One Week Down, Thirty-three to Go

One week in and I am feeling pretty good. I think it has a lot to do with the training I got in October through December. Getting ready for a race like this doesn't really allow for an official off season. I prefer to call it the "train less than you normally would" season. At the same time I'm a long way out. I'm reminded of the guy I saw holding a sign a few minutes into the Harrisburg Marathon two years ago. It said, "Keep it up! Only 26 miles to go." So, I feel good now, but this is still the calm before the storm.

The only workouts that I had to modify this week were the swim sessions. First, I'm not ready to swim the distance in the plan and secondly, I don't have enough time in the morning to get the whole session in. I'm not too worried about that right now though. I'm just want to keep working on swim technique and make sure I don't hurt my shoulders or arms with too much volume too quickly.

The bike training sessions have gotten better. It basically comes down to finding a way to distract yourself from the monotony of spinning and not going anywhere. Interval sessions go by quickly as I'm constantly working hard and then recovering, but the long low-intensity rides seem to take forever. This has been alleviated by sorting our DVD collection by running time of the movies. Now I just have to match up my workout to the length of a movie and I'm set. All I'm missing is a bucket of popcorn, a giant box of Raisinets and 64oz. of Coke to wash it all down. Remember, caloric intake on the bike is the key to a successful Ironman.

Lastly, running still feels good. I got in a great lactate threshold run at that high school track on Thursday and ran six consecutive sub-8:00 miles. The last one I turned in was a 6:59 which made my week. The past few days have been a challenge just due to the plummeting temperatures, but I've made it out. It was about 15 degrees when I started out this morning, but nine miles later I am glad that I got workout in. All said and done, I logged about 11.5 hours training this week.

Next week actually looks more manageable than week one which gives me more confidence. I try not to look too far ahead as I'm afraid of what I'll see on my training calendar. For now I'll look a week down the road and take it day by day.