Week 4

Honestly, this was a tough week...half the time i was recovering still from tired reach the beach legs. but it went alright...nothing terrible (YET!).  I'm just glad i am sitting here and know i don't have to work tomorrow!!!!!!! 

Mon 5/21: TRX, STRETCH. Ouch, still feeling reach the beach. I can walk without people  thinking there’s something completely wrong with me at least.  Definitely surprised at how lovely I am recovering from such a large amount of running in a short period of time.

Tues 5/22:  70 min interval bike ride on the trainer (about 17 miles), 2 mile run (19 min).  Tried to get right back at it. Nothing exciting…except a code at work and frantic people. He was fine, no worries.

Wed 5/23: 2400 swim, TRX, Stretch.  I swam next to an old man in a speedo who slapped his arms really awkwardly. I tried to stay as close to the wall as possible.  I still have a free trial membership at BSC….might as well use the pool since I never use anything else besides the foam rollers at the gym. I hate gyms. Although the Boylston gym has some good looking guys there. Hmmmm.

Thursday 5/24:  4 mile run (34 min), 20 mile bike (1 hour 18 min). So, this week everyone’s in San Francisco for a conference (except me), so there were no invasive CPETs.  So, might as well take advantage and take a half day to play on my bike!  I ran in the morning before work and got here whenever I felt like it, then left at noon.  Weather was great.  Rode to the Charles river kayak place and back.  Too bad I couldn’t kayak with my bike? Huh?

Friday 5/25: designated OFF DAY!

Saturday 5/26: 46 mile bike (2 hours 50 min), 2.3 mile run (20 min).  I accidentally slept till around 9, but meant to get up earlier to start biking.  It was going to be a HOT day.  The bike wasn’t bad…..it kind of hurt in the beginning then I got into it.  I found a new place to ride in Sherborn along highway 27….large shoulder and great to just power it out.  On my way back I passed some dudes and one did not like it.  So he started to pass me but then I started killin it. He passed me at a few stop lights then I flew by him.  Oh competitive-ness.  See yah later.  After my ride….was a HOT run.  I weighed myself before and after these workouts to gladly find I only lost 1.2 pounds.  I felt like I was super dehydrated, but guess I did a better job than I thought.  Beer-ed it up while cleaning the house in the middle of the day, per usual.

Sunday 5/27:  9.4 mile run (1 hour 25 min).  This felt shitty for at least the first 4-5 miles.  Then I got over it and it was alright. Haha. This is definitely the longest run I have done in years I am pretty sure (at least since my half ironman).  I easily kept the pace just under 9 min miles, but surprised me a little since I knew my legs would be a bit tired from yesterday’s shenanigans.  Triathlon of the day included….this run, kayaking with the roomies, and stuffing my face with sushi. Happy long weekend J Kayaking is definitely a good arm workout..........i was surprised. hour and half out there! and got awkward shorts burn lines. really awkward.

Weekly Total 

2400 swim, 17.7 mile run (2 hours 38 min), 83 mile bike (5 hours 18 min), TRX x2 Not too bad. My legs are pretty sore...but all good kind of sore. no pains thus far!

Week 3/Reach the Beach Race Report

Week 3= ridiculous.  I'm surprised how well I've held up.  Beginning of the week=festivities to say goodbye to a friend, followed by a day of drinking recovery. Ya, so I'm training for an Ironman and I still go out. Who cares? I like to have fun.

Mon 5/14- Wed 5/16: nothing. oops.
Thurs 5/17: 65 min bike (about 15 miles). loosening up the legs before the big 200 mile relay

Fri 5/18-19: REACH THE BEACH! For those of you not familiar with this race....it's a total of 200 miles from Wachusett to Westport Ma. There are two vans, each with 6 people each on a team.  The vans basically play leap frog, but there's always at least one runner out on the rode until we reach the beach.  I was in van 2 with a fun crazy group of girls. So we didn't start until mid afternoon on Friday.  I was leg 8 (2nd in van 2), which totaled 22.4 miles in 3 legs. Last year when I did this i did the least amount of mileage and this year went up to the most. Crazy! My first leg was 7.6 miles (1 hour 4 min), which started with a lot of down hill.  I thought this would be amazing, but half way through my quads were KILLING. Then there was a giant up hill followed by another straight down. My legs were shot completely after that.  We crashed for a bit at one of the girl's house that was close by before heading back into the night for our 2nd leg.  My 2nd was an 8 miler.  Put it short, I liked this one despite tripping over a branch while passing this girl (the only person i passed mind you) and trying to make sure I don't miss the arrows. We all passed out for a few hours either in the van (me) or on the grass in front of a school before the final leg.  We were all hurting by now...and I was sure my legs would kill on my third leg (6.8 miles).  They definitely did but I held 8 45s and even had some beer around mile 4. After my leg, we really cranked up the STOKE...turned up the music.....put our dance moves on and brought home the rest of the girls in the van.  I have to admit, we were totally the popular party van. Call me maybe?
Great job to everyone on our team...totally rocked it.  This race = pain, weird bowels, no sleep, dead legs, but all in all....ridiculously awesome.

lots of singing...and dancing.

so stoked.

putting on a show for the cars.

Sun 5/20: a nice active recovery 2300 swim. I could hardly walk. quads and hammies hurt so good. One great thing...no back pain...no hip pain.. can't say how great that feels. for once.

Weekly TOTAL: 2300 swim, 65 min bike (15 miles), 22.4 mile run (3 hours 15 min)

ok, so bike lacked....but will be biking a lot this upcoming week. recovering swell so far.

Week 2

Week 2 COMPLETE! fun week. First time (real) mountain biking. Minimal swimming (not much of a priority as you can tell). 

