I just spent how much on what?!?!

Yesterday I took the girls to Gear West to take a look at wetsuits. I thought I would be spending about $200. You can get one for that, but that is bottom of the line. So I went to the mid-level which fit and moved so much nicer and ended up spending $400 on one. I am thinking one of these days this sport will end up not costing so much!

On a roll

I am 2 days shy of being with my coach for 4 weeks and I have not missed or skimped on a workout yet! I know it is because I am accountable to someone. Why is it so hard to do things on your own? I have my first race in about 4 weeks. I just read that the ice has finally melted off the lake and that they recommend wetsuits. I was going to wait awhile longer to get one.

I feel I have made a lot of progress in the last 4 weeks. I have moved up a swim "level" and, just like I w as when I was a kid, I am leading a lane. There are 2 lanes in my level and I am leading a slower one, but I can tell you I get a better workout than the people who are behind the other leader. It is amazing the difference in the effort it takes to lead compared to going 3rd or 4th in a lane.
More progress will come on the bike once I can get outside. Hopefully Sunday is nice enough because I have a 3 hour bike and that could be miserable inside.

Running is coming along as well. I had a 5K time trial on Thursday and ran it in 28 minutes. However I did run 3.2 miles instead of the 3.1 which is a real 5K, so my time is more around 27 minutes. I am not sure why I thought 3.2 was right. All I have to say is that it was 6am and I was really tired!

V02 Max and body fat

I got the testing done this morning. It was a little different than I thought it would be. Instead of running really hard, it was walking then jogging at very high inclines. The test took about 15 minutes. The I did the underwater body fat test. I am not going to report my results on that because the result was not even near where I thought I was. I have been training well for about a month and really well for about a week. The doctor that did my testing gave me some really good advice on how to lower the body fat percentage. Now, along with my strict training regime, comes a strict eating regime. I knew this was coming and have started to eat better, but now that I have the information, I am even more motivated. This means no more treats, no more chips, and no more alcohol. It is not like I have time for a lot of partying anyway. I am in bed by about 9pm every night!

I got all workouts in this week! There is only a morning swim tomorrow so that will be a nice break and I am hoping that the girls take a nap so that I can take one too!

Swimming Blocks

We dove off of the swimming blocks this morning during masters swim. I think it is a lot like riding a bike. The first one was awful and I gradually got the hang of it again on the 4th one. I have not gone off the blocks for 12 years now!

Getting down to business

It was finally nice enough to take the girls for a run outside. As you can see, Ellie fell asleep. Emma and I filled the time talking about all the bikers that were out.

Now onto business.....

I met with a Triathlon coach on Friday and decided that it was something I needed. So, he is now writing my personalized workouts for each day! I feel much better using someone that I can talk to rather than a book (which was what I was using before). I am also now part of a Masters Swim Team! I never thought I would say that! I will be swimming with about 20 other people Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 6am-7am! At least this will keep me honest with my swimming. Sometime next week I am getting a V02 max test done at the University of St. Thomas. This tests your max heart rate. I am really excited to do this. I am also getting swim, bike and run video analysis. I should tell the coach right now that my swim stroke is not going to change no matter what I do! If coaches could not change it when I was swimming competitively, there is no way it is changing now. The coach also had me sign up for some triathlons for the summer (why did I pick such an expensive sport?!?!?). It is as follows.

1. Apple Duathlon - May 24th (I am debating whether to do this because it is my 5 year wedding anniversary that day)
2. Buffalo MN Olympic Distance Triathlon - June 1st
3. Lake Waconia - June 29th
4. Racine Half Ironman - July 20th
5. Oshkosh - August 10th (I am doing Oshkosh because that weekend was a planned family weekend at the cabin of my brother in laws mother)

6. WISCONSIN IRONMAN - SEPTEMBER 7TH

Under the Weather

I have been sick for over a week now. The doctor said it was an Upper respiratory Infection and, since it is a virus, there is nothing to treat it with except Sudafed and cough medicine. So, I have not been training for almost a week now and I am starting to get worried. I know if I did workouts I would just get sicker and there is no way I could run more than a mile right now. I still feel like I wasted all the training I have been doing. Thankfully, triathlons are in the summer when I rarely get sick. My official marathon training starts in less than a week and my Ironman training starts in about a month. I have not decided how I am going to incorporate those 2 together. I am hoping I will be well enough to start my training next week.

Training in January in MN

The last few weeks have been especially cold here in MN, thus I have been doing my runs inside on the treadmill. I got my bike tuned up/fixed last week. About a month ago I fell off of my trainer and bent my rear wheel. I finally got it fixed and the rest of my bike got a little overhaul too. I went to Gear West bike and tri out in Long Lake. That is where I bought my bike from and one of the few true triathlon stores around.

My workouts have been going really well. I am feeling stronger. Last week I signed up for Grandma's marathon on June 21st. I wanted to get a marathon in before my ironman. This probably I will not be doing any other races this summer as I will not have adequate time to recover. We'll see though.

Alright, I need to get my bike set up for an early morning ride in front of the tv.