Week 4 Training Summary

What a difference a week makes. Last week I was really struggling with motivation, being sick, and a super busy schedule outside of work and training. This week was much more back to normal. I had a total of 21 hours training time. I ran 46 miles, biked 135, and swam 17,600 yards. I also lifted weights and did plyometrics twice, did lunges, speed drills, jump rope, and push-ups all three times, and core work 11 times. On Wednesday I went to Augustana to work out with my alma mater. I was pretty scared for this workout. I've gone there in the winter the past few years but I've always been much later into my training and in better shape to do these workouts. I decided to go because of the energy that surrounds the track and field program at Augustana. It's pretty contagious and I knew it would be good for me to get my butt kicked into shape a bit. The workout went much better than I expected. We warmed up 4.5 miles and then ran 1x 1.25 miles alternating every 200 meters between 35 seconds (4:40/mile pace) and 45 (6:00 mile pace). It was tough changing gears down to 4:40 pace but I managed to hit the 1.25 miles almost dead on. Then we had 2 minutes rest before doing 2x 600 meters at 1:45 (4:40 pace) with 1 minute rest. Those were both tough since it has been awhile since I've run that fast. I ran 1:45 and 1:46. Then we finished with 4x600 meters at 5:00 pace (1:53). I struggled on the first two because I was shot from the fast 600's. I was 1:56, and 1:55 but then bounced back for a 1:53 and a 1:52. The workout was a great confidence builder and made me realize that sometimes attempting something you think will be "impossible" will make you realize how much you are really capable of. This weekend I got together with Adam Bohach for another great training weekend. Saturday we rode 1 hr. 50 minutes and then did an hour run off the bike that was at a pretty quick pace. I could really tell that my running has gotten much better over the past 4 weeks. Adam just got his professional card in the sport of triathlon making it 6 of us (guys) from Iowa. He finished 2011 ranked #1 in the USA as an amateur in the 25-29 age group!!! I'm looking forward to having a great training partner around and we hope to push each other to our best finishes ever this summer.
After my frustrations of week 3 and then not losing any weight this week I decided to look back at my last 4 years of training (counting this year) to see how my first 4 weeks compared. I'm way ahead of the past 3 years first 4 weeks. I have averaged 20,500 swim yards/week compared to a previous best of 13,500 through the first 4 weeks. My bike average is 115 miles/week and I had not previously averaged over 100 in the first 4 weeks. My run average this year is 38 miles/week and that ties for what I averaged last year through 4 weeks. As for my weight (which I was most frustrated with) I have lost 8 lbs. in the first 4 weeks which is tied for the most I lost over the first 4. All this tells me I have nothing to worry about. Although the 4 weeks comes much later this year I'm not racing in 2012 until later either so I have plenty of time to get into peak fitness. I've found from previous years I don't lose as much weight early on because I am adding muscle to my frame which offsets the fat I'm losing. I hope the goals you are working toward in 2012 are going well. Keep plugging away even when it seems you are not making progress...sometimes I think getting through those weeks are what makes you toughest in the end. Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!