One of Twenty-Five

Monday, December 29th marked day 1 of my 25 week training. I don't quite know how I want to format this blog or this particular journal entry. I think I will just type and see what happens.

I'm currently on day 5 of week 1. My plan this week, was/is as follows:

Monday: Run 45 minutes, swim 2500 yds
Tuesday: Run 45 minutes, bike 60 minutes
Wednesday: Swim 1550 yds
Thursday: Bike 60 minutes
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Run 90 minutes slow, swim (I forgot the yds)
Sunday: Bike 90 minutes (can go longer if I made all this week's workouts comfortably)

So far, almost so good. Here is what really happened...

Monday: I had planned to run my 45 minutes at the gym but realized I left my sports bra at home (NOT GOOD), so instead I opted for a lower impact workout on the elliptical machine for 45 minutes. Then on to the swim. I completed the full workout and actually really enjoyed my time in the pool. Day 1 left me feeling determined and ready for the long haul. I'm ready to do this challenge and meet my goal!

Tuesday: This time I remembered my sports bra and off to the treadmill I went. 5 minutes into the run, I felt fine. I had music on my ipod, which was offering me a nice distraction from not getting anywhere fast on the treadmill. About 7 minutes in, I was losing all steam. I HATE RUNNING ON THE TREADMILL. My breathing was accelerated, I couldn't find the right "speed" setting, and I felt off. I would try to refocus, visualizing running in the IM or outside in Portland, and then, feeling like I had gotten somewhere, I'd look down and realize it had only been about 2 minutes since I last checked the time. UGH! It baffles me just HOW HARD it is to run on a stationary treadmill for time verses running outside. The mental endurance needed is often more then I usually want to give, so at 40 minutes I called the workout good and went in for the spin class at 24Hour. That was a great class! I set my watch (not wanting to cheat myself out of precious cardio minutes) and as expected only got 50 minutes of spinning in the class, so after the class, I hopped on one of the stationary bikes and rode for 15 minutes to make up for the minutes missed on the previous two workouts.

At the end of Day 2, I was feeling tired but good, and realized that no matter the weather, I need to run my running workouts OUTSIDE!

Wednesday: Completed the entire swim workout and actually really found myself enjoying the whole thing. When my last set was over, I was kind of bummed that I was done. I love swimming, especially when I get a lane or side of a lane to myself. Swimming is so meditative. There are no real sounds or distractions. Just the sound of my breathing and the thoughts in my head. I love it!

Day 3, doing great! Then New Years hit...

Thursday: Yep, never made it to the gym. Actually, never fully recovered enough to have enough energy so that a gym workout would have been productive. Ok, rest day is Thursday of this week and Friday = workout.

Now it is Friday and I must head off to the gym. More to come later...