Week 2 Training Summary

The toughest part of getting in shape is always the first few weeks. For me it's primarily the first 10 days. I think staying consistent in working out every day makes the process faster. If you are just beginning the journey to get in shape stick with it. It will come. I know from previous experience that it always takes me a couple weeks before things start clicking and this year has been no different. I can promise you if you stick with a routine and are consistent in working out every day it will come...guaranteed! I began to feel much more in shape this week. I can feel my body changing already. I weighed in at 165 lbs. this morning. 2 weeks ago I was 172 lbs. My younger brother Josh has done an awesome job of arranging a weight loss competition that 22 people have entered in. It's a great way to keep people motivated to eat healthy and exercise regularly for the next 13 weeks with a goal that they will make the changes permanent. I did my official 1st weigh in for this first competition on New Year's Eve after a HUGE dinner with Jen and friends. I came home feeling overly stuffed and knew this would be my peak weight for the year and I was right...179. For the week my total training time was 24 hours. I spent the majority of my time in the pool swimming 24,600 yards during the week. I increased my bike and run mileage over last week to 130 miles and 36 miles respectively. I also lifted weights three times, did speed drills, strides, lunges, jump rope, and push-ups all three times, plyometrics twice, and core work nine times. Getting in good running shape has been the toughest part probably because my mileage is still much lower than it will be later in the year. I'm being careful with how quickly I increase that component. I did do some 7x2 minute intervals hard with a 1 minute easy period between each on Wednesday just to get the legs going again and I did my tempo run this week of 3 miles in 17:42. My best training day came on Saturday when I swam 4,800 yards with our high school team in the morning and then got together with my training buddy Adam Bohach for the first time this year. We rode our bikes outside...yes...outside in January in Iowa! I don't recall having ever done that but the temperature was about 35 degrees and it was great riding with Adam again. We went for 1 hr. 40 minutes and then got off the bike and ran 6 miles. Running with Adam is always tough for me because he is a tremendous runner. He is in awesome shape already. I'm really excited to be able to train with Adam this year and watch him build on the success he had last year culminating with his great race in Kona. His best races are yet to come. He has run a 2 hr. 26 minute open marathon and he is so tough I think he will close out an Ironman in 2:4x something this year. This week will be a little tougher since it will be my first week back training with a full work week. I have not used a couple of my training times yet in the first couple weeks...like morning rides and prep period runs. As I increase the volume I will take advantage of those times to get extra work in. I'm excited that my wife Jen is beginning to run again and her achilles tendon seems to be making great progress. She battled through it last year and took a long break to let it heal. It still isn't great but the progress she's making has me excited to watch her race again! It was great to see 10 people besides myself at Stacey and Tara's swim clinic on Sunday. I love watching these people improve at each monthly clinic. I'm amazed by the progress I've seen. It's really cool to watch people work hard towards their goals and begin to realize the goals they once thought were impossible are anything but that! Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!