Feeling Groovy

What an awesome day it is out there.  Sunny, warm and perfect for a lunch time run, I am excited to out there and do 5 - 6 miles.  Wahoo!  The past few days have been pretty good as well, I've been overcoming some residual soreness, eating well (for the most part) and getting into a groove with my training.  I know that I am still in the honeymoon faze of Ironman training, but I can honestly say that I am chomping at the bit to start doing some longer workouts....I should bide my time and enjoy the shorter less intense stuf right now.

Tuesday
An early morning at the pool, sharing a lane with a girl in her early 20s who is lightning fast.  It made me realize that I still have a lot of room for improvement when comes to swimming.  I believe that my workout was 2,400M (300M warm up, 8 x 50M drills, 3 x 125M @ 20 sec rest, 2 x 175M @ 30 sec rest, 3 x 125M @ 20 sec rest, 8 x 50M drills, and 200M cool down), a bit short of what I thought would be a 2,500M swim.  I considered adding an extra 100M but then realized I needed to get out of the pool and get to work.  The work out took me 50:28, but that includes about three minutes of rest from the intervals....so make my swim 47:28.  Not too bad for me.

Work was work, as it always is.  At lunch I headed out into the rain and put in an easy 4.3 miles, 33:30 (7:47/mile) with my heartrate averaging 149 BPM.  I actually enjoyed running in the rain, granted it wasn't a down pour, but just enough to keep me cool and comfortable.

Wednesday
I had a dentist appointment at 8:45AM so I decided that it would be best if I just worked from home, else I probably wouldn't have gotten to work until close to 10:30AM.  It was a good day, I was able to get the girls on the bus and to school which is always fun.  I went to the dentist and everything is A-OK, although I left feeling like I was punched in the mouth....the hygenist was not gentle, not at all.  Then it was home to bang out some marketing plans for my groups recent pending reorganization.

At noon I headed out on my training plan dictated 30 minute ride.  Nothing spectacular, just rode into the heart of Doylestown, which in hindsight probably wasn't too smart because I ended up having to stop at every friggin' traffic light and stop sign.  I was hoping to average over 20 MPH, but it just wasn't going to happen because of route I took.  Final stats:  9.03 miles, 30:02 (18 MPH), a fun ride, but I would have liked to have ridden faster.  From the bike I had to do a quick change and head right out for a 15 minute run.  I was probably out in under three minutes and proceeded to run for 15:10, covering 2.05 miles (7:25/mile pace) with my heartrate averaging 145 BPM.  I was astounded by my running stats following my bike.  I thought for sure I would be struggling to run 8:00/mile pace.  

One thing that my training plan calls for during the first 10 weeks of training is to training HR Zone 2, which for me is under 158 BPM (or so).  I was psyched to see that my heartrate was wll under that for the duration of my run.  In fact, at not time during the run did I feel like I was straining or hurting to keep that pace.  This is a good sign, I feel like I have made some progress in my training.  I have my first triathlon of the season coming up on Sunday, June 20th, the LavaMan down in Lavallette, NJ, and I think I could really do well.  Granted I am still going to be in the "Build" phase of my training, but I should be able to use that race as a barometer for how I am doing.

Things are looking up and I can only hope that my allergies and the hot/humid weather doesn't play havoc on my running.  That's all for now, just waiting to head out for a beautiful lunch time run....oh, then after work for my oldest daughter to have her "Bridging Ceremong" which respresents her transition from Daisy Scouts to Brownies.  Should be a good night, I am very proud of her.  Adios!