Monday, February 1, 2016

Carmel Marathon Training: Week 3

With 3 weeks down and 11 to go until Carmel, I'm feeling optimistic about my progress and fitness. This week went almost according to plan- minus having to swap a couple of workouts around due to the gym being busy. Oh well.

I had a lot of time to reflect on life and training and everything this week.  The 2nd half of the week all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and drink Manhattans due to being emotionally drained. BUT I reminded myself that I have goals and that once I worked out I could sit on the couch and have Manhattans because doing nothing is a waste of my valuable time. Looking back, I'm really happy I went to the gym instead of sitting on the couch watching TV (except I rarely watch TV anyways) because doing nothing would open up the doors to rationalizing baling on more workouts- much like binging on food- how one day of indulgent eating "just this once" can turn into a week.

Workouts:

Monday: REST

Tuesday:  16 miles cycled

Wednesday: 13 miles cycled, 2 mile run

Thursday: 7 mile run- 8x400's

Friday: 6 mile run

Saturday:  10 mile run- 4 with the pup

Sunday:  22 mile cycle, 4 mile run

Total: 80 miles for 7:21:29
Running: 29 miles for 3:56:29
Cycling: 51 miles for 3:25

January Totals: 334.83 miles for 30:45:08
Swimming: 2.44 miles, 1:29:19
Cycling: 232 miles, 15:42:45
Running: 100.39 miles, 13:33:04

Overall I feel good about the January numbers-

  • I only swam 2x, but given the weather and that I have to cycle to the pool, I know I'll be able to go more frequently as the weather warms up.
  • I haven't cycled outside in a while, but again the weather is to blame. 
  • I was really happy with how I felt running- the speedwork is starting to feel comfortably hard instead of full of dread.
  • I'm down 5+lbs for the month which I know has a direct correlation to feeling much better while running. Reducing alcohol intake, cooking most of my meals at home (with nutritious recipes from the Racing Weight cookbook), and all of the workouts + strength stuff have made this possible. No big secret there.
Snapshots:

CB was super sweet this week.

When things got tough the end of the week, CB was there for me wanting extra snuggles.
The weather on Saturday was amazing so I did part of my run outside.
And I took the CB dog with me which made both of us very happy.
Sunday morning we both woke up feeling sick, but were fine by the end of the day. CB snapped this selfie of us.
Some more photos from the F^3 half.. I was just so ridiculously happy with how the "race" went for me.
Looking forward:

  • Continue to increase strength training
  • Tweak my training plan- I found I had rest days on build up or peak weeks but not on cutbacks.. This week i'll correct that and also fix some other inconsistencies.
  • Make a better plan for running speedwork- currently i'm winging it each time. I need to at least have something more structured- including a possible choice between two workouts- like 400's or 800's.


9 comments:

  1. I totally understand that feeling of wanting to sit on the couch and drink all day. Way to push through on going to the gym despite that! It is NOT easy to do. YES on how "just this once" can easily spiral out of control. Isn't it amazing what a difference it makes to cook your own meals at home? I do love dining out, but it can be SO unhealthy. Those chefs are simply in the business of making food taste good without regard to calories! Love your pictures, as always. You look so strong and triumphant in your F3 finish photo - LOVE IT.

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    1. This week was exceptionally sucky. I'll have to pm you later about it you want to hear about it. :( glad to hear I'm not the only one who spirals out of control a bit with food and stuff. It's so easy to slip into bad habits and tougher to break them! Oh yeah! Dining out is so fun and delicious- we were going out sooooo much the past few months until I decided that January was the start of getting on track to feel much better. L was on board, but it's also helped he's been gone most of the time too :)

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  2. I will be curious to see how you modify your speedwork! Now that you have more of a goal in mind for Carmel, that could help!

    I am happy you got your workouts in when you were feeling meh. :) And that you didn't feel sick all day yesterday!

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  3. I did a no-added sugar challenge for the last 21 days and that really helped me snap out of my holiday sugar coma and lose a few lbs, too! Great job on your training despite LIFE. Hope this week is better! (PS. how did I miss that you are doing an IRONMAN?!)

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    1. Those challenges definitely seem like a good tool to help get back on track! I'm lucky (I guess) that I don't like sweets. Now if there was a portion size challenge for meals, I'd be all over that! I haven't been too vocal about the IM- it's just so faaaaaaar away :)

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  4. CB is quite the selfie photographer! Nice icy lake pics as well. It was sad when I did a LFT run yesterday and did not see any ice! Anyway, sorry to hear about your sucky week, but glad to hear that you soldiered on with your workouts. The incredible feeling you'll have when you hear your name called and that you are an Ironman, will be totally worth skipping some quality couch time now! Also, congrats on getting down to (or near) your "race weight". I still need to get the cookbook!

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    1. CB is a jack of many trades, master of all. The ice was my motivation to run on Saturday- I knew it would be gone Sunday. Haha Thanks for the kind words, things will be tough for a while unfortunately and getting through the first week of it definitely helped for sanity and continuity of training. I'm about halfway to race weight right now- the cookbook is awesome! If highly recommend it. I always try to cook complicated stuff and the cookbook is so user friendly and delicious.

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  5. Sorry you had a rough week. Whatever happened, I hope its better this week. I too have been in a bit of 'suckiness' and this week hasn't started off any better. HUGS!

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    1. Thanks lady! I hope your weeks get much better too. It's a long road ahead for what's going on, but I'm hoping things get better little by little. Working out and keeping consistent has helped a lot.

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