Travel complete – back in the groove -

Three weekends of travelling! Two were for races and one was for holiday – I went to visit my Dad and Sister in Texas last weekend. Although I did exercise on these weekends I have missed some key long endurance sessions (5 hour bike ride on Sunday). I have a sprint triathlon that is a big deal to me during the second weekend of July. The Sunfish in Meridian was my first ever triathlon two years ago and even though it has changed locations (for the better) I want to continue to do this race. There are lots of people from Hattiesburg doing this race – bragging rights you know.

Yesterday, I did a light 20 mile bike ride before work – no heart rate monitor, no GPS, no watch. I just did the ride. I have started to stand out of the saddle for the Sumrall hill – this used to be a real challenge but I am always successful now. I finished the ride at just over an hour – not sure how just over but not much.

The training plan called for a hill run at lunch. I debated this session. I did two hill runs at my Dad’s house this past weekend. Rather than change up the training plan I just went ahead and did the hill run. I am going to try to stick to the plan as much as possible for the duration – 67 days until my ironman. So I dialed up the Alpine Trail on the treadmill. I used to try to spin the machine up until it would nearly spit me off but I have tried to temper that mentality. I set the max speed at 7:30 minutes /mile (8 MPH) and the max slope at 6 (whatever that means). This was a good workout. Not too taxing or challenging but obtainable. It was not my intension but my heart rate stayed in zone 1 / zone 2 (HR ave 141 / HR Max 156) for the entire 50 minutes (there are few minutes warm up and cool down). I completed 5.8 miles for the hill run. When I went all out in the past I would do a lot more work but sometimes I would fail on the session. Once again, for the long run, I am trying to keep all workouts challenging but obtainable!

Training SMART and HARD…