Week 15 Summary

It's hard for me to believe it's already been 15 weeks of training. The preseason training is winding down as races are quickly approaching. I couldn't be more excited for the races to be here. I absolutely love offseason training. It is a great opportunity to focus 100% on getting in shape and making huge improvements without worrying about being rested for races and then recovering after races. I love having these long stretches to train without racing. Every offseason I've gone through has allowed me to get stronger and improve significantly. I was worried about starting my training later in the year than I ever had previously. Each of the past 3 years I began training in the first couple weeks of November. This year because I raced Ironman in late November I didn't begin training until December 26th. Despite being the latest I've ever started training this is the best shape I've ever been in as we hit the month of April. That even includes last year when I was gearing up for a May Ironman. As the week began I was swimming my usual Tuesday swim and I was doing a set of 200's on 3:00. I was coming in around 2:50 which I was not pleased with. For the past couple weeks my swimming has been very flat. I've been able to put the yards in but my quality sets were simply just about surviving and making the times. I have not had a very strong workout in the pool since my spring break week. During my 4th 200 on Tuesday I realized I needed to step away from the pool for awhile to let my body adapt to all the swimming I've done through the first 15 weeks. I got out of the water and proclaimed it was time for a 1 week swim break. I'm excited to return to the water tomorrow where I will begin a new focus on technique as I prepare another big swim build that will lead into summer racing. I'm excited for another swim clinic this upcoming weekend at Augustana College. Anyone is welcome to attend the clinic which goes from 11 a.m to noon at the Augie pool. Coaches Stacey and Tara do an awesome job of teaching technique and evaluating swim strokes at the clinic. These clinics are sponsored by Xterra Wetsuits and everyone who attends will be entered in a raffle for a chance to win some great Xterra products including a wetsuit that will be raffled off at the last clinic in May or the 1st clinic in June. If you haven't purchased a wetsuit for the 2012 season yet you are welcome to use my Xterra pro discount code of SA-JPAUL to save 60% off a Vector Pro or Vortex 3 wetsuit. It's pretty sweet that they allow me to share this with people. Simply enter that code at checkout and they will knock 60% off the price! One lucky winner at the swim clinic will also be given a free entry into the sold out Quad Cities Triathlon. If you would like more information on the clinic e-mail me and I can get you in touch with Stacey or Tara. The cost of the monthly clinic is $30.00. They typically begin by reviewing past drills, analyzing the stroke of all attendees while giving feedback. Then they will teach new drills and have a short hard set for all of us to complete. They give a packet of workouts you can complete over the month if you need guidance with how to set up swim workouts. They also stay after the clinic for 30 minutes if you want more individual guidance or have questions for them. It's been great watching the clinic grow. It's perfect timing for me as I get back in the water this week and want to make sure I refind the correct swim stroke. For week 15 I had my highest run mileage yet this year with 70 running miles. I backed off the bike mileage focusing on good quality efforts. Wednesday night's group ride was a killer but it was 44 miles of painful fun out in the wind. I'm excited to be less than 2 weeks from my season opener which will be a sprint distance race down in Sullivan, Illinois. We had a great Easter and I opted not to count calories all weekend. When I got on the scale Monday it was a good reminder of why I need to continue counting calories. This week is planned to be a pretty big week after a modest week 15. Thanks for reading! DREAM BIG!!