Week 1 Training and 12 Week Training Plan

Week 1 of training ended right on schedule.  I got in a swim, a run, a bike and a bike/run combo.  That's a bare minimum week, and I'll work my way up.  I could definitely feel it in my workouts that I had been out of the loop for a while. I also needed new running shoes desperately, so that cut my running a little short during the week, but I was able to get new shoes over the weekend and have a great bike/run "brick" and another great run tonight as part of Week 2 training.  I'm doing interval running for now- usually run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute.  I hope to increase that time as I go and spread out the running to longer intervals.  I hope that at a minimum I'm able to run the whole time during the last 2-3 triathlons of the season, but it would be super great if I could run all of them.  It's not that far to run, it's just that it's after two other workouts, and for me in particular, the running part involves a lot of me dealing with my mind telling me I can't.  Some of it is more mental than physical, and I hope to make strides in this area this year.


I like to throw in some variety on some of my "free" days, so the plan is to incorporate variety workouts at least 1-2 times per week.  I'm also going to be sure to include some weekly yoga and/or stretching to the mix on slower days.  Last year, I did the bare minimum of swim, run, bike and bike/run each week.  There weren't really many weeks where I did more than that.  I also ate like crap most of that time.  I was able to finish the triathlon, but because I didn't eat great, I didn't always feel great when I trained, and I think it kept me from progressing much.  That being said, the bare minimum with no real nutrition plan will be enough for you to complete a sprint triathlon, but it might not be pretty, or you might not feel your best.

Here is the plan I've mapped out for this time around.  It gradually builds up and incorporates some things other than swimming, biking or running on "off" days.  Some ideas for what to do on those days would include kickboxing class, Zumba, Yoga, Pilates, etc.  Also, I will probably consider adding some weight training 1-2 times per week.

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Week 1	Swim	Rest	Run/Walk	Bike	Rest	Rest	Bike/Run "Brick"
Week 2	Swim	Rest	Run/Walk	Bike	Variety Workout	Rest	Bike/Run "Brick"
Week 3	Swim	Variety Workout	Run/Walk	Bike	Rest	Yoga or Stretching	Bike/Run "Brick"
Week 4	Swim	Rest	Run/Walk	Bike	Variety Workout	Rest	Bike/Run "Brick"
Week 5	Swim	Variety Workout	Run/Walk	Bike	Rest	Yoga or Stretching	Bike/Run "Brick"
Week 6	Swim	Variety Workout	Run/Walk	Bike	Variety Workout	Stretch	Bike/Run "Brick"
Week 7	Swim	Variety Workout	Run/Walk	Bike	Yoga or Stretching	Rest	Swim/Bike/Run
Week 8	Swim	Variety Workout	Run/Walk	Bike	Swim	Rest	Bike/Run "Brick"
Week 9	Swim	Variety Workout	Run/Walk	Bike	Swim	Rest	Bike/Run "Brick"
Week 10	Swim	Variety Workout	Run/Walk	Bike	Swim	Rest	Bike/Run "Brick"
Week 11	Swim	Variety Workout	Run/Walk	Bike	Swim	Rest	Bike/Run "Brick"
Week 12	Swim	Rest	Run/Walk	Bike	Yoga or Stretching	Rest	TRIATHLON!

Focus on Nutrition: The Sunday Prep

Y'all! This is not a new idea by any means, but oh, how it has enhanced my life.  What is it, you ask?  Why, it's the Sunday Prep!

Last weekend, I had a discussion with my husband that I had been putting off for a while.  I work until 5 and my husband usually works until around 6 and then heads home from various places ranging from 10 minutes from home to over an hour.  We had been trying to go to the gym together in the evenings.  I prefer to go straight after work because honestly, once I eat dinner and sit on the couch for even a minute-  I am toast!  Completely worthless for the rest of the night.  I'm lucky if I do so much as a load of laundry after dinner time.  It's my wind-down time, what can I say?  My husband on the other hand, is more of a night owl and would prefer to eat dinner and then hit up to the gym the last hour they are open.    Occasionally, this works for me- like if I don't have to work the next day, but honestly, it's not my preferred method.

