Weekly Plan: May 13-19 (11 weeks to IMLP)

Posted on May 13, 2013 by discorunner

So last week was kind of a bust, weather-wise and therefore bike-wise. I ended up doing all three rides on the trainer due to rain or the serious threat of it. BLECH. No good. I even pounded out my long run (3.5 hours) on the trainer on Saturday morning because the forecast called for scary thunderstorms. Which of course never materialized, but I sure as heck didn’t want to end up stranded in Potomac with lightning and thunder all around. Annoying. *Grumble infinity*

I did, however, have a fantastic long run on Sunday morning. We were up in PA to celebrate my ma-in-law’s birthday so I got to try out the path in Peace Valley Park. I forgot to grab my Garmin so I ran tech-free for the first time in quite a while. Kind of nice to have a mental break from obsessing over those numbers for once. It was such a beautiful morning – sunny and perfect temperature – and I ran two peaceful 10K loops around the lake for just over 12 miles.

Weekly Total – 13 hours 52 minutes
Swim – 2 hours 50 minutes, 7400 yards
Bike – 6 hours, ~80 miles
Run – 4 hours, ~23.5 miles
Yoga – 1 hour

This week, and every week from now on, is all about the BIKE BIKE BIKE! Coaches have instructed me that IT’S GO TIME! and updated my master plan with prescribed bike distances for every weekend from here on out. It’ll be double bikes every week with the exception of races (Eagleman and the Aquabike at Rev3 Williamsburg), and race simulation workouts. Woo hoo!

And on THAT note….this weekend I’ll be knocking out my first of the two big race simulation workouts because I’ll be 10 weeks out from race day! This means a loooooong bike followed by an hour long run right off the bike. It’s gonna be all about nutrition and hydration, friends. I’m even going to draft up a nutrition plan for coach approval! I’m excited to have an excuse to try some new ProBar flavors.

For the rest of the week, I really only have one workout each day (with the exception of Thursday which is telework day so I’m doubling up). Here’s how it looks…

Monday: swim with aids
Tuesday: threshold interval bike + short off the bike run
Wednesday: 50 minute run w/strides
Thursday: swim/pull interval swim + bike w/short intervals
Friday: long race simulation swim
Saturday: big race simulation workout! 80 mile bike + 1 hour run. Ride, run, chug chocolate milk, (do not under any circumstances) repeat.
Sunday: REST

I’ll also be throwing in a couple of short strength workouts for hips/IT band.

Meanwhile, look what Hubz picked up for me at the fancy Wegman’s yesterday morning…

Now y’all know I’m a sucker for fancy chocolate. And see that description – “popping candy exploding in dark chocolate”? This biz has POP ROCKS IN IT. Amazing. Chocolate has evolved and it is delicious.

Were you sidelined by the weather this weekend?

Tried any fancy new chocolates lately?

Weekly Plan: May 6-12, 2013 (12 weeks to IMLP!)

Posted on May 7, 2013 by discorunner

Stay tuned for a recap of my (PR-setting) Oly at Monticelloman on Sunday…

but I can’t waste too much time basking in post-race endorphins…with less than 3 months left ’til IMLP, I’m right back at it!

My coach was super kind to me and built me a nice little taper last week into the race. It was pretty glorious. So it was a very low volume week in terms of totals:

Total: 7 hours 15 minutes (including Oly race)
Swim: 1 hour 34 minutes, 4355 yards
Bike: 2 hours 45 minutes, 42 miles
Run: 2 hours 24 minutes, 14.4 miles
Strength – 25 minutes
Volunteering at the Fairfax CASA Run for the Children 8K/3K – 3 hours!

Once again, the CASA race was fan-freaking-tastic! I honestly cannot say enough good things about this race. Although I didn’t run this year, I did man the bag check with this team of consummate professionals:

We heard so many positive comments about the professionalism with which the race was run, and especially the helpfulness of all the volunteers out on the course. Way to go, Becca and team CASA! Next year i hope to be running this one again for sure!

After the race we grabbed some brunch and then D picked me up in Fairfax for our journey out to Cville and Monticelloman…to be continued…

A little bit of recovery on the docket for this week, but still going to be logging lots of miles.

