This week was decent. I have made much progress on my bike and my run but I haven’t paid much attention to my swim. It hasn’t improved per se but I don’t think it’s gotten worse. I did two out of three sessions and just that, in and of itself, is progress. It’s contradictory: I love swimming so I do it the least. I know I can swim 2.4 miles, I just don’t know how my body will continue on the 138.2 remaining miles, and since that number is bigger – I focus on that. I know it’s a mistake but that is how I manage things when life gets in the way: I sacrifice the swim. And then there is strength training … it is a “secondary” workout twice week. Secondary because it falls below the line that I can see on my screen when I have my schedule up so I pretend it’s not there.
But I know its important … because I have no strength on my core (none) and very little on my arms (as in I can’t even do a push up). These things help with everything: from my running form to my bike position. I know that, but its one of those cases that I don’t help myself. I just can’t do it on my own.
Fortunately this week I was invited to try out a session at Fitness Together, a gym in both Coconut Grove and South Miami (I’ll be writing more about Fitness Together and the services they offer in another post). This was a trial session and since I would be riding 80 miles the following day, they spared my legs. To compensate though, I focused on arms, back and core. The session didn’t seem so demanding while I was doing it, but once I was finished my arms felt like spaghetti. They weren’t burning but they were tired. The next day, as I rode my bike I could feel like I had worked them and it was a great feeling. I thought: “if I just did that more consistently I would feel differently hanging here on my aerobars.”
And since my arms are sore, when I point at something I feel the muscles burn just a little, and so it feels like they are stronger and I can hold my arm out there for longer. It’s as if I am miraculously stronger than I was just two days ago. I know it is not real, I’ve worked my arms ONCE in the last six months or so, but again I love that feeling. I am hoping that I can begin a strength training regimen that will be the missing link in my IronMan training. I’m fully aware it’s late in the game … but I am also fully aware the benefits of strength training come quickly. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a “better late than never” scenario.
This is how the week broke down:
Monday: SWIM. One hour OWS
Tuesday: RUN. Tempo run on the bridge. I met up with my Wolfpack teammates, and truth is, as much as I like to think I am independent I run better when I am around them.
Wednesday: SWIM. 3,200 or so yards of drills, frills and speed. Lovingly exhausting.
Thursday: BIKE. A hilly 25 miles at the Ultrabikex Computrainer Studio. I practiced staying at a higher RPM than I like, and amazingly my power wasn’t significantly affected. I’m hoping that means I am getting better.
Friday: Skipped the swim and headed to Fitness Together for the session above. I do realize that if I continue to do strength training, it does not substitute the workout of the day, it adds to what I am already doing. Ouch.
Saturday: BIKE. 75 miles with 60 or so at a tempo pace. It was a fun ride!
Sunday: Life royally got in the way and the day has gone without my training. But since it is a long weekend after all I am doing my long run tomorrow. 15 miles on my own since Cynthia, my IM training partner, is somewhere in the Caribbean NOT thinking of me.
How about you? How was your training week?
