Week 14 in Review

Another week down – and only 4 more until I am in the true Base Phase of my training program.  Somehow a I approach 200 days until my Ironman I am starting to realize this is real.  All the more as I prep for the move to Base training.  Where I will no longer have the flexibility to just substitute workout or push them from one day to the next.  Where I will need to remain focused on the workout(s) of the day, committed to putting in the time, miles or laps at the designated intensity.

But, as much as its starting to come into focus, that focus is still a few weeks away, and in the meantime I will continue to enjoy my workouts as less structured, fun and flexible.

Looking back on the week, I enjoyed it.  My 3rd week back working.  Things at the office are definitely settling into a bit of a routine.  Mondays at home are still a work in progress… trying to suss out exactly how they will work.  I generally am busy with scheduled calls and work I need to plow through.  I put my head down and focus — and all of sudden the day is over.

From a workouts perspective, the biggest issue I am wrestling with is running.  Or should I say the motivation to get out the door in the mornings.  I stare at my bike on the trainer… and then compare that to the thought of getting dressed in tights, jacket and toque to run on the streets in the dark and cold… and every time my bike wins out! So, like last week, I only got one run in this week, and it was a relatively short (8km) interval effort.  I definitely need to get some more focus back on my running… and commit to myself that despite the cold I will not cave and ride my bike instead.

On the positive front, I have reached out to a friend who coaches — to see about giving me some support to drive my 10km run time down to 40 minutes from my 43-45 min personal best I hold.  She’s in a bit of a busy time right now… but has committed to helping me design a program to do just that.  I owe her a 1 mile time trial time (which I have a course picked out to do it on)… but otherwise it’s just a matter of her being a little less busy.  Once I get the program, I am confident it will provide me with just the right kick in the arse to make sure I am out the door running — and not sitting on my bike instead.

Swimming this week was also fun… Finished off the swim analysis program with a video review (Tue) and then drills session at the GTC Swim night (Wed).  I can honestly say there is nothing like having the ability to look at yourself in the pool, to understand the kinds of changes you need to make in your body position or stroke.  It’s a remarkably effective tool.  I can’t believe I haven’t found a way to do this before now.  I am so happy to have gone through the effort… and look forward to leveraging the information to improve my stroke…

And yesterday (Saturday) I hopped in the pool to put that theory to the test.  I brought Will and his cousin, Lila, with me… Instead of focusing simply on putting in laps, I thought more consciously about what I needed to work on.  Really focusing my mind on lengthening my stroke, swiveling my hips in time with my shoulders, keeping my chin forward, and kicking – without a pause in my kick that creates drag.  I ended up doing a mix of drills and straight swimming… 2x 250m with paddles (my lats are sore!), and 10x 25m of kicking.  Yes… kicking.  My nemesis.  I will conquer it eventually.

And finally, from a nutrition / weight loss standpoint, I netted slightly lower this week.  Had a good week of food-intake – focused on balancing protein (meat!) and vegetables and fruit.  Making sure to keep portions under control as well.  And despite the long hours at the office / commuting, eating healthy by putting good foods in the freezer in advance, or making sure that I have good quick dinner options available to me in the fridge.  My weigh in this morning was slightly higher than the few days prior — but I chalk that up to a rest day Friday and a swim-only day on Saturday.  Nonetheless, I was still down 500g from the prior Sunday.  And almost fully down to my target 165lbs!   Just another 3lbs to go.  Totally doable in the 4 weeks I have remaining of “Foundations” training.

Training (summary for week ending 29/01/2012) –

• Hours training:   7,5 Hrs
• Swim distance: 5,650m
• Bike Distance:  128 kms
• Run Distance:  8 kms
• Weight lost:  23.3 lbs total (Weight on Sunday AM – 168 lbs)

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