Sundays are normally considered a recovery day. However, I am training for my first Ironman and right now I am really worried about creating a base. I need repetition to breed some confidence, and the only way that’s going to happen is if I put myself through the steps of a triathlon as often as I can. I am betting that I’ll still be achy from Saturday’s workout – so this one should really test my current level of preparedness.
Schedule:
- RUN – I’ll start the day with a 90 minute run. Looking to rack up at least 8 miles. Any more is money in the bank. I need to get to the gym by 7am.
- SWIM – Stage 2 of the morning is a one hour swim session from 7 to 8am. I’m looking to piece together 100yd repeats, and I’d like to see how many yards I can rack up in 60 minutes. In an Ironman, you have 2 hours and 20 minutes to swim 4,400 yards. So I really need to nail at least 2,000 yards at this point in order to feel a little confident.
- STRENGTH – After the swim, my shoulders, back and arms will be tired. So at 8am, I’ll transition to some strength training. The goal here is NOT to release my inner Ronnie Coleman – shooting for low weight and high reps instead of trying to primarily build muscle mass. The goal here is to further fatigue my arms and back – really burn them out – before hopping on the bike.
- BIKE – 45 minutes of spin class. Rack up at least 16.5 miles. Case closed. The goal here is to just stay focused on getting through the distance feeling as crappy as I am sure I’ll feel by this point.
- YOGA – That’s right – yoga. Again. Another Yoga For People That Cannot Touch Their Toes With a Ruler class for me. By the end of this process, you guys will just refer to me as the Bronx Dali Frackin’ Lama. Namaste, dammit.
Today I am trying to mix things up a bit. It will work my endurance by the simple fact that I’ll need to work for a prolonged period of time. However, this test gets harder by forcing myself to try new exercises that should work muscle groups that ordinarily don’t get stressed during my regular routines.
Results:
- RUN – I felt strong this morning. the pace was slow but steady, and a little soggy. The highlight: high-fiving a cameraman for one of those morning shows shot in Times Square.
- SWIM – 20 laps. 1,000 yards. slow as all hell. If I don’t pick this up, I’ll never make it to the bike portion of the Ironman. And swimming is normally a strong suit for me – so I hopped out of the pool royally pissed off.
- STRENGTH – I transitioned to the weight room and did 4 sets of my normal
- full body routine. By the time I finished I was completely burnt out.
- BIKE – the bike portion of my morning was cut short with a stabbing pain that developed on the inside part of my right knee. that freaked me out a bit – because my bad knee is my left knee. Wonderful…..
- YOGA -I scratched yoga class today. why? because there’s some pain in my knee and I’m starting to worry about it. The doc will check it out Thursday – so that will suck….
I did some research – and I found that Caesar used to require his legionnaires to enjoy wine before battle. Better late than never – now where the hell is my corkscrew?