With 14 weeks to go...

The KS 1/2 Ironman is 14 weeks away.

I started the "serious" training two weeks ago, but with a bit of a head cold, am four workouts behind. As I was explaining to Paul, my training partner, if I miss running or cycling, those will be skipped and the next workout will be done; with swimming, though, I feel I need to make those up to complete the plan. In actuality, then, I have only missed three of the swim workouts out of six--I know it sounds bad so far--which should be made up in the next few weeks (if I just try to add one additional swim in a week to get back on pace).

Yesterday, did my first run outside for the season--did 8.5 miles on country highways. My ankles felt beat up, but it was good to get outside...plus, had the best breakfast that I've had in a long time at the Heartland Cafe in Elkhorn.

This week I am going to try to fulfill every scheduled workout despite other life events on the calendar. Last week I finished with about seven hours of training time--had I been healthy, probably would have been close to nine or more. So far--mentally--feeling good and charged up about the process.

Other insight: it is looking like I WILL NOT be going to Europe this June which opens the door for a couple of other events to tackle...Cornhusker State Games triathlon or time trial and possibly the Mayor's triathlon in Papillion.

Try this...

I while back I saw a regular participant from one of my fitness classes chllin' in the locker room in a towel watching TV. I told him that my class was starting soon but he said that he just finished the "executive workout." Once he described what it was, I was determined to try it soon after.

A couple of weeks later I had made arrangements with my training partner to swim one Sunday morning. I was there on time, but Paul was not; so I sat in the jacuzzi hoping he would arrive soon. After 10 minutes, I was sure that he was not coming; and since it is always hard to be motivated about swimming for me, I decided to create my own "executive workout."

This week, Paul and I are a little under the weather. Yesterday, I skipped the morning workout (see yesterday's post); I had thought of making it up after swimming yesterday afternoon, but the congestion was just not going away. Knowing Paul was in a similar way, I suggested we do the "executive workout" to try to flush things out. He agreed to try it.

Here's what we did (approximately): 10 minutes in the hot tub; 10 minutes in the sauna; 10 minutes in the steam room; another 10 minutes in the sauna; and finishing with 10 in the hot tub.

It is a lot of sitting, but I felt spent afterward. This morning, I feel much better than I did yesterday. I still skipped this morning's workout, but feel a lot clearer in the head.

Time flies...

For the last three weeks or so, my wife has been battling through a sinus infection that has produced the most horrendous coughing that I have heard in a long time. She's a saint, though; at its worst she would choose to sleep on a couch in the basement to allow me the best night's sleep I could get. During this whole time, I've been knocking on wood as I have stayed ailment-free.

Well, the inevitable finally happened.

Last Thursday it started with a slight sore throat which turned into congestion over the weekend. So far, it hasn't really slowed me down. Today, though, it called my bluff.

Last night I taught a spin class and felt the clearest I had all day; but I knew that as soon as the class ended, my head would refill and it would be back to the box of Kleenex. Last night I was pretty wiped out. I went to bed at 9:00; but when the alarm went off at the usual time, it was hard to get up. I got dressed and ready to go, but before I knew it, the time was later than what I like to take off. It is like that this head congestion has slowed me enough that time goes by faster. I thought that I was getting ready at a pretty good pace, but I was definitely wrong.

So I made a choice this morning: take a morning off. I still hope to get a swim workout in this afternoon, and I thought that I may do a modified running workout to recover what I didn't do this morning.

So I feel I'm making that choice on my terms...not that I'm lazy which is typically the case. I have a pretty good opportunity to workout tonight since the rest of the family is busy with other things. So, hopefully, I'll make up the lost time, sit in the sauna and/or steam room, hit the whirpool, and be ready for tomorrow's weigh-in.

Tomorrow will be here before I know it.

Good and bad...

To keep a long story short--and to avoid getting upset--I had to sell our John Mayer tickets in favor of a middle school choir concert. I'll stop there.

Trainingwise, things went really well. Despite a busy schedule at school, I maintained the schedule well. Couldn't swim on Tuesday due to conferences and missed Centergy on Wednesday for the same reason, but kept everything else well. In fact, picked up a spin class Thursday afternoon for another instructor who took an impromptu trip, so I moved my planned core workout to this morning (Saturday) before covering Heather's spin class. I also ran afterward. I'm actually thinking about getting on the trainer when I get home from the shop, even though I admitted earlier today that I'm tiring of cycling this week.

Yesterday I swam for 30 minutes straight and felt pretty good. Did the same thing last Sunday, and thought then that I could have worked harder. So yesterday, I tried to pull harder and stronger through the latter laps and finished 30 laps in just over 30 minutes; so I held a one-minute per lap average consistently.

Tomorrow is 16 weeks out from Kansas--112 days! It really begins tomorrow!

And so it begins...

I've had a pretty good week, and a really nice swim this morning; plus, I was juiced to help out with LTF's Indoor Triathlon this year which put me in the mood to kick in the training for the season coming up. This coming week I am going to try to follow the schedule as best I can with conferences at school, but have no specified training plan per day. The rigorously structured workouts will begin next week.

To the right there is a general calendar of the nature of my workouts each week...mostly for Paul's info. There are more regimented workouts at those times, but those will vary from week to week, so I thought keep the information general as to not having to frequently update the information.

As the weeks go on, I hope to be better about keeping my blog up to date.