Geneva Triathlon Training – Finding Balance

I finished last week’s training feeling good about the headway I’ve made. I only logged one swim workout and one bike ride but with more than a month until my sprint triathlon, I feel okay. More importantly I finished the week feeling balanced and energized. I wasn’t overly sore but a few of the workouts definitely pushed me into the discomfort zone.

Last week’s workouts:

Monday: Oh the run from hell. I worried that this would shape my entire week as this after work 4 mile run was just plain horrible. My body was sore from overtraining the week before, it was super hot and I was exhausted. Sometimes running after work is a blessing but today it was a curse.

Tuesday: My body nor my mind were in swim practice but I pushed through and ended up finishing 1 mile in around 45 minutes including some sprints and mixed stroke work. The time in the pool definitely helped my soreness and my mentality more than expected.

Wednesday: This was definitely my hardest speed work yet as it included the dreaded mile repeats. I surprised myself by really enjoying it by the end! The workout included 1 mile warm-up, 3 mile repeats (7:53, 7:51, 8:01) followed by a 1 mile cool-down. I was dead at the end but it felt awesome!

Thursday: Katie and I switched things up this week and went to yoga together on Thursday instead of Tuesday. The class couldn’t have been more perfect. It was 75 minutes of sweat inducing flow yoga including some long holds and lots of inversion practice on a rooftop! We laughed together and pushed each other to go a bit further in this practice and the results really showed. Both of us left the class smiling and feeling stronger!

Friday: I’m starting to love these Friday rest days! There is nothing better than sleeping until 7:30 and getting to head to work relaxed with a homemade iced coffee in hand on a Friday.

Saturday: My mantra for this run was slow and steady. When talking to Theodora the other day I told her that my prescribed pace of 9:50-9:55 seemed so slow for long runs. I was tempted to try and push it even though that goes against the training plan. Luckily she told me to look back at DailyMile and remind myself how far I’ve come in the past 4 years. When I trained for my first marathon most of my long runs were around 11:30. This helped put my mind in the right perspective that 9:50 may be slower than my average runs are but I have never maintained a pace better than 11:10 for a marathon so hello – this is a fabulous pace. I checked my Garmin more frequently than normal to ensure that I maintained my goal pace. The rest of the time I zoned out to my music and took in the gorgeous views along the lake. The weather was perfect, I saw a few friends during the run and I had a wonderful lake day filled with rose, relaxation and friends greeting me at the end of 11 miles.

Sunday: I woke up more sore than normal in part due to my long run but I think my sunburn exacerbated things. It took every ounce of will power to kick my butt out the door for a solo bike ride around 4pm. I told myself that I just had to clip in and do a few miles. If I was sore and miserable I could turn around and call it a day. This trick always works and an hour later I found myself returning home. The ride wasn’t perfect as I had to avoid the lake due to all the barbeques and people but I still logged a 17 mile ride by myself. My goal this week is to find a route that I really enjoy.