2.28.2011

A great training week

Simple as that. It was a great training week. I only managed to bang out about 13 miles this week, but they were very well purposed and meaningful miles.

First off, between LifeTime's Run and Cycle clubs, we did a time trial triathlon practice on Sunday. We did intervals between the bike and the run. Really fantastic to be around other people training for tris. We did a circuit of a half mile sprint on the treadmill to a 15 minute spin, then another half mile on the mill. Rest a couple minutes, back onto the mill to start again. I really enjoyed it. Half mile snippets on the treadmill go fast - I even jacked up the speed a few times just to be done with it. A great workout - with some new faces too!

Next, I got introduced to the Yabata method this week. It's these crazy interval workouts that only take 14 minutes but are supposed to do wonders for your endurance and times. I'll take it. I did Yabata twice last week - once on Wednesday evening for Run Club and then again on Friday morning before work. You warm up for 5 minutes, stretch, then another 3 minutes at a slow pace. I then jacked the treadmill up to 10 (6:00 mile pace), did a 20 second sprint, jumped my feet out to the sides, rested 10 seconds, then another 20 second sprint. You do 4-6 intervals. I can barely manage 4 at this point. After your intervals, do a 7-10 minute warm down. The end. Awesome.

Tuesday we had yet another weather "event" that lead to scarily treacherous roads. I was already on my way to the gym when all hell broke loose, so I still managed to make my spin class. I only made it for 75 of the 90 minutes, but that works.

That afternoon, I managed to cash in my 6 month LT Bucks and signed up for 2 months of masters swim!! EEEEE! I start this Tuesday. I'm nervous :-\ But excited. Hopefully this will all start to come together. Free swim lessons. Rock on.

Saturday I had a "first." The gym is doing a 2 hour spin session. It's two different instructors for each half. The first half of the class was packed. I had never seen the spin room so full. I thought everyone was there for the two hours. Umm, no. At the end of hour #1, the population dropped dramatically. About 15 or so of us stayed, and out of that I think there were only four women. That was kind of awesome. Both hours were jam packed. But thanks to great tri shorts and lots of water, I held up just fine. At the end, there was almost this feeling of euphoria - I'd never worked out that long at that intensity before. It was really amazing. I look forward to this next Saturday!!!!

After that session, I met up with a friend moving to Columbus and helped her find a place to live and got her to join LT with me! yay! A new run club buddy.

Sunday was long run day - I was worried about how my legs would hold up after the two hour beating the day before. Luckily they did fine. Run club met out at Hoover Dam, and the rest of the group was doing hills and stairs. Because my legs had already been grinded the day before, I took off on a 6 mile loop suggested by my RunClub leader. Turned out to be a beautiful loop - one I had seen before. It was part of the bike course for the JCC Triathlon I did last July! It was like revisiting old memories. "There's that big hill I was all scared of." "There's where I saw a turtle crossing the road." "There's where my chain popped off the ring."

All in all, I knocked out a total of 9 miles on Sunday - one as a warm up with the club, then 8 on my own. I finished in just over 1:22, so I am a happy camper. At this route, I just may be on schedule to get my 2:15 or less for Indy's half!!!!!!

Here's hoping this week goes as well as last.


6 comments:

Unknown said...

A great training week indeed!! Good luck with Masters Swim! It is fun!!

KC (my 140 point 6 mile journey) said...

You had a very eventful week full of new activity. You are braver than i am ...joining masters! You go girl. Great job on the 2 hour spin and 9 miler you posted!

Unknown said...

How great are you??? What's LT? I feel like I missed it back there somewhere. I just keep thinking "lactate threshold bucks." which sort of makes sense, but not really. :)

M said...

Thanks so much for the encouragement, ladies!!! It feels great to be busting through training like this. Usually at Week 6 I've hit a slump, so I am pretty pumped to feel full of energy!!

James said...

Sounds like a great week. I could never do a sprint workout on a treamill like that. Kudos!

Jon said...

Wow, nice week of volume! You rocked that long run!