If you’re one of the few people that follow my training every week, you’re probably starting to get a little bored since each post basically looks like the ones before it. Fear not, my faithful readers because I have some changes in the works starting next week. After a year long hiatus, I recruited my former (and now current) coach to help me prepare for my first Ironman. I received my plan for next week and it’s definitely going to shake things up for me.
Here’s a helpful nugget of information: if you want to get better at something, you should spend some time and effort to practice it. After disregarding this advice for a couple years, I finally started swimming with some consistency and am reaping the benefits. I’m swimming further and faster than ever before. This week, I completed a two-mile swim for the first time ever! I stayed relaxed throughout the swim and was stunned to see that I maintained a 2:00/100 yard average pace over 2 miles. This may sound painfully slow to most of you, but it’s a huge improvement for me as I struggled to swim just 100 yards in 2:20 just a few months ago. Work works!
This is not a torture chamber anymore
Saturday was spent on the trainer because I didn’t want deal with ice patches on the roads and because living in California for 8 years has made me a cold-weather wimp. Trainer rides can be boring but at least you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to stash a bowl full of potatoes in your kit.
Bike n brunch
Do you work with a coach when you’re training for a race?
Do you get excited when you reach a new training milestone?
What do you do to keep trainer rides fun?
Monday
90 minutes of strength training
Tuesday
Run: 3 miles at the track
Wednesday
Swim: 2,300 yards
Hourly plank challenge: 10×1-minute planks
Thursday
Bike: 1 hour on the trainer
Friday
Swim: 3,300 yards
Saturday
Bike: 1:45 on the trainer
Sunday
Run: 6.5 miles easy
Malnourished Triathlete 
I am also training for IMCdA and it will be my first IM. I haven’t specifically started to “train”, but I did just start working with a coach for the first time and WOW – that’s already been a kick in the pants.
Hi Kristina, thanks for stopping by!
I remember the way I felt when I first started working with my coach… the plans didn’t look very hard on paper, but they definitely shocked my system. Stick with it, you’ll be amazed at how your body will adapt.
I look forward to following your journey over the next 6 months. Eek! Time is flying by so quickly!
I don’t ride on my trainer much at all, but if I had to find someway to keep it interesting, I’d like to go for something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybFvomdhW2Y
Except that there’s no way I’d ever attempt to do that while riding on rollers!
That video was crazy! I’m not sure I’ll ever attempt to ride rollers at all because doing so would seriously jeopardize my new years resolution to stay out of the ER/urgent care… Wait, maybe I’ll give this a try in 21 days 😉