Monday: REST (YAY!)
Tuesday: AM – Z2 run; PM – interval swim
Wednesday: AM – interval bike; PM – yoga
Thursday: AM – Z2 bike; PM – endurance swim
Friday: AM – Z2 run; PM – long swim
Saturday: Long bike – 50-70 miles
Sunday: Long run – 2 hours

Unfortunately, the forecast is calling for rain upon rain upon rain, so it looks likely that I’ll be spending a lot of time back down in the trainer dungeon. No big…maybe a little streaming time means I’ll finally be able to finish this season of The Americans? SO. GOOD.

Belated Weekly Plan: April 29-May 5, 2013 (13 weeks to IMLP)

Posted on May 1, 2013 by discorunner

This Sunday I have my first tri of the season at Monticelloman! I’m super excited.

First, last week’s recap:

Swim – 7350 yards, 2 hours 50 minutes
Bike – 119 miles, 9 hours 10 minutes
Run – 16.85 miles, 3 hours 4 minutes
Strength – 40 minutes
Yoga – 1 hour
TOTAL – 16 hours 43 minutes. Boom. (Yes, that’s the sound of head to pillow.)

On Saturday morning I’ll actually be volunteering at an awesome race out in Fairfax – the Fairfax CASA Run for the Children 8K. This is a great race for a fantastic cause. I ran it last year, but this year am relegated to volunteering so I don’t overdo it the day before Monticelloman. A friend of mine is pretty much the lady in charge of this race and does a fantastic job every year! It’s a challenging course with lots of hills. They shortened the course to an 8K from a 10K in prior years, but I have no doubt it will continue to be a serious butt-kicker. I plan on living vicariously through the pained faces of those who return to collect their items from me at bag check.

D and I will then be loading up and heading out to Charlottesville on Saturday for a lovely pre-race workout on the course, packet pickup, and inevitable consumption of excessive amounts of carbs. I trust D to lead me to some good food-age, as she is a UVA peep. Wahoo? Woo-ha? What is it you people say?!

I’ll be enjoying a combo recovery week and mini-taper into my Oly this weekend. That means – wait for it – only ONE WORKOUT PER DAY! Crazytown. Loving it.

Monday: REST
Tuesday: 2500 yard swim
Wednesday: 45-55 minute run
Thursday: 45 minute bike with pickups -> 10 minute run
Friday: strength (core only)
Saturday: Pre-race short swim, bike, and run on race course
Sunday: Monticelloman Olympic Triathlon. To be followed by post-race margaritas, naturally. It’s Cinco de Mayo afterall.

Anyone have restaurant recommendations for Charlottesville? Veggie/vegan options welcome!

Last week recap, plus Weekly Plan April 22-28, 2013 (14 weeks to IMLP)

Posted on April 23, 2013 by discorunner

Wow, last week was a doozy for all of us. I got over my shock at the Boston attack fairly quickly, and I don’t think it’s a good thing that we’re able to adapt so quickly to terror. But the combination of the Boston news, plus the terrible tragedy in Texas, floods in the midwest, and I could go on and on….let’s just say I found last week a little hard to take.

Luckily, on Sunday I had some great bike therapy. I headed out with my coach, another BRM team member, and my friend the big I for 50+ miles of glorious glorious hills. What a crazy shock to my system! It was great to have my coach there to show us the route and push us along so that I didn’t bail early or tool my way slowly up the hills, etc. It was the longest bike workout I’ve done since the half Iron last year and I could FEEL it later in the day! I also had some issues with fueling on the bike – namely, that I didn’t eat/drink enough. When I got home I realized I had a full bottle of Infinit left that I had somehow FORGOTTEN about? Bizarre, and probably helps explain the wall I hit about 45 miles in on our way back to the city. So, lesson learned.

Saturday was almost as taxing. After an easy run, Hubz and I headed out for an Earth Day clean-up in the Congress Heights in SE DC. Our task was collecting garbage from the Shepherd Parkway, a huge green space that has served as a de facto landfill for decades. In other words, we just filled up bag after bag after bag of garbage. It was absolutely disgusting, but we could really see the fruits of our efforts and felt like we were doing some serious good for the community.

