Funny things that kids say, I just loved this little preschool analogy that brooke had coming home from school recently. Dylan's mom told me that he had told her that he had a dream that he was a prince riding a horse with a beautiful princess named Brooke on the back. I guess it's true love for 3 year olds, knock her down, shake her up and then carry her on a the back of a horse.
This was really my first week with an Ironman focus I guess. Funny thing is that I'm also training for Ragnar Florida in January with my fabulous IrunMommies group. 12 of us per team and 185 miles to cover from Miami to the Keys. So I'm in a serious state of combining programs at this point. I did get my pool membership locked down. I'm supporting the Atlanta Rec Centers by joining the MLK rec center, really nice pool, ridiculously cheap. I had to bring a utility bill showing my name and address and my drivers license to prove residency and a money order or cashiers check for $110 for the year and there we go, I'm in. Good to have that on lock down.
I'm a little concerned about the pre-ironman training program I had planned on following. It just seems too light I guess. Heavy on strength training but light on actual swim, bike and run ironically enough. If I had followed the program, I wouldn't have even had a swim this week and frankly, I've got to get a base built before true training kicks in so I 'modified' it a bit. My thinking right now is that I'm going to supplement this program with the half ironman program that I had followed before that race. I definitely need to do the strength training but I need time on the bike, swim and run so I'll feel better mentally if I supplement it a bit. If I think I'm getting dead legs, I'll just cut back a bit. Anyone getting the sense that I'm kind of winging it right now? I do have my firm Ironman plan (i think), but this little break before march is a bit up in the air.
So here's how it shook out this week:
Monday Run: Treadmill run/walk intervals. 5 minute jog warm up, 5 minutes as high of elevation and as fast as you can walk (without holding on to rails) then 5 minutes of running. Continued pattern for an hour. The highest and fastest I could go without holding on was 3.6 and 10% incline. If I held on I could go higher and faster but that kind of defeats the purpose.
Tuesday Strength Training: 3 circuits -Lateral Hip Hikes - 12-15x, One Arm Overhead Lunge - 12-15x per leg, Glute Medius Band Walks - 12-15x, Balance Disc/Ball Alternating Overhead Press - 12-15x per side
Alternating Cable Rows - 15-20x per side
Alternating Cable Rows - 15-20x per side
Wednesday Bike: 50 minutes Computrainer with my triathlon bike. 20 minute gradual build to warm-up, then for the next 20 minutes alternate between 60 seconds at 70-80rpm and 60 seconds at 100-110rpm (HR no higher than Zone 4 for fast spin efforts). Finish with 3x4 minute hard climbs at 50-60rpm and high resistance. 4 minute recovery spin after each. 10 minute run after completion of ride.
Thursday Swim: My first swim at MLK, lane all to myself, perfect! I think I did 500 or 600 yards, frankly I lost count of the laps after 400 yards - the beauty of a 25 yard pool, it's a lot of counting...
Friday Yoga Strength: (Rodney Yee video). Best part of this day was my friend Paige came down to hang with me for a major haircut and meal. It was awesome to spend time chilling out with her and getting some of this weight off my head. I got a shoulder length, cutey cute (slightly) layered bob and it has been so nice not to have a huge ball of sweaty hair when I finish my workout!
Saturday - Rest!
Sunday 3 Runs - the triple run to get ready for Ragnar and running multiple legs with rests in between. I've got 2 done already: 5 miles starting at 5am, then breakfast, 4 miles starting at 11:30am, then lunch and finally I'm going to finish 3 miles around 4ish I think. So far this has been feeling pretty good today, my knee hurts a bit starting out but seems to ease out a bit as I get further along. I'm keeping up with my heart rate training and so far so good. Painfully slow but I know it's important to stick with it no matter how mentally painful it is. I've been running on the treadmill to really monitor my pace and heart rate so I've also been using my ipod. I NEVER run with an ipod outside so it's kind of a nice treat to have some music on these runs. Today I was feeling some Rock kicked off with Led Zeppelin Ramble On, Pat Ben Promises in the Dark and my power song was Unchained Van Halen.