Mon 5/7: swim 2400 yards, TRX. I have to admit, swimming felt crappy last week. Today it actually felt ok…more like semi drowning. Not to mention I forgot how fun it is to “race” the guy in the lane next to you.  More like me passing him, him not happy, then he “tried” to catch up and failed. More like it. J

Tues 5/8:  65 min interval work on the bike trainer (about 17 miles), 3 mile run (27 min).  Another early morning for the bike, ouch. I ended up working overtime at work, so couldn’t make it to run club. So I ran in the rain at home, which was kind of refreshing.  Legs feeling pretty sore from that combo of drinking/exercising a lot over the weekend.  Smooth move.

Wed 5/9:  75 min bike on the trainer (about 18 miles), STRETCH.  Weather was shitty, legs were sore, so why not a chill ride on the trainer? Sure. Trainer is boring, but I make it interesting sometimes by dancing …yeah probably horribly. At least you can close your eyes and rock out without getting hit by a car? 

Thursday 5/10:  5.4 mile interval run (50 minutes), stretch.   Honestly, woke up and felt pretty bad.  I also had to work over time (6am to 4pm), so wasn’t feeling like doing anything.  Went for it anyways….and now I feel so much better! I totally ate a few bugs, chaffed my arms, but was awesome

Friday 5/11: designated OFF DAY!

Saturday 5/12:  3.1 mile run (26 min), 21 mile bike (1 hour 40 min), TRX. Started the morning off with a nice run in perfect weather.  Then headed down to the south shore (first time) for a nice, relaxing ride with some friends (a few who are moving away soon).  The coast was beautiful and I hope to head back there sometime.  We finished up at an Irish pub in Hingham with beer and food. Then I came home and fell asleep. That tends to be the story. I always seem to wake up early now…my body is used to it during the week.  I’m getting so into training mode…so much that I felt like I should have done more when I got home. But sleep won that battle.

Sunday 5/13: 8.3 mile run (1 hour 15 min), 30 mile MOUNTAIN bike (2 hours 50 min).  So, I was NOT hungover this time around, so the run was a little more smooth and pleasant.  In case you all did not know, I got a pretty sweet mountain bike recently, but have not been able to get out on it yet.  There are some good trails around, but it’s all a 7-10 mile ride to just get to them.  I went with a friend of mine and played in Arlington trails. SO MUCH FUN! A lot of work though. I got into a fight with a branch and my pedals scratched me up pretty good a few times, but I loved it. What a different kind of workout…but a nice change from road riding.  Trail riding will definitely be in the mix for training to vary up things, no doubt.  I definitely almost fell a few times but managed to have my face not be on the ground (I still don’t have clips for my mountain bike quite yet).  Weekend weather ROCKED. took advantage, as you can tell.

Weekly Total : 2400 yard swim, 20.1 mile run (2 hours 58 min), 86 mile bike (6 hours 50 min), TRX x2

Solid increase in my running this week (record most ever in my life in one week).........next week is recovery, except i am doing reach the beach (200 mile relay running) and I have the LONGEST total legs of all 12 people (23 mile total). So next week will be a bit off of the training plan, but whatever. 

Week 1

Week 1 DONE!!!! I think I semi prepared myself to start this plan. The only big step up from before has been my biking...but that's no biggie. Running seems to be around the same. I'm a tad sore, but nothing crazy. Loving it.

Mon 4/30: swim 3000 yards, TRX. First swim since July (and the day of my bike accident too).  I didn’t have a planned workout, but just some random shit in my head. Freestyle felt ok (my lats hurt), but everything else felt uncomfortable and awkward. I think my hips went out of place while doing breastroke. Well, who cares…I only have to swim 2.4 miles of freestyle anyways! I paid 5 bucks to swim close to my house, so had to stay in the pool even though I was ready to get out at around 2200 yards. Did some TRX exercises and stretches before bed.

Tues 5/1: 65min interval bike on the trainer, 6.2 run (53 min), stretch. I actually woke up at 5am to do the bike. I cannot believe I got myself to get up.  I kind of had to in order to split the workout for today and do run club with some friends after work.  Was supposed to be a brick but whatever.  I actually prefer to run after biking, so guess I don’t need to get that used to it. I was supposed to do 20 min of running but ended up doing a fast hilly fun 10k with Marc instead. I’m bad at plans.

Wed 5/2: happy birthday Mom! The big 66. She doesn’t look it one bit. 39 for life, right? Did a more than expected route (28 miles, 1 hour 50 min…darn city riding sucks) following doctor Systrom up to Woburn/Winchester then down through Arlington.  City riding is rough, but once you are out it’s great.

Thursday 5/3: 2300 yard swim.  Got a free 30 day membership to a gym with a pool. So I swam. It was weird and the jets kept pushing me awkwardly. That’s all about that.

Friday 5/4: designated OFF DAY!

Saturday 5/5: 45 mile bike (2 hours 40 min), 2.2 mile run (20 min). run was easy did that in the morning (had time).  Then met up with Dr. Waxman and chased him for 45 miles….wow legs are toast. Nice ride to Medfield though…gotta love open roads!

Sunday 5/6: 7.1 mile run (1 hour 5 min), TRX. I went out the night before for the sending off of Lora and Erin (sadface) to PA school. None the less, I ran hungover. I like to think it’s good race day preparation…you just got to get through it.  Kept it in HR zone 2 best I could…considering. I ran by a fried dough stand (twice…there was a walk for hunger going on) and I almost threw up both times. Not to mention almost ran into a ton of walkers. After 3 miles I found my rhythm and it was fine….dehydrated yes. Sore yes. Worth the tequila? YES!

Weekly Totals: 5300 yard swim, 90 mile bike (5 hours 35 min), 15.3 mile run (2 hours 17 min), TRX x3

Looking forward to another good week...and a goodbye Erin bike ride :(