First - THANK YOU for all your wonderful words of encouragement. It definitely helped. One thing that is difficult with my training schedule is when one is training for a triathlon, you have to fit in several workouts in just so much time! So, I've changed around my training plan to include 1-2 rest days per week. However, that means that some days I will need to do two-a-days in order to get the workouts in. This is part of what makes triathlon so challenging! And let's keep in mind that through all this I'm also still training for the Columbus FULL Marathon in October! I still think I'll be better able to feel positive about my workouts if I have planned rest days. If those days don't happen as planned, that's fine, as long as I still end up having 4-5 workout days each week! I need to work on this feeling of being a failure when I don't reach a goal.
Now - to the HAPPY stuff! So, I posted Thursday night about potentially going for a bike ride the next day with a friend. Thank goodness she came through for me! Melanie - you have no idea how much I needed that ride so thank you! We planned a 30 mile ride out by the lake (so pretty)! The plan was to ride out 15 and then back to the car 15. Well, we started and were only about 4.5 miles in when the sky did not look pretty. We were worried the skies might open up, but decided to keep going away from the car for the time being. Not less than 5 minutes after making that decision it started to rain! It wasn't a bad rain so we kept on. We made it to almost 10 miles out from the car and decided we'd better turn around. We still had 10 miles to get back to the car and it might get ugly. It continued to rain lightly, which was actually quite welcomed after the heat wave we've been having. By the time we got back to the car, the weather cleared up. So....back out 5 we went....bound and determined to get 30 in. And we did! And in a better time than I've EVER done any distance - let alone 30 freaking miles!
This was a GREAT ride! I felt like I loved riding (almost) the entire time! It definitely makes a big difference to ride a flat ride. But, what it also did was make me really appreciate the hills I do around my house. It made me feel like a stronger rider because I do the hills that I do. The hills get me down and defeat me some time....but I think the reason the flat ride felt so great was BECAUSE of those hills! It helped to make me feel like I can DO this!
Saturday I was going to go swim, but ended up spending time with my family instead. The difference? I was totally OK with this. I know that I have to BRING IT during the month of July, as we're 1 month from the Olympic Tri. There will truly have to be no excuses for this month if I want to cross that finish line on Aug 5th. I also knew what was on my schedule for today: my first brick workout (well, 2nd if you count the Twinsburg Duathlon). On the schedule....15 mile bike immediately followed by a 4 mile run.
So this morning.... I freaking KILLED IT! I got on the bike and could immediately feel every one of those 30 miles I had ridden on Friday. I eventually loosened up, and before I knew it I was turning around to finish the last 7.5 miles and start the run. I was thinking around an hour for the bike and I finished in just around 58 minutes. I was happy with that. Then, I put my bike away, put my running shoes on and started out for 4. I started with thoughts of....ugh...4 is far...I'm slow...I feel like I'm not moving (hate that about running right off the bike). But then, all of the sudden I was at mile 2 - the turn around point! I looked at my watch and saw that I was making pretty good time. I pushed it. I kept my intervals the entire 4 miles. I didn't take any extra walk breaks and kept a pretty decent pace when running. I couldn't even believe what I did at the end of the run....I NEGATIVE SPLIT!!! OMG!! I have never, ever done this! This is when you finish the 2nd part of the run faster than the first. It was only by seconds, but a negative split is a negative split! Frankly, it would have been impressive for me to finish the 2nd half just as quickly as the first. I'm usually much faster the first half and then can't keep it up the 2nd. Intervals are supposed to help this, but I think I've been taking my intervals too fast lately. So, I'm back to 3/2 and I'm loving it!
I wanted to be sure to post tonight while I'm feeling positive. I did have one moment today when I was trying to get in my head. I felt GOOD about my workout, but then I started comparing. My bike/run today was about 1 hour and 50 minutes....add a swim to that and transitions and I woud have been around 2:10ish, which was my time last year in my sprint tri. Now, granted, that bike was 14 and the run was 5k, but I still felt (for a second) as though this wasn't good enough! ARGH! I have to get out of my head! But, I'm working on it. I literally yelled at myself in my car and told myself that I need to just let myself feel good. Think of the workout TODAY and how I feel NOW and STOP COMPARING...whether it be comparing myself to others....to my previous times, etc.
I'm a work in progress and will forever be!
In closing....here is my workout schedule for this week:
Sun (today): Brick: 15 mile bike; 4 mile run
Mon: REST
Tues: Run 3-4 miles in AM; Swim in PM
Wed: Bike 25 miles
Thurs: Run 3-4 miles
Fri - Open Water Swim (thanks mom for agreeing to go to the beach with me, watch the kids and keep an eye on me while I swim in Lake Erie)!
Sat: Bike 20
That's the plan. I'll update how I did at the end of the week!
Good for you! Keep up the fantastic work... positive attitude... and commitment! And stay out of your head!
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