A week of ups & downs…

From a training standpoint, this week was a week of ups and downs.  Which means I need to vent about my bad workouts and celebrate my good ones. Which also means that this post is all about training this week… so if you’re not following along for the training part of this blog, feel free to skip to the photos at the bottom.

Monday morning my swim ended up being pretty intense. A few laps into my 2,500 yard swim (which is 50 laps down & back in the pool…) a swimmer asked if he could share my lane. Usually, no big deal – I’m pretty used to sharing a lane at this point. Having a single lane to yourself is a rare luxury… however, this swimmer gave me a whole new appreciation to lane sharing. Let’s just say, I was able to get some good training in for the start of the swim. This guy managed to make the entire swim feel like a battle to break away from the crowd! And I had validation that this was an intense swim session when at the very end of the swim the swimmer in the lane next to me offered to let me share his lane – he had swam with this particular swimmer before and had experienced the um, well experience of swimming with this guy. It really was not fun!

Due to travel to Kansas City for work this week, my mid-week workouts were focused on running since I knew I had  a treadmill available to me at the hotel. Training at the hotel gym was not super great – it really is rare to find a hotel that has a decent fitness room. These mid-week workouts were a lesson in being flexible – and the down part of my workouts this week. Day 1, 15 minutes into my run all of the treadmills died… the circuit breaker had flipped and nobody on staff at the Embassy Suites could fix it. Being a farm kid, I wasn’t very impressed, I like to solve problems not just wait for someone else to figure it out! The other reason I wasn’t super impressed was due to the fact that I got up early to fit this workout in (I really really love sleeping, so if I get up early to workout, I want to workout!). Day 2 was the most successful day of workouts on the road – I was able to do my workout from the day prior without too many issues, despite how hot the room was! And finally, day 3 which was supposed to be a rest day, I got up to do the workout that would have originally been scheduled Wednesday. However, the heat of the room got to me & ended my workout about 15 minutes early. Bleh.

Luckily, the rest of my workouts for the week were pretty good. In fact, my workout on Friday was quite awesome! I had a 2,000 yard swim with some speed intervals. I discovered that I now have shaved off over 25 seconds from my 100 yard pace! I was pumped and so was my coach! (You just have to love getting an email reaction like this): Saturday brought a brick workout where I suffered through the 3 hour 20 minute bike ride. I’m still messing around with my bikes, and riding my road bike for workouts right now. I definitely need to make a few adjustments to make it fit me correctly again – I haven’t had a re-fit in a few years and I can tell that it’s about time for an adjustment! Luckily, the weather was pretty nice, the scenery of Saratoga County farmland was gorgeous, and the 15 minute run at the end was strong for me which made everything seem better!

Finally, Sunday. Sunday was Easter and I knew I wanted to go to church and have time with the family for Easter dinner. Due to the events of the day, I decided to get up at 6 and get my workout in early. I had so much fun on my run (I know, kind of sick if you’re not into distance running…) but I ran all around the area I grew up in. I did one big 14 mile loop and covered quite a bit of territory! It was a beautiful morning and again, I had beautiful scenery to enjoy!

All in all, it was a good start and end to the week for training with a bit of struggle in the middle – but I think that’s what makes the good workouts so good – those crappy ones in the middle that challenge you to stick with it & keep going!

Weekly Workouts//

• Monday – 2,500 yd Swim
• Tuesday – Plan: 1 Hour Run with Speed Work <— Actual result: death of the treadmills at the hotel… so this turned into a 15 minute run – 2 Miles.
• Wednesday – Plan: 50 Minute Z2 Base Run <— Decided to make up the 1 Hour run with Speed Work – 6.8 Miles
• Thursday – Plan 1: Rest Day <— Plan 2: Make up 50 Minute Z2 Base Run <— Plan 3: Due to Sauna like environment of hotel fitness room & lightheadedness, stopped after 34 minutes/4 Miles.
• Friday – 2,000 Yard Swim with Speed Work
• Saturday – Brick: 3:20 Bike with Hill Repeats + 0:15 minute Run (50 Miles Bike, 2 Miles Run)
• Sunday – 2 Hour Run – 14 Miles Total.

Weekly Totals//

• Swim – 4500 Yards (2.56 Miles)
• Bike – 3 Hours, 20 minutes with Hill Repeats -> 50 Miles
• Run – 4 hours 20 minutes, 28.7 Miles
• Total Time – 9 Hours, 10 Minutes

Weekly Photo Recap//

Rox is helping me work remotely before catching my plane to Kansas City…

Thursday was National High Five Day. Since I haven’t posted since then, here is my High Five to you!

Another ROAK Gift is on it’s way… Here is part of the gift (don’t want to give away the entire surprise) – Hope the recipient enjoys it!

Getting ready for my Brick Workout on Saturday – Nuun’s keeping my hydrated along the way! (P.S. – if you haven’t tried the Pink Lemonade, you should – it’s delicious!

You might be training for a triathlon if… all the room on the drying rack is full of clothes so you have to use your dog’s crate as a second drying rack!  All this training requires a little carb loading…. Making sure my precious cargo get’s home safe!

Bronco’s friend Harlan visited!

Bronco waiting for me. It’s pretty awesome to have a dog that want’s to be with you all the time, but heartbreaking to think he just waits the entire time… 

2 Miles into my 14 Mile Run. Gorgeous day!

Another view on my run. This photo doesn’t do the scenery justice.

Bronco, waiting again. (He’s really good at making me feel bad.)

My dessert I made for Easter dinner… Mini Lemon Tarts – if the dessert is mini, it just means you can eat more of them – right?!

And so that you all don’t think I just neglect Bronco all the time…

It wouldn’t be Easter without Peeps!

I hope you all had a fantastic week & an awesome Easter Sunday! Cheers!