Back to Blogging

Ok - after being pestered by both my mom and sister, neither of whom or dedicated internet users / junkies, about the fact the I have been MIA from my blog - I'm back. I hope for good this time. Luckily my workouts haven't suffered nearly as much as my blogging.

The official triathlon training program starts on Monday (the 11th). The other day I started looking at it and reviewing the workouts. And then I started to panic! It is going to be intense. For a while there I was doing 4 days a week of mildly wimpy workouts. The program has me working out 6 days a week for, on average, at least 45 minutes. So I've upped my game a bit. Right now I am on pace for 6 days this week.

In a minute, I'll give a review of recent workouts, but first an update on my knee. Day-to-day my knee is ok, but it's far from 100%. Most days I have no pain, or just a little achiness on stairs. But when the knee hurts - it hurts! I am hoping that it stays at this level of pain, which is manageable and I think safe, even when I start upping the intensity level and duration of workouts.

Here's some recent workouts -

Saturday - 35 minute run outside. It was really my first run outside since I've been training. It went pretty well, especially considering how windy it was on the lakefront. I think I did 3 miles, maybe not quite. The time included a minute or two stop at the turn around. I will say that my knee was not happy by the end of the run, but it seemed to recover pretty well and gave me no problems during my Sunday workout.

Sunday - 50-55 min bike ride on lakefront path. About 9.5-10 miles. GREAT ride. I heart my bike so much. It was pretty busy on the path considering it was Sunday morning around 9am. So the ride included the usual weaving and slamming on brakes, but it was a great ride. Nice even heart rate, no heavy breathing, and a decent time. My hands/wrists get sore though - so I think I am going to get some of those fingerless gloves. I also need some padded bike shorts, once I start getting over an hour on the bike. Plus I need a water bottle for my bike. And it would probably be nice to get a little storage pouch for under the seat to carry items like a cell phone, etc with me. Oh - how the things seem to add up! -- Speaking of the bike - I also need to change out my standard pedals with the cages that I had put on my old mountain bike a couple years ago. I think that will be a nice addition.

Monday - 40 minutes of pool time - including lots of kick, some arms-only, regular free style, and some treading of water. The pool finally was a decent temp, and it felt good to get back in the water because it had been a couple weeks since I had a good swim in decent water temps. Unfortunately I was wiped out for the rest of the day. Totally 110% exhausted. I crashed when I got home from work that night.

Tuesday - 25 min on the stationary bike. I was totally running late on Tuesday - but at least I squeezed a little workout in. Better than nothing - right?

Wednesday - I took the day off. I had planned to take today, Thursday, off, but I didn't sleep well. When I hit the snooze, apparently I turned off the alarm, so I woke up too late to workout, and didn't feel very good last night.

Today/Thursday - 35 minutes on the treadmill. 1.0 incline
5 minutes warm up
1 minute at 4.0
2 at 5.0
1 min. at 4.0
2 at 5.1
1 min at 4.0
2 at 5.2
1 min at 4.0
2 at 5.3
etc... up to 5.7. followed by 1 min at 4.0 and then a 5 minute cool down.

Great workout - very pleased with it, and my knee feels good.

Hopefully - I'll be back tomorrow!