After cleaning ourselves up a bit, we headed out to Arlington for some more manual labor helping our friends M and H move. They are just upgrading to a bigger apartment in the same building, so it was a quick and fun moving process. H is quite the decorator and DIY-er (check out her blog), so I can’t wait to see the new place once it’s all put together. We then spent several hours car shopping *cue dramatic music*. (Spoiler: we didn’t buy a car.)

Yesterday after work I hit up our awesome massage therapist for some glorious, glorious muscle work. It was SO welcome after the long weekend and a stressful week. I simply do not have enough good things to say about massage for muscle maintenance. It’s amazing. Unfortunately I also got some bad news that she is LEAVING to buy a yoga studio! Very exciting news for her, but kind of a bummer for me and for Hubz’s achy back.

I didn’t post my plan for last week, but in retrospect, here are my totals -

Swimming: ~ 2 hours, 5050 yards (a thunderstorm cut me off 1/3 of the way through my long swim on Friday night….grr.)
Biking: ~ 6 hours 45 minutes, 73.5 road miles and about 17 trainer miles
Running: ~ 4 hours, 21.7 miles
Strength: 40 minutes
Yoga: None *hangs head in shame*

This week is another big volume one! This ish is getting serious, y’all.

Monday: easy 45 minute run
Tuesday: AM – strength; PM – 2600 yard swim
Wednesday: AM – 60-90 minute bike workout with team; PM – yoga
Thursday: AM – 2600 yard swim; PM – 2 hour run
Friday: AM – 50 minute continuous swim; PM – rest
Saturday: 65 miles bike + off the bike run
Sunday: 2 hour easy recovery bike

One week from Sunday I have my first tri of the season – the Monticelloman Oly down in Charlottesville. D is also racing and I have a feeling it’s going to be a super rad weekend! Now, if only the weather would just get a little more tolerable so that Lake Monticello would warm up a bit…I’m too dang old to go polar bear plunging, even for lurv.

via speculationsandspectacles.wordpress.com

Weekly Workout Plan: April 8-14, 2013 (16 weeks to IMLP)

Posted on April 8, 2013 by discorunner

It’s recovery week, yet again! And what a welcome recovery it is…this past weekend really took it out of my legs with a 3 hour bike + 15 min run on Saturday, followed by a 1 hour bike + 1 hour run on Sunday. Phew! This is starting to really feel like I’m Ironman training at last!

I’m happy to say, as well, that I am so far holding up pretty well. My legs are tired but not destroyed. The rest of me is maybe even a little more tired, but again, not destroyed. I am planning to milk the heck out of this recovery week by sleeping in until 7 AM on two consecutive week days. I know, unheard of.

Of course it wouldn’t be a discorunner post without whining about something, so I will note I’m a little cranky about my pace on my rides this weekend. I know it should be expected for my first non-trainer ride in months…and I have to account for the fact that it takes me a good deal of city (traffic, stoplight) riding to get out and going…but still. My bike pace and endurance have to be my two biggest focuses going forward. It’s no secret that strength on the bike translates into triathlon strength overall. Time to get crackin’.

The weather is finally warm here in the Disco and I am absolutely loving it. I am currently sitting outside at 7 PM and it’s 73 degrees. Unbelievable! The only downside is I’m suffering some setbacks from allergies. My head is a little foggy and I’ve been a little sniffly. But I’ll take it. (Look at that – I almost managed to not whine about something else!)

Monday: REST
Tuesday: AM – Rest; PM -1600 yard swim
Wednesday: AM – 55 minute run; PM – yoga
Thursday: AM – 45 minute bike w/intervals + 45 core and upper body strength; PM – rest/tri team happy hour
Friday: AM – 1800 yard swim; PM – Rest
Saturday: 55 minute run
Sunday: 3 hour bike + 15 minute run

Only two swims this week and short ones at that. I’m surprised to say it, but I’m actually kind of bummed about that as I’m enjoying my pool time more and more. But maybe my skin will de-scalify and my hair de-greenify a bit.

Did you enjoy the weather this weekend? Log some good workouts?

What’s your favorite part about recovery weeks?

Weekly Workout Plan: April 1-7, 2013 (17 weeks to IMLP)

Posted on April 1, 2013 by discorunner

Yes, I have again been neglecting my blogging. Last week was a busy one, and this week is shaping up to be even busier! Maybe I need some sort of incentive to blog regularly. Like…I get to eat *TWO* king size bags of giant M&Ms for dessert on the nights I actually manage to post, rather than just one? What, not a good long term nutrition solution? Pshaw.

