Week 1 Training Summary

This week I realized what I had been missing over the past 6 months. I missed the daily consistency of working out. I really enjoy being able to work out...maybe even more so now that I have had that opportunity taken away from me for quite some time. I don't know exactly how long I'm going to be able to train like I do for triathlons. One of the few most important factors to how long I continue to try to compete as a professional triathlete is whether or not I continue to enjoy the training. If there comes a time when the training isn't fun it will be time for me to find something else to do with that time. For now that is far from the case. For my first week of training I was right at 15 hours of total training time. My achilles tendon felt great through all of it. Dan White, my neighbor and friend who is a physical therapist at Rock Valley had set me up on a rehab plan with a goal of being free of all training limitations on November 1st and I believe the plan was executed perfectly. For the week I ran 30 miles, biked 75 miles, and swam 9,300 yards. It was the first time I had been on a bike or in the pool in nearly a month. That was the longest I had gone without swimming or biking in over two years. In addition to getting those numbers in the 3 disciplines of triathlon I also spent time lifting weights three times, doing lunges three times, plyometrics twice, core work 7 times, and speed drills, strides, and push-ups all three times. I expected to be more sore than I am. I never felt bad through this week. It will take me about one more week before I really start feeling the workouts pay off. The body has to adapt to the training and then the benefits can be felt. I did one track workout this week consisting of 8x 400's with a 1 minute rest after each. I averaged 76 seconds and it felt very easy. I started my first one at 79 and cut down each one to 70 on the last one. I also did a 3 mile tempo run on Friday from our hotel in Nashville, TN as Jen and I were at a friends wedding there over the weekend. Tempo runs on treadmills are one of my favorite workouts and one of the only things I enjoy doing on the treadmill. It is easy to control the pace and I like to run it getting progressively faster throughout. My mile splits were 6:08, 5:56, and 5:43. This week I will continue building the base while increasing my running mileage slightly. I will also begin working out with our high school swim team on Thursdays and Saturdays. They have a new coach who I'm excited to have look at my swim stroke. I know their practices will be really tough but I enjoy getting my butt kicked by kids half my age. My confidence will grow with each workout little by little. I'm anxious to go for week 2. Thanks for reading. DREAM BIG!