Ah yes, finally a day off!I slept horribly last night and awoke at 5AM feeling like I had just doze off. By 8AM I was back from working with the LVAC Tri-Club and passed out on the couch for 30min. Despite running a bit too long yesterday, I feel brilliant! It’s going to be a awesome day! Today’s Goal: 

EAT
REST
READ

Happy Easter! Despite the Friday’s snow storm, it’s beautiful outside today! A little chilly and plenty of slush but its sunny, so time for a run. Today’s Training Goal:

 Run: 1hr (15min in <145 BPM, 45min 145-155BPM)

I’ve been a bit concerned over the past week about my training intensity. My heart rate has been running a bit high on the run and a little low on the bike. Later today I’ll have to take a closer look at my heart rate monitor data (BTW – BPM = beats per minute) and possibly re-zone. …

After my ride in the freezing cold last week, I decided not to brave the 4 inches of snow that we got in Chicago yesterday and opted to spin instead. Rina and I dropped into a spin class at LPAC where Chris Neubauer treated us to yet another brilliantly instructed ride. Rina, the trooper, hung with me for the first 1:15 and I finished the last 45min on my own. After nearly 2:30 minutes in the black light spin room, we walked outside and were welcomed to blue sky and melting snow, …

On average, I spend about 2hrs a week in the pool and in closer to 3hrs starting in April. Swimming is not a strength of mine, so those 2hours are the most challenging parts of the week. This article in the NYTimes offers some good tips from one of the best American Swimmers, Ryan Lochte. My take-away: set goals, don’t neglect strength workouts outside of the pool, slow down, focus on technique and be competitive.Nice little article…I’m interested to see what else NYT has in store for this series on olympic hopefuls. 

Last Friday I was running in the sun…today…it’s snowing! And people wonder why we’re planning to move to San Francisco this summer…. Today’s Training Goal:

 Run: 60min – 145-155BPM
Foam Roll & Stretch for 20min

I watched the sun come up this morning from my balcony – couldn’t help but think how much better it will be seeing it from the trail over the lake in a couple weeks. Today’s Training Goals: 

 Swim: 2,175M
Bike: 60min – <145 BPM

Yesterday my swim/run nearly did me in! Since my plan didn’t specify a break in between workouts, in the sake of time, I did them with less than a 10 minute transition in between. Seemed like a good idea at the time but boy was I busted by the time I got home. Tuesday is my most challenging workout by far. I’ve never been much of a swimmer and only recently started to feel comfortable in the water. Perhaps next tuesday I’ll try to split the workout and see if …

A full day of recover and I’m back at it. Unfortunately, yesterday I was in front of the computer for entirely too long and my back is not happy about it. Hopefully, a good warm-up will work out the kinks…Today’s Training Agenda:

Swim: 2,100M
Run: 60 min at 145-155BPM 
15min in the hot tub

And the tunes that pull me through

PODRUNNER Intervals

Ahh yes, Monday…for many people this is the beginning of the week but for me Monday marks a much needed recovery day. No blowing bubbles in the water, no cleat clicking and certainly no running shoes. Instead, Monday’s are filled with foam rolling, stretching and eating. But here’s the tricky part…since it’s a day off, I tend to eat at different times and feel less fatigued which results in getting to bed late. My day off ends up messing with my rhythm for the week and so it goes…I gotta …

Except for getting sick and missing nearly 9 days of training, my training seems to be coming along nicely. The pool is still a chore that I plan nearly my entire week around it but even my stroke is starting to pan out. The temp’s are starting to rise and with any luck I’ll dust off my bike and hit the road Saturday.Last night I built my training plan for week 11-20…what a chore. It’s hard to imagine how I’ll find time in a few months to train 10-15 hours …