We hosted my sis-in-law and her family for a few days last week, including our two itty bitty nieces. We had a super fun time, and our kittays got some great cardio in with the constant game of scamper-away-from-the-toddler.

Then we spent much of the weekend with Hubz’s family enjoying various Easter-rrific activities. I think egg dyeing and hunting happen to be two of the most fun holiday activities there are, so I had a great time.

After the young ‘uns headed home for the evening, we watched Hotel Transylvania. SUCH a cute movie! Seriously. Watch it with your kids. If you don’t have kids, take a page from my book and watch it with your wine.

http://www.imdb.com

The next morning we had some delicious diner breakfast before heading home and stopping at nearly every exit off I-95 in Delaware and Maryland to run various errands. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring our share of the colored eggs home, so we won’t be partaking in the post-holiday-shove-eat-ALL-the-egg-salad! phase.

This week is looking like a doozy. I’ll be hosting family in the middle of the week but I *think* I’ve successfully arranged things such that I can be present at home when needed, as well as attend to my social calendar (which is also oddly packed…). Thank goodness this week includes a telework Thursday! Also thank goodness for a Hubz that not only tolerates but supports my semi-person-ness these days.

Monday: AM – 1 hour bike; PM – 2100 meter swim
Tuesday: AM - 55 min run; PM (lunch) – 1 hour strength
Wednesday: AM – yoga; PM – 2500 yard swim
Thursday: AM – 1 hour 40 min run; PM – 3000 yard swim
Friday: AM – 30 min strength; PM – rest
Saturday: 3 hour ride + 15 min run
Sunday: 1 hour ride + 55 min run

Some of these workouts may still slide around a bit depending on scheduling issues that arise throughout the week. But one thing’s for sure – this base-building stuff is no joke! This should take me into the 14 hour range, which is a first for me. So is a 3000 yard swim. I hope I don’t get too terribly pickled!

http://www.redbubble.com/people/detourshirts/works/6327055-pickles-cucumber-swimming-in-evil?p=sticker

I’m super excited to hit the out of doors for my first non-trainer long ride of the season. This winter has lasted too long and I am SOOOOO happy that Spring is finally here! I would have done last week’s long ride outdoors, but the toll that the trainer has taken on my tire over the course of the winter cannot be neglected. A new tire is on the way and should be on and ready for me to ride like the wind on Saturday morning!

How did you celebrate Easter?

Seen any good movies lately (animated or otherwise?)

Weekly Workout Plan: March 25-31, 2013 (18 weeks to IMLP)…and Scope it Out 5k 2013 (lazy) Recap

Posted on March 25, 2013 by discorunner

Yesterday I ran the Scope it Out 5K which also doubled as a run heart rate zone test. This is always a fun race for a good cause, so I’ve run it many times while, like this year, Hubz volunteers. In addition to the most handsome bag check volunteer around, the race has fun educational things like a giant colon shaped playground!

I was feeling pretty good for this race, although definitely pushed it a bit too fast in the first minute. I was focusing really hard on making this a good heart rate zone test, so I really wanted to run my heart out. But without making my heart actually explode, so at one point I had to give a serious “BACK IT OFF” lecture to myself. The course is flat and fast – from freedom plaza, past the Capitol, through some federal buildings, and back down Penn to the start. Thus, I often set a PR or close to it on this race. Buuuuut….not this year.

Official finish time: 24:28. 28 seconds slower than last year, but again, keeping it zen with the recognition that speedy running is not the primary goal of IM training. I still ended up with a very impressive time and a serious improvement over my last 3 mile heart rate zone test – both in pace and heart rate. Huzzah!

Also in the “things I’m doing right” category – I did a benchmark swim threshold test on Saturday afternoon. My average time for the 400s was 12 whole seconds faster than my 400s average on my last one! Woo hoo!!! Hubz was also with me at the pool and mentioned that he can see that my swim technique looks much better than the last time he watched me swim back in the fall.

I dropped my “long” bike on Sunday afternoon. Brunching got a little out of hand and plus my legs were pretty spent. I figured I’d embrace the “recovery” in the last 12 hours of my recovery week. I still woke up TOTALLY exhausted today – and the nasty snow/rain mix-y mess outside is not helping.

