Just Warming Up: Jan 7-13

If you look a little to the right, you'll notice I've added my entries at the Trifuel training log as an RSS feed.  It's a little screwed up right now (that first entry is actually an entry for Shawnee Mission 08), but it'll start to look normal after this next week.

And now that I'm into the bulk of the season, you can expect more workouts and recipes.

With that out of the way, I'll tell you a little bit about my first week back in the flow.

It's been an interesting week.  I didn't get in all of the workouts I've scheduled, and a few that I did get in sucked.  It's okay, though; this is also the first week of full schedule for the Genesis Multisport Club--this means that I'm not only up at 4:30 every morning, but also that I'm teaching a total of 25 hours, between GMC classes, water aerobics, and spinning.  Honestly, the 4:30 wake up calls were getting to me, by Friday.  After a weekend of sleeping in and resting, I'm feeling quite a bit better, but my weeks are going to be loooooong.  I hope that my body will get used to this new regimen; otherwise, the lack of sleep will be one more element keeping me on the line between training and overtraining.

My long runs have been the highlight of my week--long swims, too, for that matter--so much so that I'm really looking forward to doing my endurance swim; in fact, I wish that it were scheduled for tomorrow instead of Tuesday.  And both of my long runs (both 6 miles) have felt so wonderful!  I've felt strong and fast and completely capable . . . I can pick up my leg speed or extend my stride at any point during those 6 miles with minimal effort.  My heart rate goes up, of course, but it's not like I'm barely shuffling along.  And I'm having no trouble keeping my heart rate in zone 3 (although I have been debating exactly where zone 3 is . . .)

For bike volume, I'm primarily on a spinning bike.  I know, I know . . . far from ideal.  But I got a flat on my long run at 18 miles last week and now I can't find my tire levers!  So even though I have spare tubes and a pump and everything I need, I can't change my tire.  And for crying out loud, today was a lousy day to have my bike be inaccessible!  It was absolutely perfect out today . . . warm enough that I rolled my windows down on the way home, with absolutely no window and a beautiful, big, blue sky . . . but no bike for me.  Sad face.  I'll buy new tire levers this week and change my tire and go ahead and get in a long ride . . . but the weather will probably be crap and I'll have to do it all inside watching TV or listening to Endurance Planet or something.  Sigh . . .

In the meantime, I teach five cycling classes a week.  I've finally done Group Ride enough that I've trained my heart rate to stay low.  The first time I did the class, I think my max heart rate was 181 or 185 or something (too lazy to whip out the training log right now).  Now I keep my heart rate in zone 3 the whole time, without a great deal of effort (although I do cheat on adding resistance).  Bottom line, I'm getting plenty of saddle time (like upwards of 5 hours a week), if not in my actual saddle (or on an actual road).

That's been my week.  I'm loving it, now more than ever.  I can't wait to see the adaptations my body makes in this 2008 season.

Thanks for reading!