Week 6: Indoor Tri & Half Marathon Training

Indoor Triathlon Race Week!

Monday - Treadmill Run

5 min warm up on stationary bike. 20 minute run on the treadmill at comfortably hard pace. 5 min cool down walk on indoor track.

 

Tuesday - Rest Day

Rest day.

 

Wednesday - Spin Express Class at the Y

Being race week, I decided to take it a little easier than usual today in order to save my legs for Saturday's indoor triathlon.

 

Thursday - Group Run

Cold and windy run. Low 40s with wind chill in the mid 30s. It was only really bad at the beginning, going down hill and against the wind. My body was generating little heat and the wind cut through all 3 layers I had on and my gloves didn't seem to be helping keeping my fingers from getting cold. After we made the turn against the wind and started going up hill, I quickly warmed up and even shed my gloves. It was a good run but I was also happy to get it over with.

 

Friday - Rest Day

The day before the indoor triathlon. Taking it easy, hydrating and clean eating (meaning no fried foods, junk food, or soft drinks).

 

Saturday - Indoor Triathlon!

You can read the race report here.

 

Sunday - Easy Run

Plan called for 4 miles but 3 miles is all I had in my tired and heavy legs.

 

Race Report: InYou Indoor Triathlon

Training:

Being an indoor triathlon of only 45 minutes, I figured 6 weeks of training would suffice. I only chose to do 1 swim, 1 spin class and 3 runs per week since I am also training for a half marathon. I chose to do this triathlon in hopes it would force me to add cross-training to my weekly schedule and keep me more consistent week-to-week. It definitely  helped as there were days I wanted to skip the swim or spin class but didn't because I knew I had already signed up for this event.

 

Pre-race:

Didn't really do anything special. I was in the 10 am heat so I went to bed and woke up at my regular time and did my normal Saturday morning routine.

 

Swim:

My goal was 20 laps (500 yards) which I knew was doable if I stayed focused on my technique. I made it to 19 laps, just 25 yards from my goal. About 8 minutes in, I was getting really tired and my technique faltered as I started looking up instead of down and getting sloppy with my arms and know it is what cost me those precious 25 yards.

 

Bike:

[caption id="attachment_1739" align="alignright" width="144"] In You Indoor Tri - Bike[/caption]

Bike went exceptionally well. I'm not sure who calibrated the spin bikes but the speed/distance was way off from that of a road bike or even stationary bike. I normally average 12-14 mph on my road bike and 14-16 on a stationary bike but with these "add-on" computers, I averaged around 35 mph! The good thing is, everyone's was calibrated the same way, so we were all speedsters on the bikes today! But I felt good on the bike from the beginning to the end which was my only goal anyway. Those spin classes definitely helped!

 

Run:

[caption id="attachment_1742" align="alignleft" width="144"] In You Indoor Tri - Run[/caption]

My goal was to run 1.5 miles but I only could manage 1.4 miles. I was doing great at 6.2 mph until about 6 mins in and then my calf starting cramping up. I slowed down to 3.8 mph to try to stretch it out. That helped and I picked up the pace again, this time at 6.3 mph to try to make up for that walk break. But about 2.5 minutes later, it started cramping up again and I had to slow down yet again. This happened once more with just 2 minutes left to go, I was so frustrated but was able to get at least another minute of running before the 15 minutes were up.

 

Overall:

This was a fun event and very challenging even if it was only 45 minutes! It felt very competitive though, mainly because you are side-by-side 4 to 5 other triathletes no matter how slow or fast you are. There is no passing like you get in outdoor triathlons so no way of knowing how well you're doing and you always feel like you're still in it to win it which just feeds on that competitive nature to keep pushing to go faster and faster. The one thing I didn't like was the age groups for awards. They are too broad with the top 3 in 12 and under, 13-19, 20-40 and 40+. I would of preferred top 2 in 10 year age groups instead which would of given more people a fighting chance.

 

Official Results:

Swim 10 mins: 19 lengths (475 yards)
Bike 20 mins: 11.8 miles (35.4 mph)
Run 15 mins: 1.4 miles (10:43 pace)

Overall: 44th
Age Group: 8th (20-40F)

Week 5: Indoor Tri & Half Marathon Training

Monday - Treadmill Run

1/4 mile warm up. 1.5 mile continuous run held at comfortably hard pace. 1/4 mile cool down.

 

Tuesday - Rest Day

Rest day. Did some strength training with the free weights and medicine ball.

 

Wednesday - Spin Express Class at the Y

We had a fill-in instructor who loved hill intervals. This class kicked my butt but instead of getting out of the saddle during every hill interval, I stayed seated during a few of them or chose to do a full out sprint instead. Also learned that this class may get cancelled if we don't average at least 3-4 more people.

