Weekly Training Record

This is a topic that will likely bore a lot of people. But since I don't expect many people to actually read my blog, I'm going to try and post this information regularly anyway, mostly to keep me honest and to go on the record with what I've done/not done. And frankly, I like to read this kind of thing about other people who are like me, as in, not the uberfit super competitive athletes (or as I like to think of us, the mere mortals who also take place in sport). So read on if you're interested, and skip this post if you're not.

Taking it pretty easy this week with training. It’s partly because of the race last weekend, but also because I had another migraine on Monday, despite being very careful about things that have emerged as potential triggers. But taking it easy doesn’t mean sitting still. On Tuesday I took the bike out for a spin. I did my favorite hill near work twice, before zipping around to a flatter section of road to try out a bit of higher intensity intervals. I have much more confidence on the bike than last year, but only slightly more speed. But I have time to build that up, at least a bit, before my goal race. Then on Wednesday I went to the pool. I really needed some comfortable time in the water. I didn’t do too much distance (600 m), but again, did a bit of speed work. It was a bit depressing actually. My fast 50m is only about 10 seconds faster than my much more leisurely 50 m. I realize that that adds up, but since going fast tires me out so much more quickly, I think I’ll aim for swimming my goal race at my leisurely pace so that I can actually finish it! And my easy swim pace should get faster as I do more speed work, right? I had been planning on hitting the gym for some strength training on Thursday, but my little guy got a bit of a cut on his head on Weds evening (enough that we headed to urgent care to get it looked at) and so had trouble sleeping that night. Fast forward to the next day, and I was wrecked. So a quick change in plans and I was swimming again on Thursday afternoon. A slow session intended to 1) build up my distance and 2) work on my flip turns and swim form. And then on Friday the weather was so brilliant that I opted for a 10 km in the trails with fartleks. I love running in Pacific Spirit Park. It is one of my favorite things about Vancouver. Saturday we went for a family bike ride from our house to the local MEC to get a new sun hat for my little guy. And Sunday the plan is to either go and do some hill running or play around with my new tri bike shoes. I bought new cleats and they are attached, but not adjusted, so I need to spend some time getting them just right. As you can see, my approach to training is pretty flexible. It has to be, for various reasons that I’ll talk about in a separate post in the near future.