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!