Nonetheless, this week we’re amping up the workouts in both total quantity and intensity! I feel like this is where training starts to get really serious. Now that my half marathon is passed, and it’s only about 6 weeks til my first tri of the season! Such excitement! So, this week I’ll be adding in a little bit of speed work, some off-the-bike runs, and all that good stuff. Should rack up to about 12-13 hours of training. Here goes….

Monday: AM – strength; PM – 2100 yard swim
Tuesday: AM – 50 min bike with intervals; PM – 55 minute run
Wednesday: AM – 2400 yard swim; PM – yoga
Thursday: AM – 1 hour run + 2 mile fast finish; PM – core strength
Friday: AM – 1 hour progressive bike; PM – 2500 yard swim
Saturday: 55 minute run
Sunday: 2 hour bike + 15 minute transition run

Weekly Workout Plan: March 18-24, 2013 (19 weeks to IMLP)

Posted on March 18, 2013 by discorunner

Another recovery week! My legs are ready for it after the Rock and Roll Half on Saturday and a (2 hour turned) 80 minute trainer ride on Sunday (due to failure at being organized for life and subsequent book club hosting rather than muscle soreness.) I will post a race recap on the half within the next 24 hours (no, really! I will!)

This weekend also saw a fun time celebrating my little J’s birthday on Saturday night with pizza, board games, and crashing an old person’s jazz club/bar ~~to do tequila shots~~. I hosted my book club on Sunday afternoon for our discussion of Gone Girl. There was very little discussion of the book even though for the most part everyone seemed to enjoy reading it. Personally, I found the ending a little anti-climatic, and wasn’t totally satisfied. But I did get fully engrossed in the book and would recommend it for anyone looking for a well-written, twisty-turny, fun crime thriller.

Truth be told, Hubz gets all the credit for being the host with the most, as he single-handedly did all the required house cleaning AND most of the food preparation. And then the poor guy was relegated to hiding in his upstairs office while we ladies wined and dined and yapped at full volume for 3 hours. I think I owe him a dinner soon, of only buffalo wings and nachos…and my absence since lately I’ve been a little needy.

Since I cut short my trainer ride yesterday to get everything wrapped up in time for book club, I clocked in closer to 10 hours than 11 hours last week. I had it in me to do more, I think, even with the race. But this whole thing about fitting in “life” sometimes gets in the way.

Recovery week of about 7-8 hours coming up including three swims for active recovery (and one to check in on my benchmark test) and taking it pretty easy on the legs. Then I’ll be running the Scope it Out 5K on Sunday as I do every year, and using it as a test to check in on my heart rate zones for running.

I also plan to use this week to get my eating back on track. With my Mom in town and various other excuses in the past couple weeks to eat out, etc., I’ve slipped somewhat from my rules. I think this is a large reason for the tummy troubles I had during the half on Saturday…and as training continues to ramp up I really need to get my body feeling better all around or else there’s gonna be a lot of crashing and burning in my future.

Monday: REST
Tuesday: AM – 2150 yard swim; PM – core/upper body
Wednesday: AM – 45 minute bike with intervals; PM – yoga
Thursday: AM – 2000 yard swim; PM - 55 minute run
Friday: AM – benchmark swim test; PM - core/upper body
Saturday: 35 minute pre-race run workout
Sunday: AM – 5K race (doubling as heart rate zone test); PM – 1-2 hour bike, indoors progressive or outdoors, depending on weather

Check out that Saturday – nothing but a short run? HELLLOOOOOOOO sleeping past 7 am!

To read/think about: all the hubbub about plus-sized mannequins in Sweden.

Weekly Workout Plan: March 11-17, 2013 (20 weeks to IMLP)

Posted on March 12, 2013 by discorunner

Only 20 weeks left on the countdown to throw down at Lake Placid!

Scary lake monsters: just one more reason to hang to the back of the crowd in mass swim start.

Again I have been delinquent in regular blogging. No good reasons, just whiny “I’m busy” excuses. Will do better, starting NOW. No for real this time.

