Swim test

Yesterday I was supposed to do a swim fit test, to establish where I am physically to start the year. I took my run test weeks ago and did pretty well, same with my bike test.

I dread going swimming when it's cold outside, or I'm cold. With the cold front that came through, I had little trouble talking myself out of going. Since I was supposed to send my times to coach, I had to fess up. She didn't say anything, but I felt guilt all night.

I decided that last night I would skip the scheduled run to do the swim. Again today I was cold and feared I would talk myself out of going again today. I was busy all morning, and watching the clock tick away I knew each passing minute increased the odds I would skip again.

Finally around 3 I put on my suit, grabbed my bag and headed out. I finished the test and reported them to coach even if they weren't that good. It is clear to me where I need to spend some time - my cardio just isn't up to par right now, but I knew that already.

The big news is that I came home, changed again, and headed out the door for a 6 mile run. It was my first double workout of the season and I'm beat!

So now I'm sitting here watching football with the dogs in my lap, trying desperately to stay awake until bedtime. The dogs are snoring, why can't I?

10 Minutes

I’m two weeks into my training for 2011.  Foolishly I thought that as soon as I started training again the weight I’d gained would just drop off like magic.  No such luck!  My training schedule is too light, I’m still not strictly following my diet, and fat doesn’t melt off like that.

Coach is bringing me back gradually, which means I only train on one discipline a day, and at that the sessions aren’t that hard.  Looking ahead at the next couple of weeks I see more of the same.  Although she is “easing me back into it”, I’m pushing the limits of what she schedules.  If she says ride for 1.5 – 2 hours, rest assured I’m riding 2 hours.  If she says run a mile at 8-9 minute/mile pace I’m doing the fastest I can that is within the schedule range.

I’m not trying to ignore her directions, nor have I lost confidence in her.  In fact it is quite the opposite.  I figure she is giving me a range for a reason, and that is to allow my some flexibility to listen to my body.  As long as my body is holding up I’m going for the maximum she schedules.

I’ve had a couple of rides, all on club rides and on my road bike.  The average pace of those rides hasn’t been as blistering as it felt, probably because there are a lot of start and stops along the way.  I did better last weekend as my fitness gradually improves.  Although I was unable to stick with the breakaway group when we hit the sprint section, and again found myself in no man’s land, I beat half the group to the sprint finish.  I also had a better day than all but two of the group of 7, and those guys have been doing this ride for a long time.

The running is also going well.  I started off on a 6+ mile easy run only to discover when I was done that I was running negative splits for the entire time, with most of the run between 8 and 8:30 pace.  I also dropped down to 7:10 for a mile near the end.  That last mile seemed very fast.  Hopefully it won’t feel so fast as we get further into the season!

I’ve done a fit test on the bike and run, and both were better than last year.  My run speed was a full minute better than last year at this time, and the bike power was also higher.  In theory I should be at last year’s end of season speeds in a few months, and get better from there.  I hope so, my first real test is only 3 months away!

This year my goal is to be faster.  To be faster I have to work harder, and faster.  I’m approaching every workout with that mentality.  I’ve only had a few workouts, but when it has gotten hard to continue or go faster I remind myself that I need to shave 10 minutes.  That is my mantra:  10 minutes for 2011.

Getting ready for 2011

I’ve had several weeks off since the end of my 2010 season, time for me to rest, recover and rejuvenate.  During that time I ate whatever I wanted, drank when I wanted to, exercised little, visited Colorado and went on a cruise.  The result:  my joints feel better, I have no lingering aches and I gained 7-8 pounds.  I’m not sure which is worse, the added weight or that I REALLY enjoyed not having to exercise all the time.

Fortunately I don’t make my own schedule or I would put off training and enjoy some more down time, perhaps pushing that weight gain up to 10+ pounds.  Coach started me back Tuesday with an easy swim.  Two months ago I would have said it was easy, today it was very hard and I found myself fighting for air on a number of occasions.  Then we jumped yesterday into a field test, where I was to run 4-5 miles with mile 3 hard, and mile 4 harder.  I set some mental goals at the start and was able to exceed them, but what a price!  It was a very difficult run.  While the rest of the week is scheduled to be easy, it is easy compared to what I was doing at the end of last season.  I don’t think I’m going to be finding many workouts easy for some time.

I’m not complaining, just stating the facts.  I allowed myself to get out of shape and now I must do the work to get back to where I was.  Actually, I need to get into better shape this year because of the lofty goal I set.  The goal for year #1 was to get a national ranking, which I did.  The goal for last year was to improve my ranking and finish 3 half ironman distance races.  While I improved my ranking considerably, I only finished 2 of my HIM races.  This year the focus is on speed.  I want to qualify for the Age Group National Championships.  To do so I will need to finish in the top 10% of an Olympic distance race, which will require me to drop another 10 minutes off my PR for about a 2:35 time.

It won’t be easy to meet this year’s goals, a feat made more difficult by my loss of fitness to start the year.  I don’t care though.  This is something I really want, and I’m prepared to do what is needed to make it happen.  Last season there were too many workouts where I just wanted to get it done.  I suspect I will have those days again this year, and that is where I need to step it up and put forth the extra effort.  Only by pushing harder will I be able to meet my goal.

Follow along with me as I undertake  this next crazy challenge, and then cheer for me in August when I race in VT with the rest of the best!