer Harrison at March 25, 2008 8:54 PM