Feeling Fitter...week 2 of the Comeback

I really started feeling a difference in my fitness this week. I began the week with a day off on Monday after driving home from the wedding last weekend. After enjoying the day of rest with the family Monday I got going pretty well the rest of the week. I put in 4+ hour training days on Tuesday and Wednesday and was feeling pretty tired after a track workout and 50 mile ride on Thursday. Friday I was rejuvenated with a great massage from Laurel Darren. It was amazing how great I felt through nearly 10 hours of training over the weekend after getting the massage. It helped me to recover and get ready for the big weekend of training. Laurel is running an awesome special on 3 one hour massages...$100.00 gets you all 3. You won't find a better deal for 3 great massages and you'll feel awesome after each one. Contact Laurel at 309-230-2484 to book the appointments. I also paid a visit to Dr. Kaminski at Kaminski Pain and Performance Care on Friday because my lower back was pretty sore and he got that fixed immediately. It wasn't an issue all weekend. For the week totals I biked 290 miles, ran 24 miles, and swam 5 days for a total of 16,200 yards. I also lifted weights and did lunges, strides, and push-ups 3 times, core work 7 times, and speed drills twice. My total training time was 26 hours. When I got home from my ride yesterday Jen looked at me and said, "I can tell you are losing weight. Are you feeling fitter?" My answer was a definite YES! I had just been thinking minutes earlier on the bike how I was feeling in so much better shape than even a week ago. It is one more reason to stay consistent through the early struggles that beginning training will certainly bring. When I got on the scale this morning it read 162, down 5 lbs. from last week and down 11 in my first two weeks of training. That puts me at about the same weight I raced a year ago. I had a couple great running workouts this week. I went to the track on Thursday morning to run 4x 800 meters with 90 seconds rest between each. I was targeting a time of 2:45 (5:30/mile pace). I went 2:43, 2:44, 2:39, and 2:33. On Saturday morning I got my longest ride since the comeback of 72 miles and then went straight to the pool for a swim. That night I ran the 4 mile Moonlight Chase in Eldridge with Jen and we went 24:09 (6:02 pace). The pace didn't feel nearly as tough as I expected and Jen tied for 2nd place overall against a tough field. It was fun getting to run with her for the first time in many months. My legs did not feel like I had ridden 72 miles earlier in the day and I know that is a sign that my fitness is coming back when I start recovering that well. My achilles was a little sore afterwards so I didn't run on Sunday. I did a couple 5k (3.1 mile) time trials on the bike Friday night on a road I've done them on before. Last year I did 4 of them with an average time of 7:10. My best time ever through the course had been 6:50. Friday night I did the first one in 6:22 (29.2 mph average). I was pretty excited about that because the wind was only 5 mph at my back. The time I've spent in the weight room has no doubt helped my cycling ability. I do realize however that 5k is not a very long ride and I have a long way to go before I'm where I need to be over the 56 mile 1/2 Ironman bike distance. Next weekend I'm going to test my fitness in a sprint triathlon in Door County, Wisconsin. I signed up for both the sprint on Saturday and the 1/2 Ironman on Sunday not knowing if I'd be ready for a 1/2 Ironman yet. I'll debut the Superman Cape on Saturday in the sprint and then recover as best as possible to do the swim and bike leg of the 1/2 Ironman on Sunday. I'm certainly not ready to run 13.1 miles yet so the run leg is out of the question. I'll use the swim and bike legs as great training and necessary experience. I'll try to post a race report from the sprint on Saturday evening from the hotel. We used to have our cross country runners do an intrasquad meet after 3 weeks of training when I was coaching. I'm using this Door County race to test where my fitness is at the end of my first 3 weeks of training. Thanks for reading. DREAM BIG!