This off season has not been particularly as good as last years. Last year I was just getting started, everything I tried went well and I was loving the results. Sure if you go back through the posts, you'll find something that threw me off, the struggles of going paleo at first and the wonders of plateauing during weight loss. Overall though, things went very well last year and I am pleased with the results.
This year, its been, well different. Through student teaching, injury and over training, lets just say I need some warm weather. Student teaching was rough on my training schedule to say the least. After the Atlantic City race, training took a back seat to everything else that was going on. After graduation it was GO time! I was back in the weight room, I was swimming, I was biking, I was running. If it was a form of exercise, I was participating in it. Not so fast killer....Next thing you know the injuries started popping up. I was told to ease back in and I didn't. I got hurt and I was told to take it easy......I didn't. I paid, and I paid big time. I had to take some serious time off, I had to get my back healthy and then I needed to reevaluate my training and what I was doing. My first tri isn't until June....I needed to dial things back and so I did. The other thing I did was something I hate doing, but knew I had to....I began to seek the advice of a coach. Eduardo from Bodyfeed was awesome in helping me get back on my feet. He wrote personalized training plans for me based on my goals and he checked in with me on a daily basis. Better yet, it was FREE!!! He is willing to do the same for anyone else as well, he is confident that if you are not satisfied you can leave at any time but you can get up to 3 months of training for free.
Once back on my feet, I began to feel healthy, happy and back to where I needed to be. Not all of my training has gone exactly as planned but I am feeling good about it. There have been days I have not wanted to do my workout for that day, there have been days where I have skipped but there is still no doubt in my mind that this is something I love! One of the groups that has helped my push through these times and led to some great workouts is Further Faster Forever. It is a group on Instagram and twitter that is centered around triathlon and pushing/ supporting each other through training. You can join on their site and check out all of the positive and motivating pictures on Instagram!
On Saturday post run I was leaving the club and someone at the desk asked me what I was doing. It was a Saturday on St Patty's weekend so I guess they were expecting something along the lines of going out to blackout and not remember the night before and spend my Sunday laying around nursing a hangover. I simply responded with well I am not really sure yet. Their next response was the one that caught me slightly off guard though "Can't you just go out and do something fun for once?" I didn't think I was a lame person. I like to go out and have fun with my friends, I do enjoy going to the bar now and again and I think if you surveyed my friends they would say I can be a pretty fun guy. I just thought that it was strange that because I wasn't going out to the bar they felt as though I wasn't doing anything "fun" Maybe I am lame and not fun anymore because I don't go to the bar every weekend and I am ok with that.
Sunday meant brick day for me, another reason I did not go to the bar Saturday. Something tells me riding 15 miles on the bike followed immediately by a 5K would be anything less than splendid while nursing a hangover. So I got home in the afternoon after AM water workout and running some errands. I fired up the trainer and threw on some Walking Dead. After my 10 min warmup I got into the groove and just started pedaling. I did not want to shift gears or do 1 min in this gear and 1 min in that because I have a different day set up for intervals. I spent this time trying to get used to being in the areo position and focus on my pedal stroke and play with my nutrition a bit. I hit my 15 miles and it was immediately off, throw on my Newton Running Motion and grab my Powerbar gel. I had my Garmin set to multisport mode so all I had to do was hit lap and it went right into the run mode. The watch was covered just enough for me to see the distance, I wanted everything else to be off of feel for this run. I did my 5K and when I hit the distance, I had no idea how long I have been going for. I hit stop on the Garmin and excitedly pulled my sleeve up to see the time. 25:45!! For those of you keeping tabs, this was maybe 1:30 off my PR time at most. I was ecstatic! It was a great way to finish out my weekend and I got to run outside to boot! I was using Osmo hydration while on the bike and when I jumped off to go run I had a gel with me. As I started running I had a stomach ache but nothing serious and after I took my gel it came back a bit. Obviously it didn't effect me too much since I had a great run but I am not sure what it would do on a longer run. That's why you practice your nutrition in training!
Today things are light, I have a swim, probably in my wetsuit since I like to do that once a week and some strength intervals. Sticking to my plan and keeping things simple. Light days are meant to be light so the hard days can be hard. Hope everyone is enjoying their training thus far, can't wait for race season coming up! I really appreciate all the support and look forward to hearing about your training and racing.
All for now
Keep FSU and Do It For Yourself
I do not post on here on a daily basis but you can follow my training and other posts here!
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