One week down

Phew - my first full training week of 2009 is done! I seem to have survived it - no real humbling moments as I've learned to check my ego at the door for the month of January. If I'm going to take time away from biking and running I have to expect to take some time to get back into shape.

One big thing I realized this week is that 2009 is my fifth year doing tri's. Five years! I still feel like a novice, there's so much still to learn and so many areas still to improve in that it's hard to think of myself as an experienced vet of the tri world.

Today's club swim was fantastic. I like the longer pieces that are all about pacing so today's main set of 6x200m at 1500m pace was right up my alley. I tried not to be too openly happy about it though as Teresa may have fed me my pull buoy!

Unfortunately Marie, ex-varsity swimmer and ex-swim coach, has injured herself and can't swim right now. Her loss, however, is our gain as she's coaching us folk in lanes 3 & 4. She's a fantastic teacher - super positive and great at keeping it simple.

Warm up:
300m easy
4x25m build in the 25 on 25m easy
4x25m build
4x50m at pace

Drills:
Um ... yup there were drills. A bunch of 'em.

Main set:
6x200m at consistent 1500m pace:
1 - untimed
2 - 3:55
3 - 3:55
4 - 3:50
5 - 3:51
6 - 3:50

Cool down:
200m - mix of back, breast, free and dolphin dive.

Total distance - 3050m

I felt I was going too hard on the first couple of 200's but as I descended on the second set I guess I was doing something right.

Apres swim I was smarter than last week and only went for an hour as opposed to following Teresa for 1.5 hrs. My HR was still too high but lower than last week so I think I'm either better with my pace or kicking the dregs of the flu. Or both.

According to the Slowtwitch training log the following are my weekly totals:

other 1:12 0 mi*
bike 2:57 14.7 mi**
swim 3:30 7,822.8 yds
run 2:28 13.7 mi**
walk 0:45 2.5 mi
Total 10:52 35.3 mi

I can't figure out how to change the weekly totals to metric (hey, it's free so who am I to complain) and can't be bothered to do the math right now. As imperial measurements mean nothing to me the numbers are a little pointless!

* This is mostly core and shoulder work but I also threw in some sidestepping.
** Much as I'm tempted, I don't include distance for spins.
*** Except for my 30min dreadmill run, all run distances are a guess