So here I am 4 days away from the Chicago Tri -- one of the biggest triathlons (besides the Ironman of course) and I'm so excited! Last week I did a swim on Monday, stationary bike ride Tuesday, swim on Wednesday, a run on Thursday and then a brick workout with Micheala, my brother's girlfriend who also will compete in the Chicago Tri -- on Saturday! I would have to say the best workout of the week was on Saturday... it was great to have someone to work out with and also talk about triathlons with!We went on an hour and fifteen minute bike ride around Champaign and then came to the house to get some water and then did a 1.8-mile run in my neighborhood. I was really tired after our workout, but in a good way! My legs were hurting at first during the run but after awhile they were feeling good.Now its my week to taper off so I'm doing really short workouts -- Monday I did a 500 yard swim and yesterday I did a 1.8-mile run/walk. I'm hoping to get in one more swim and a bike ride before the race on Sunday!Tomorrow I will head to the burbs, so tonight I will have to make sure I have all my gear:- tri suit
- googles
- swim cap
- waterbottles (at least 2)
- bike
- helmet
- running shoes
- flat tire kit
- baseball cap
- sunglasses
- sunscreen
- INHALER (definitely can't forget that!)
- fleece jacket (it will be freezing at 5 a.m. when we have to head to the race site)
Well, after a week of only a couple swim, no bike rides or runs at the Lake of the Ozarks, I'm back to hitting it hard this week in my training.I brought my running gear, but never got a chance to use it because it was so hot and humid! I did some swimming in the cove we were at and I got a good workout doing that Friday and Saturday because there were a lot of waves coming in from the main part of the lake.Yesterday, I went to the Park District pool and did a 1500-meter swim and it felt great! I was worried about how I would do since last week I didn't work out too much, but I felt strong and was glad to be in the pool again! The lake was good practice for me, but I had no idea how to measure the distance in the cove.Today, I'll be heading to Cardinal Fitness to ride the stationary bike since its looking pretty cloudy out and it's supposed to rain today. I'll do some weight training as well... I haven't done a lot of that since training in June which is not good! Its important to do some kind of weight/resistance training if you want your muscles to stay strong during competition. This goes back to the whole time-management concept that I struggle with sometimes... its hard to do enough swimming, biking and running workouts on top of weight training to build up your muscles and yoga/stretching to work on your flexibility. But I guess that's where your priorities come in... if you make a priority, you'll get it done.Last week before heading to the lake, I got a magazine article about the Chicago Triathlon that my friend Katie found and sent me! It talks about the course and what it takes to train and compete in the race... Reading it made me so psyched about the race!
After I completed my first triathlon, I went through this feeling. Once the excitement of all you accomplished with competing in the race goes away, its hard to get back in that groove of working out five to seven times a week.This is the first week since my race that I've really felt good about my workouts. Maybe part of that was because you need some recovery time, but also I think it's hard to start up on training.Last week I did swim twice and rode my bike once and ran once, but I didn't feel strong during any of the workouts. I kept getting stomach aches/cramps during my swims, my legs were just exhausted during the bike ride and I felt nauseous during my run (in which I only lasted 23 minutes). My allergies were bugging me all week so I thought that might be why I wasn't feeling great.However, this week I'm doing good so far! I swam 2,000 meters on Monday and felt strong. Only took a couple breaks, which is a huge improvement from the beginning of summer when I was taking breaks after every 100 or 200 meters! I feel like I've increased my endurance in training this summer more than any other summer training for triathlons, and its a great feeling! Today, since there was a monsoon in Champaign -- OK maybe that's a stretch, but there was a huge downpour -- I decided to head over to Cardinal Fitness and use the stationary bike. I set it at 7 for resistance and did a 40-minute random program. Then I hit the weights for some upper body toning -- biceps, triceps, shoulder and back. I hadn't done weights in months and so it was a challenge since my body wasn't used to those exercises anymore.So far, so good this week! I'm hoping I can keep it up! I'm looking forward to next week when I'll be on vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks, so I can get more practice with open water swimming as I prepare for the Chicago Tri on Aug. 30th!
