Monday, January 28, 2008

Rollin rollin rollin......

This past week was my first really good week of training in a long time. No interruptions, no missed workouts, nothing. I felt pretty good for almost all my workouts except maybe my tempo run on Thursday. I suppose that was to be expected after the leg workout I did the day before. My running is progressing nicely as well. I am getting close to where I was when I was training for Boston (sweet!) My cycling is taking a bit of a hit though I think but I'm sure my training focus will shift a bit as I move forward. Although it's hard to tell when you're riding inside on the trainer too. The real test will be when I hit the roads in April in South Carolina (can't WAIT). I'm feeling pretty good about where my fitness level is going. I'm even thinking about getting some additional swim coaching! I'm starting to take this a bit more seriously in terms of wanting to get faster. I also think some swim coaching will help me feel a bit more confident in the water. Weird I know. For someone born under a water sign, I seem to have a lot of issues with water.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Making Progress

I finally got my heart rate monitor back from the repair shop. I had been using Gary's old one for the last month or so and his doesn't have a running pace function so I haven't had any clue as to what my pace has been. I've been doing a lot of faster run workouts over the last month so I figured I'd gotten a bit faster. I had a tempo run last Thursday and I wore my shoe pod. Holy crap. I was turning over 4:25-4:30 k's for my tempo set. At one point I hit 4:00k's.(truth be told I was on a slight downhill). I couldn't believe it. I felt GREAT too. It felt good to run that fast (in a weird sort of way). I had another fast run yesterday and I managed to average 5:03 k's even thought it was really windy. I am really looking forward to running the Chilly Half in March. I was really hoping I"d run 1:45. I think that should be possible or at least close to that. I've got another 6 weeks or so before the race so I'm sure I'll be a little bit faster by that point. I just have to stay healthy. If I keep going like this then it might even be possible for me to run a sub 4 hour marathon at Ironman. MAYBE. But I'm happy to entertain the thought.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Tough Times

These last 2 weeks have been very difficult to maintain any sort of consistency. Work has been crazy and I've gotten sick...again. Although this one hasn't been as bad as the other 2 colds I've had. I got over it pretty quickly without having to take a day off work. It now seems to have traveled to my sinuses. I know I'm not completely better because my heart rate has been high the last 2 workouts I've done. It's so frustrating. I try to make sure I eat well, get 7-8 hours of sleep a night and take care of myself. I feel like I've taken several steps back in my training. I've got my first race coming up at the beginning of March (half marathon) and I hope I'm ready. I know I can do the distance, but I want to do it well (i.e FAST). I'm thinking a trip to the health food store may be in order. People keep talking about Oil of Oregano and how good it is for colds. I might have to pick some up. I'm willing to try almost anything to keep the colds at bay.