 

Thursday - Treadmill Run

Treadmill hill intervals - 3.25 miles. 5 min warm up, then 2 minute hill intervals at  6.3 mph with 3 to 4% incline. Did those until I hit the 3 mile mark. Then 1/4 mile cool down. This was a tough workout but one of the best treadmill workouts I've done. Really got the heart rate up and the hills got tough at the faster speed.

 

Friday - Lunch Swim

50 yard warm up. 10 minute time trial (475 yards). 4 x 100 on 2:15 pace. These were tough but I averaged 2:00 - 2:05 per 100 yards which gave me 10-15 seconds of rest. With the indoor triathlon next week, I'm hoping I can get to 500 yards but we shall see. Then 2 x 25 fast / 25 easy. 50 yard cool down.

 

Saturday - Long Run

8 miles down and finished pain free! I chose to stay on the conservative side and do run 3 minute / walk 2 minute intervals thinking I would average around a 13+ min pace but  I actually averaged 12:26. Not bad considering I walked 33% of the time!

 

Sunday - Rest Day

Much needed rest day!

 

Week 4: Indoor Tri & Half Marathon Training

Monday - Treadmill Run

Started with a 4 lap warm up jog on the indoor track before hitting the treadmill for 20 mins of intervals. Decided to do 7 min at steady pace (5.8 - 6.0 mph) then two 3 minute intervals at a faster pace (6.5 + mph) with 1 minute sprints (7.0+ mph) at the end. 1-2 min recovery in-between intervals. Overall it was a tough but good workout.

 

Tuesday - Lazy River Running Class at the Y

The YMCA now offers a lazy river running class with this description:

"Don't let the name fool you, this class is packed with cardio! Varying levels of intensity combined with water resistance make this class perfect for cross training or just a really great workout. Come run with us!"

So of course I had to try it out. It was somewhat boring and way too easy for me. The only time I enjoyed it was when we were actually running against the current but I could of cared less about the drills with the current as they did absolutely nothing for me. Let's just say I won't be going back to the class.

 

Wednesday - Spin Express Class at the Y

Week 2 of this lunch time spin class and now knowing what to expect, it went much better than last week. I enjoyed it more and was able to get in a better quality workout knowing how to pace myself for the 45 minute workout.

 

Thursday - Rest Day

Had a dentist appointment at 3 pm and I knew I would of felt like running afterwords so scheduled rest day.

 

Friday - Lunch Swim Rest Day

I was suppose to swim today but work sort of got in the way and I missed my window.

 

Saturday - 5K Race + 3 Miles Easy

Today was a two-part long run, first half was the Race for the Grasshopper 5K which for the first 2 miles went exceptionally well. The last 1.1 miles however did not. I thought I would switch from slow continous running to run/walk breaks for the last mile in order to save my legs for a strong finish but that completely back-fired and I ended up struggling the final 1/4th mile. Next time, I'll just stick to what is working.

Second 3 miles was a complete struggle from start to end. My legs were so fatigued that running for more than 2 minutes a time was difficult so I ended up taking lots of walk breaks but at least I got my 6 miles in for the day!

 

Sunday - Rest Day

Much needed and appreciated rest day! It was also my neice's birthday party. She turned 3 on Friday.

 

Week 3: Indoor Tri & Half Marathon Training

Monday - Rest Day

Rest day. It was New Year's Eve and we still needed to go grocery shopping so I regretably skipped today's 3 mile easy run.

 

Tuesday - New Year's Day

Rest Day. Would of made up for yesterday's run but it turned out to be a rainy lazy day instead.

 

Wednesday - Spin Express Class at the Y

The Y now offers a lunch time Spin Express class from 12:15 pm - 1:00 pm which I decided to try. It was my first ever spin class so I was somewhat hestiate on what to expect. I knew it would be tough but I didn't know just how tough. The instructor had us get out of our seat more than I'm used to and my quads burned like they never burned before! I just couldn't keep up but even then, I enjoyed it and will try to make it a weekly habit for as long as they offer the class.

 

Thursday - Easy Run

Group Run - 3 miles. Legs were still sore from spin class so I opted to run just 3 instead of our normal 4 miles. It's a good thing I did because I was hurting after 3 miles, especially on the hills.

 

Friday - Lunch Swim

1,200 yards. 4 x 50 warm up, 6 x 100 yd, 4 x 25 fast / 25 easy, 4 x 50 cool down all with 15" rest intervals and 60" between sets. Felt pretty good today.

 

Saturday - Long Run

 7 miles. 4 miles. Because of afternoon obligations, I had to run earlier than usual which meant running in mid 30s and I just wasn't used to the chillier temps. It was a struggle from the start and it only got harder the longer I ran so I called it quits after 4 miles.

 

Sunday - Rest Day

Much needed and appreciated rest day!