At least the busy has been a blast this time around…this weekend saw a lot of activity including a coaching session at Marie Reed on Friday night. My coach gave me some pointers and went through some drills with me, and also assured me that overall I’m actually not a terrible swimmer (hurray! I’m better than just “controlled drowning”!) Then on Saturday morning I ran the Four Courts Four Miler (race recap to come very soon, I promise!) and had a fantastic post-race brunch with fellow racers and friends.

Then on Saturday afternoon, the arrival of my Momz who is spending part of her spring break visiting us! Momz time involved fun at the MLK memorial, my first OUTSIDE bike ride in months (not to mention my first with the new set up and aerobars!), shopping for new running shoes at Pacer’s (I’m SO pumped about my new shoes…again, promise more yapping on that is to come), hipster-watching at Union Market, and a delicious dinner out with friends at Matchbox on Sunday night. Having established with both my failure to post regularly and my over-active parenthesization (totes a word, btw) that I’m already in the running for worst blogger award, it goes without saying that I failed to get fun photos of any of these weekend hijinx.

This weekend I am running the Rock and Roll USA Half Marathon on Saturday. Although I was a little hesitant at first to throw a significant race into the IM training mix, I’m at peace with it now and I’m getting pretty excited. The most important thing for me will be keeping in mind that I’m not in prime road racing shape (for example, last weekend’s four miler finish time was :15 sec/mile slower than last year’s). I hit a major PR in last year’s RnR 1/2, but I don’t think I’ll match that this year unless I happen to run stumble a rainbow on my way to the start line and pick up some magical unicorn sparkly dust that makes me fly a little. Or maybe I could just pre-fuel with this?

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e5a7/

SACRILEGE!

Monday: REST and hang out with Momz
Tuesday: AM – 2250 yard swim; PM – core
Wednesday: AM – pre-race track workout; PM – yoga
Thursday: AM – 1 hour bike with long intervals; PM – core
Friday: AM – 2000 yard swim; PM – 35 minute pre-race run/walk workout
Saturday: Rock and Roll Half Marathon
Sunday: 2 hour bike

This week should hit me a total of around 10-11 hours of training including the race on Saturday. This will ensure that I will be 100% ready to party while hosting a very special St. Patrick’s day book club at my place on Sunday afternoon. We’ve been reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I just started the book, but I can’t put it down!

Have you read Gone Girl? Ready anything else good lately?

How can I develop that “MUST PHOTO EVERYTHING” addiction that all the cool blogger kids have?

Weekly Workout Plan: March 4-10, 2013 (21 weeks to IMLP)

Posted on March 6, 2013 by discorunner

So…I have again fallen behind and into deficient blogger category. The last week has been crazy busy with work, a SUPER fun weekend visit with friends Boston, and a big assignment and a midterm (on the same day!) in my class. But luckily, today was a SNOW day (HURRAH!!!), giving me the chance to recover and recoup, and catch up on some things.

Also due to the weather and various closures, I’ve had to make some adjustments to the original weekly plan, so I will claim that my tardiness was really just to make sure you get the most accurate info..

Monday: 70 minute run
Tuesday: 55 minute bike with short LT intervals
Wednesday: AM – 2 hour bike; PM – yoga
Thursday: AM – 2100 yard swim; PM – strength
Friday: AM – 40 minute run with strides; PM – 2600 yard swim
Saturday: Four Courts Four Miler; 45 minute easy spin
Sunday: 55 minute bike with short LT intervals

I’m super excited about the four miler race on Saturday. This will be the second year for me running this race and joining some friends for some delicious brunch at their nearby apartment. It’s St. Patty’s day themed, and as such festive attire is required. Unfortunately, it’s also a 2 miles downhill + 2 miles uphill course, and neither my hill work or my speed work has gotten much attention lately. But luckily every runner gets a free beer afterward! Who needs a medal when you have beer?

Me nearing the finish of the Four Courts Four Miler last year. Homemade tutu!

Later on Saturday night my Mom will be arriving to spend a few days with us here in the Disco! There will be much eating, drinking, and merriment! Plus lots of time for Mom to bond with her grand-kitties, of course.

Looking for something to read? Check out THIS The Sweet Life post of 10 things NOT to say if you want to avoid encouraging disordered eating in young women. Food for thought. Pun intended?

discorunner

Tag Archives: weekly workout plan