Also, dinner had been taking a WHILE to cook lately.  I blame it in Pinterest.  I find all these great recipes on there and blindly buy all the ingredients to make them without paying attention to the prep and cook times.  Combine my finishing work later than usual, my husband getting home late, then me taking 1-2 hours just to make dinner, and no one was getting to the gym.  It was an awful feeling.

Fortunately, my husband is the male version of me in terms of brain waves, and he had been dreading having the same conversation.  The fact of the matter was, we needed to make the gym work for us individually rather than trying to go together every night, and just rejoice in the days where we could be there at the same time.  Whew! What a relief!  Also, I revealed to him that I wanted to clean up our eating all while still cooking at home.

Enter the Sunday Prep.  Last weekend I was fortunate enough to plan it all out on Saturday and head to the grocery store on Saturday versus Sunday, but going forward I will probably devote my entire Sunday to shopping AND prepping.  Anyway, first on the agenda was to prep some chicken breasts that I would need for a couple different things- a lower fat version of buffalo chicken wing dip for the Superbowl, plus some chicken salad for lunches.

I used my baby crock pot with only one setting.  It holds 2-3 chicken breasts.  I covered with water and added a smidgeon of sea salt, pepper and poultry seasoning and let it cook from mid-morning until late afternoon.  You can fork-shred it, or use your food processor.  I went the food processor route, which basically made the chicken breast finely ground.  Not to mention it was a lot less time-consuming than shredding by hand.  I'm sure there's probably an attachment on my food processor for shredding meats, but I have no clue where it would be.  Below is a shot of my lunch for the week (Mon-Thurs):

Chicken breast, shredded carrots, red onion, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, yellow mustard.

And here's how it looked as lunch, scooped into a ripe avocado, with leftover Superbowl veggies, greek yogurt dip and a homemade protein brownie, which I made 12 of, and froze half for the following week.

I also made egg muffins.  I've made these before and they are great because they are totally customizable (meat, veggies, cheese) and they keep for up to 10 days in the fridge.  Even my husband the non-breakfast eater loves eating them for breakfast. 

This time around I used spinach, mushrooms and part- skim mozzarella cheese.

 It was my first time using the silicone cupcake liners and WHOA- they certainly don't allow things to stick.  The things were practically popping out when I took them out of the oven!

 And I caught this guy snooping around when they were on the counter...

...so I built a fort to protect them.

 And this was the end result.  I had some plain, some with a little sour cream on top, and one day I made a breakfast burrito and added lowfat chipotle mayo and turkey bacon.  The possibilities are endless.

  I also made high protein turkey meatballs and semi-homemade sauce.  I stored the meatballs in the fridge inside a large Ziploc bag and the sauce separately.  It was our Wednesday night meal, so when we got home from the gym, I just threw everything into a pan and re-heated while the noodles were boiling.  It was delish, and there was enough for me to have one lunch from the leftovers and my husband made a meatball wrap for dinner the following night.

This past Sunday I was feeling a little less inspired, but I did manage to plan two crockpot meals plus leftovers, and I'll be making the chicken breasts in the crockpot this evening to use later in the week for curry chicken and veggies with brown basamati rice (which takes 30 mins, so I will probably make ahead of time and re-heat).  I cut up strawberries and prepped some grapes and baby carrots to have on hand, and secured some Babybel cheese to go with my fruit for a little protein/carb pre-gym snack.  For breakfasts this week I'll be polishing off  the leftover egg muffins and then moving on to overnight oats, which I will prep a night or two ahead of time of the days I plan to have them.  Lunch is going to be tuna salad on leftover wraps and salad ingredients. 

All in all, this is really proving to be a nice, easy way to have good dinners at home without feeling like I'm spending all kinds of time every night cooking.  This leaves more time for the gym, which will be important considering my training for the first triathlon on the list starts next week (yowza)!

