Allatoona Triathlon Training Week 2: Looking Back and Forward

I managed to get two open water swims in this week.

I knew training this week would be difficult due to the impact moving would have on my training schedule.  All week, every evening I would come home from work, change clothes, load boxes of books and stuff into my car and then head to the new house.  From there I would unload the boxes, change into my running or biking clothes in an attempt to try and squeeze in a quick hour workout.  I did this nearly every day and I managed a few lunch time strength sessions surprisingly enough.

My brick setup for now. Use what you have.

I got the week started off on a good foot as Monday was Memorial day and my local Tri Store, PTS Sports were hosting an open water swim and 30 mile bike ride (details here).  Of course this also got wrapped up into a car loading and moving session shortly afterwards.  Where things fell apart for me was this last weekend.  I usually plan to get a run and a cycling ride or two, but I knew I would be moving all day on Saturday/Sunday based on truck availability.  Instead of my normal weekend workout, I spent from 3PM til 11:30 PM Sunday moving heavy furniture.  The cool thing for me entailed remembering earlier moves where I had to have a smoke break every thirty or so minutes just to give myself a small rest, often relying on others to do the bulk of the work.  This move was just me and my brother in law and I felt great early on.  As the later hours moved in the strength started to zap, but at that point it had been hours of moving furniture.

So a week of moving interspersed with some training. ..

Moving My Stuff and My Body Highlights Allatoona Triathlon Training Week 2:

• On average weight was at 289.8 – on the edge of heading and staying in the 280s (here is the weight loss post).
• Found a pair of pants I wore when I started this last may and they were huge (here)
• Due to Memorial Day on Monday got my first open water swim in, managing to swim 700 meters.  Saturday I got another open water swim in going a little bit further.  I am finding I am able to stay calm but I still stop and start allot, allowing nagging fear to dictate my swimming. I have another open water swim this coming Saturday and I am just going to swim the distance and let my mind ignore the fears.  There is a lifeguard there for a reason.
• On Memorial day I also got to go for a 30 mile bike ride, the last portion on the course I will be racing on at the end of June.  Rude awakening to one monster hill towards end that encompasses 200 feet of climbing over 1.1 miles.
• Came up just shy of my running goals as the long run got nixed due to moving.
• Completed roughly six hours of training – most of it mixed between one hour biking and running workouts (had moving to do so had to keep them small) and a brick of 5 quick cycling miles and 2 quick running miles.

Number Highlights

I wanted more hours as this is supposed to be one of the cornerstone workout weeks for my upcoming triathlon, but moving limited the time available.  My goals for this week though are pretty simple and might get cut short due to unpacking.

Week Three Goals:

• 2-3 Strength Sessions
• At least a pilates session.  I am working on finding a friendlier home solution.
• Saturday is a free clinic for the upcoming triathlon which will include race advice and an open water swim over the swim course followed by a 5k group run over the run course.
• Thursday spin and swim session.  While I love riding, I feel like the interval and high intensity training I get from my Thursday spin class is worth getting into the gym once during the week.  After an hour of suffering I plan to get an hour or so swim workout completed.
• I want to get one brick workout of some distance.
• At least one long and possibly a medium level bike ride in.
• Possibly an extra open water swim on Sunday.
• Usually I do a 3 mile early in the week then a brick with a light 2 mile run in the middle and an increasing distance run on the weekend.  I have to change this a bit as this weekend’s run will be the 5k group run.   In light of this I will do my long run at the beginning of the week and follow the normal schedule.
• I want to get down to an average weight of 288 by the end of this week.  This will put me closer to my goal of 284 by race week.

That’s my planned week in a nutshell, should be challenging!  Til next time.

Related articles

• Allatoona Triathlon Week 1 Review (chatterdoesfitness.wordpress.com)
• Open Water Swim Advice for Beginners (iowatribob.com)
• Kicking off the Week Right! (chatterdoesfitness.wordpress.com)

Tags: Cycling, fitness, goal setting, goals, health, healthy-living, Journey, Open water swimming, Training, Triathlete, Triathlon, triathlon training