Week 1 training for the 2012 triathlon season is in the books. It began on Midnight last Monday morning. It was a tough week as I expected after taking my longest complete training break in nearly 3 years. I was sore from my first run of only 4.5 miles and the soreness pretty much stuck with me through the end of the week. For the week my total training time was 21 hrs. 15 minutes which is higher than I would normally ever do in my first week back but it was because I wasn't working this week and I took advantage of the extra time I had. I stay very strict to my running goals because of the 3 disciplines in triathlon the run is the one with the biggest risk of injury. I planned to run 30 miles and that is exactly what I hit with 5 days of running. My "long" run is currently at 8 miles. I will slowly build that through the winter and spring and hope to be at about 15-16 miles by the time June rolls around. My only Ironman of the year isn't until next November so I won't put in the serious long runs until the summer. I biked 90 miles this week in 5 rides. I probably could have gone over that but I want to allow myself to gradually increase that total as well over the next few months. I spent almost all of my extra time in the pool. I swam 25,800 yards this week which I think was my highest week since the one year in college when I joined the swim team at Augustana due to an injury that was keeping me from running indoor track that year. I swam 5 days with 4 of them being with our high school team. I love swimming with those kids. It is nice to have a group to swim with since 90% of my swims are alone once their season ends. I felt like I got much stronger through the week in the pool. On Friday we did a Lactate set of 5x 100's on 5:00 so the rest was high but the swims were designed to hold your best average...in other words they were very painful. We did a very similar set last year about 6 weeks into my training and I averaged 1 min. 10 seconds for each one. This year I averaged 1 minute 6 seconds for each one. I feel like every year my swimming has improved with last year being my biggest improvements after I began working witih Stacey Zapolski. She did a great job of helping me with my technique. Next Sunday Stacey is hosting the next clinic at the Augustana College pool from 11:30-12:30. The clinic sessions meet every month. I went last month and found it very beneficial. The cost is $30.00 for the monthly session. Most of the swimmers were relatively new to triathlons. Stacey and her friend Tara are both at the session to give technique feedback to all the swimmers. They show drills you can do to help fix technical errors in your swim stroke. Anyone is welcome to attend. They also gave out a list of workouts for the swimmers to do during the month in case they were looking for some guidance on what to do for swim workouts. The feedback I got from the people who have been going to the clinic was great. It is fun watching them improve. Let me know if you want more details and I can get you Stacey's e-mail address. The biggest thing they emphasized to me last month was that my kick was not smooth and I actually swing one leg out wide when I breath. This disrupts the rhythm of my stroke and creates more drag in the water when that leg sticks out too far. I have been concentrating on that aspect since last month's clinic and although it is not completely fixed I hope they can tell I've made progress next week when I get my stroke feedback from Stacey and Tara. Improving my swim is one of my biggest goals of the 2012 season. In my first year competing professionally the biggest thing I learned is that the swim is more important than just the time. If I can't get out of the water with some other strong riders it makes the bike ride much tougher because I'm by myself. One of my training goals is to increase my average swim yards per week to 15,000 yards. That includes all my race weeks, taper weeks, and rest weeks. Last year my average swim total throughout the entire season was 12,400 yards.
In addition to the swimming, biking, and running this week I also was back in the weight room lifting three times, did speed drills, strides, lunges, jump rope, and push-ups all three times, plyometrics twice, and core work 12 times. I also started eating healthy which is tough around the holidays. I was able to go 6 days of junk free eating and had one day where I couldn't resist the temptations.
I went with my older brother Justin to the YMCA pool on Thursday and watched him swim with his new Xterra Vector Pro wetsuit. Justin got this suit at a discounted rate of 63% off by using my discount code of SA-JPAUL. I had him swim 10x 50 yards on 1:15 Tuesday without the suit and then we did the same set on Thursday with the suit on. I was amazed by how much time he dropped. He averaged swimming the 50's in 51 seconds on Tuesday without the suit. On Thursday in his new Vector Pro suit he averaged 41.5 seconds. That's a crazy amount of time to drop with the suit on. It shows that even in a sprint distance race it is more beneficial for almost everyone to be in a wetsuit unless the swimmer already swims with near perfect technique without the suit. I'm excited to watch him improve in his 2nd year competing in triathlons. As for myself, I still feel very out of shape. Running is by far the discipline I notice it most probably because I weigh more than I have in quite some time. I know that will get easier soon especially as I drop weight. Right now I don't feel like I am running with any kind of rhythm. When I'm in shape mileage runs are effortless...not right now. Every step is uncomfortable. Typically I start feeling better after 10 days of training so that should be the middle of this week. This week I'm planning to add about 5 miles to my weekly run total, 10 miles to my bike total, and my swim yards will be cut down some since I go back to work on Wednesday. As the new year begins I hope all of you have put some thought into your fitness goals for the year. If you need some motivation to stay active through the new year check out all the great fitness stories of people like yourself at www.liveuncommon.org I'm super excited for the Revolution to take effect in year 2 of Live Uncommon. Set high goals for yourself this year and work like crazy to achieve them. Thanks for reading. DREAM BIG!!
In addition to the swimming, biking, and running this week I also was back in the weight room lifting three times, did speed drills, strides, lunges, jump rope, and push-ups all three times, plyometrics twice, and core work 12 times. I also started eating healthy which is tough around the holidays. I was able to go 6 days of junk free eating and had one day where I couldn't resist the temptations.
I went with my older brother Justin to the YMCA pool on Thursday and watched him swim with his new Xterra Vector Pro wetsuit. Justin got this suit at a discounted rate of 63% off by using my discount code of SA-JPAUL. I had him swim 10x 50 yards on 1:15 Tuesday without the suit and then we did the same set on Thursday with the suit on. I was amazed by how much time he dropped. He averaged swimming the 50's in 51 seconds on Tuesday without the suit. On Thursday in his new Vector Pro suit he averaged 41.5 seconds. That's a crazy amount of time to drop with the suit on. It shows that even in a sprint distance race it is more beneficial for almost everyone to be in a wetsuit unless the swimmer already swims with near perfect technique without the suit. I'm excited to watch him improve in his 2nd year competing in triathlons. As for myself, I still feel very out of shape. Running is by far the discipline I notice it most probably because I weigh more than I have in quite some time. I know that will get easier soon especially as I drop weight. Right now I don't feel like I am running with any kind of rhythm. When I'm in shape mileage runs are effortless...not right now. Every step is uncomfortable. Typically I start feeling better after 10 days of training so that should be the middle of this week. This week I'm planning to add about 5 miles to my weekly run total, 10 miles to my bike total, and my swim yards will be cut down some since I go back to work on Wednesday. As the new year begins I hope all of you have put some thought into your fitness goals for the year. If you need some motivation to stay active through the new year check out all the great fitness stories of people like yourself at www.liveuncommon.org I'm super excited for the Revolution to take effect in year 2 of Live Uncommon. Set high goals for yourself this year and work like crazy to achieve them. Thanks for reading. DREAM BIG!!
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