If anyone out there is fan of this method and would like to share prep tips, good recipes to make ahead of time or any other tips, please feel free!  I'd love to make this routine a habit in order to simplify during triathlon season!

I'm Going to Be a Mentor!

I just got word via email today that I was accepted to be a mentor for Tri It For Life (TIFL)!  I'm pretty sure everyone who applied got accepted; however, I suppose if they really felt you were a douche, they could politely decline, so I feel honored anyway! The mentors who helped me along the way in preparing for my first triathlon were priceless.  I learned SO much more than I ever felt possible, and, as a result I completed my first triathlon with hardly any nerves. 

Here's the top 10 things I learned from training with a group that included seasoned mentors:

1. What gear to wear.  Plus, they are quick to share all the sales at local sports stores and great online finds.  For instance, did you know you can get Speedo bathing suits WITH cups (it's important, I'm working with a little more "boob" than that average triathlete) at COSTCO for like $20-25?  Amazing.

2.  How to use the gears on my bike.  Crucial, since I really had no idea, and hadn't seriously ridden a bike since like the 6th grade.

3.  How to SWIM.  I only swam recreationally, and only under water prior to my training, so I had kind of a long way to go.  By the triathlon, I swam the entire thing freestyle and didn't have a horrible time.  That was my proudest moment.

4. What to eat.  I'm the first to admit this is something I could have worked harder at last year, but you have to take these things one step at a time.  I did get a lot of word-of-mouth reviews on sports drinks, gels, "goo", good and bad snacks prior to training sessions, etc.  Plus, there is a gentle push to pay attention to your overall nutrition and how it plays into your training.   This is something I really want to hone in on this year.

5. How to avoid injury and when to take it easy versus push yourself.  Midway through training, I started having terrible knee pains.  I have had knee issues my entire life, starting when I was in 2nd grade with terrible "growing pains".  My knees pop and crack like crazy and I have to be pretty gentle with them.  It's nice to train with such a large group and to see how others handle times when they are sidelined.  Plus they know all the good doctors and chiropractors!

6.  How to be FIERCE.  I mean it!  Training with such a large, like-minded group of women just makes you feel great about yourself.  There were many times while running, on my bike, or in the pool, that I just felt like a badass.  And yes, I realize that the majority of those times I looked like a total noob, but it doesn't matter, because that is the magic that comes with a great training group.

7.  The realization that you CAN do it.  I mentioned before that I didn't get bitten by "the bug" right away, but becoming Facebook friends with my training partners and seeing their posts and blogs and other mentions of all the local races and fitness adventures really made me realize that I really like being a part of that scene.  Plus, now it's pretty much a given that I will know people at races, so it makes it less awkward.  :)

8.  Inspiration.  It's easy to look at the mentors and think they've been doing this forever, they've always been fit, or skinny, or into sports.  But as you get to know them and you hear bits and pieces of their stories you realize things like:  they have lost 50 pounds, they have 5 kids, they work 2 jobs and still manage to work out, they are juggling a full-time job and school, they want to run their first marathon.  It makes you realize that you CAN put aside your excuses and make time for yourself. 

9.  That women of all backgrounds, shapes, sizes and abilities can be athletes.  As a person with huge gym anxiety, and who makes scenarios up in her mind before working out that she will show up and be the least fit, least able person in the room- this means the world.  The world.

10.  What to pack to be absolutely prepared on race day.  We went over and over this and it was wonderful.  This is what helped me shake the nerves on race day.  I knew I had everything I needed.  I knew if I didn't, someone else likely would have me covered. 

I am also pretty pumped because all I have to do is show up for the training sessions to help out as a mentor and it's pretty much like free training for me.  And free motivation.  Because I seem to be lacking in that department lately.  I have started back at the gym after December took me down with travel, an upper respiratory infection, the effing FLU and then moving.  I'm still going only sporadically, and might have to make some changes to my work hours in order to get this to be a more regular thing.  I mean, I seriously need to start training for that May triathlon like in February.  Which is............soon.