Better

I've decided to revert back to blogging on a sporadic schedule, rather than trying to clump everything into a weekly report.  "A" it will fit my schedule a lot better (Monday's aren't always the quietest days for me), and "B" I do think things can get "lost" when you wait too long to write it down.

In general, this week's training has been A LOT better.  My cold feel's like it is finally dissipating... our auditor's fieldwork is complete so things have slowed (though we are still going through our company's sales process... talk about an emotional roller-coaster)... slowly but surely I am starting to feel a lot more "normal" (so goes the ebb and flow of life).

One of the keys I have been working on this week is actually "looking forward" to my workouts.  Instead of dreading them because of lack of time or feelings of fatigue, I have been working really hard to re-frame workouts (or my perception of them) as "releases".

Surprisingly, I think the small change in attitude has helped.  Yesterday was a good example... the bid deadline for our sales process was at lunch... things didn't go as expected... our office was rather dejected... but I was still able to have a great workout and "release" in the evening.  Sure, part of the reason the workout felt so good was because I am simply "getting better" (cold wise)... but it also would have been easy to skip that workout if I wasn't in the right mindset.  Chalk up a 1 for sports psychology I guess...

Swimming

Recently, my swimming has actually felt weaker than it has in the past.  I am not sure if the effort isn't there... of if doing so well in all my other workouts has simply affected the energy levels I have for swim days.  I did a 1,000 m time trial at the end of last week for instance, and though I had a decent time (19:04), I felt like I could have done more after the fact (you wouldn't have thought so watching the last lap though).

I do have to keep in mind that the volume is still building, and my endurance times will reflect that (i.e. the body isn't quite used to the long sets yet).

Biking

Biking felt great this week.  Sarah and I managed to make it outside to do the Horse Creek loop last Sunday.  Though it was windy as s**t, it was certainly nice to be outdoors.

The Crestmont Spin Class (formerly the Bow Cycle Spin Class... we get kicked out of Bow Cycle when the busy season starts up) also went quite well on Tuesday.  My heart rate was good, and the effort felt like it was there, so I really can't complain at all (though, I would like to focus on higher cadences moving forward... power isn't a problem for me).

Running

Running has been awesome.  Which is nice considering the mind f**k I gave myself after the St. Patty's Day 10k.  I had a short 30 - 40 minute run on Tuesday which got cut to 20 or so minutes as I was running short of time because of work.  I still managed to put in the same distance as I would in 30 minutes though, so from a volume perspective everything was good... ;)

(for those versed in training... there is heavy sarcasm in that sentence... too many tempo runs in a week = INJURY!)

Yesterday 's run really was good... I felt like I could "let it all hang out" and I really tried to push the pace.  After a 20 minute warmup I had 3 x 1 minute hill repeats, which I was able to run at a 7:30 min/mile pace (up McHugh Bluff by Eau Claire).  I then had a 15 minute tempo run where I was able to maintain a 7:15 to 7:20 min/mile pace (the last mile I averaged around a 7:00 min/mile pace).  I topped it all off with 3 more 1 minute hill repeats at similar pace to the first set (though the last one I managed to push slightly hard).

All in all it was a great workout (and proved to me that St. Patty's Day was just simply a sh**ty day).