Workout Summary

Louisville IM is just over 7 months away and training is starting to pick up a bit.  Matt (my coach) usually provides 3 or 4 weeks of workouts at a time for me.  When I got the latest round of workouts I got so excited because there were some longer swim distances and some challenging runs - some hill workouts and also a 10K race.  Is it weird to get excited for workouts?  :)

There is always something in the workout that is going to challenge me.  For example, last week I had a 6 mile, hilly run where one of the hills on the course was a mile long.  Matt’s comment in the plan was “attack the hills”.  Now normally when I come to a hill, I do just the opposite of attacking it – hills have never been a strong point for me so I knew this was going to be a challenge.  First the mental side of it – I thought “really, he wants me to attack this thing – I don’t know how that’s going to go” – there was some doubt in my mind.   Second, the physical aspect of it – can I really “attack this hill” – do I have the strength and endurance to do this?  So, imagine my surprise when I was running up it at a hard effort and about  ¾ of the way up I realized I was actually running great and felt really good (maybe a little nauseous but nothing too serious).  I was pretty giddy when I got to the top – goofy smile on my face and giving myself a “woo hoo” outloud!  I’m sure that guy I passed going the other way wonders what the big deal was. :) 

Here’s how last week’s workouts shook out :

Monday:          Swim 2300 meters,   Bike 24.2 miles,         Run 2 miles

Tuesday:         Run 6.2 miles,          Strength 30 minutes,  Core/Stretch 30 minutes

Wednesday:    Swim 2500 meters,   Bike 15.5 miles,         Run 2 miles

Thursday:        Run 4.5 miles,          Strength 30 minutes,  Core/Stretch 30 minutes

Friday:            Swim 2300 meters,   Bike 14.7 miles

Saturday:        Bike 40 mile,            Run 2 miles

Sunday:          Hike 8 miles

Total Miles:

Swim 7100 meters

+ Bike 94.51 miles

+ Run 16.7 miles

+ Hike 8 miles

 123.81 miles

Total Workouts:  17

Total Hours:  18
 

How do you get through something that you aren't sure you can do?  For me, if it is a workout I usually fret about it and work my stomach into a knot, and then I just jump in and get it done.