Week 2 & a beach trip

Well, two weeks down now. I was on vacation this past week from Wednesday to Sunday. We went down with MH’s family to Grayton Beach, FL to celebrate Toni’s last chemo day! It has been a long road, and she has shown us all how to glorify God. Her attitude through it all has amazed me.

Somehow, I managed to get some workouts in this week…

Monday
Workout 1 – Master Swim – Skipped (I suck at getting up on Mondays)
Workout 2 - Phase AA Strength Training (50mins)

Tuesday
Workout 1 – Run S1 (intervals) – skipped too much work to do before I leave
Workout 2 – Bike E2 (endurance ride) – skipped too much work to do

Wednesday
Travel Day = no workouts

Thursday
Workout 1 – Quick and easy ride on 30-A (10 miles, 50mins)
Workout 2 – Transition Run – E1 (1.5 miles, 20mins)

Friday
Workout 1 – Endurance Run E1 – Ran to Watercolor and back. Beautiful outside. Ran 5mins/walked 2. Total distance of 5 miles; total time of 1:08

Saturday
Workout 1 – Endurance Run E1 – Ran through Seaside and back. Breezy and chilly out. Ran 5mins/walked 1-2mins. Total distance of 9.1 miles; total time of 1:58

Sunday
Workout 1 – Endurance Ride E2 – Rode 30-A to 98, 98 to the Publix road and then back down 30-A. It was cold again and the headwind sucked. Never became a tailwind. 98 is a little stressfull to ride on. This was my first time on a busy hwy. Total distance of 23.5 miles; total time of 1:41

So, out of a planned 13.5 hr training week, I was able to work in 6.78hrs. It’s not do or die just yet, but I’m about 53 weeks out from IM Florida. I need to get my butt in gear soon.

The weather didn’t cooperate too much while we were at the beach. The most gorgeous day turned out to be the day that I left…figures. Here is a pick of my little man at the beach

Here we are at JC's Off the Hook to cheer on our Auburn Tigers

Eric’s Quote of the Day: "We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort" ~ Jesse Owens

Week 1 in the books

So for the past few months, I have been trying to plan out my training for the next year (385 days from today to be exact). Sometimes it is easy to get so caught up in the planning that you don't get in any solid training. You have to find a balance. Up until halfway through my time at Auburn, I was always more of a "I can wing it" type person...a "P" on the Myers Briggs scale. Then I started liking a little more order...I started becoming more of a "J" on the scale. I like filling out calendars and making lists. I like planning things out. I'm a big believer in the "5 P's" Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. The book I'm using is pretty awesome. It helps you break all your training down starting with the entire year and then breaking it down to the day. This past week was "Week 1" of my training plan. It calls for 13.5hrs or training during this prep period. Here is how it all went

Monday
Workout #1 - Master Swim
I planned for 30mins or swimming today as a recovery day to start off the week, but thanks to this awesome rainy weather we have had in Alabama recently, I didn't get to the pool
Workout #2 - Phase AA Strength Training 46mins
Strength training was pretty good. This phase focuses on high reps. Had a 5 minute warmup and cooldown on the treadmill. I did 3 sets of 25 of each exercise (Squats, Standing Pull Down, Leg Press, Seated Row, Leg Extensions, Chest Press). I need to be sure to work in some core on these days too.

Tuesday
Workout #1 - Interval Run (treadmill) 26mins
Got to work about 5Am today to hit the treadmill. Started with 5min warmup to get the HR up. Then would run (7.5min/mi) for 45 sec followed by 1:15 recovery run (12min/mi). Did this 8 times. Felt pretty good during and afterward. Might try and up the speed next week.
Workout #2 - I had an 80min bike ride planned for today, but MH had a party that night so I kept a fussy little Lucas.

Wednesday
Workout #1 - Master Swim
Stupid weather
Workout #2 - Phase AA Strength Training 45mins
5min warmup on the treadmill and then 3 sets of 25 (Squats, Standing Pull Downs, Leg Press, Seated Row, Leg Curls, Barbell Bench Press)

Thursday
Workout #1 - Bike Spin Ups 35mins
Got on the stationary bike at work in the AM. 5min warmup, Got to max cadence in 1min, held for 2mins, 1min recover, and then repeated. This was hard to do on the stationary bike. Nothing like being on a real bike. I'll probably start doing this on my trainer at home.
Workout #2 - Endurance Run 70mins
I headed out to the Industrial Park to get my run in today. Felt awesome outside. It was damp out, and rain was definitely in the area. I ended up running about 4 miles. Not my best run by any means, but at least I did get out there. Running makes me nervous. It is the easiest 1 of the big 3 to get injured doing. I'm going to start out slow and steady and work my way up.

Friday
Workout #1 - Master Swim
You guessed it...didn't swim
Workout #2 - Phase AA Strength Training 46mins
Same routine, but replaced the Leg Curls with Calve Raises and the Barbell Bench with Dumbbell Bench

Saturday
Workout #1 - Endurance Run 2hrs10mins
It was pretty darn cold Saturday Morning. I hit the pavement about 6am. I carried a water bottle with half a G2 packet for nutrition. I need to rethink nutrition during the run. I should start taking in a few more calories during training so I can get used to it. My goal was 1hr50mins. I wasn't sure what route to take, so I just kinda started running. Like I said earlier, I'm nervous about running. I don't exactly have what you call a "runner's body." I started out running 4mins and walking 2mins. Then when I hit mile 4.5, I started running 4 and walking 1. I was able to handle this pretty good. I'll try and keep it up this week on my runs and speed up the running a bit more. Next weekend, I'll shoot for 5/2 split and then drop it to a 5/1 split halfway through. Byt hte time I hit the driveway, I had gone 9.25miles. This was the furthest I've run since I did the Mercedes Half Mary back in February. I felt great and continued to feel great (other than a little soreness in my knees).
Workout #2 - Bike Recovery
Skipped

Sunday
Skipped both workouts (tired from watching the Tigers fall to Kentucky....boooo)

So out of a planned 13.5hrs, I was only able to get in 6.63hrs. I'll just have to take what I can get for right now I guess. I'll be able to get into a better routine eventually.

Have a great week and happy training!

Eric's Quote of the Day: "Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure"~Don Wilder

One day..

One day, I will be able to drag myself to the pool in the AM to start the week off right.

One day, I will be accustomed to this new kind of tired that I've been for the past few weeks so I can do all my scheduled weekly training.

One day, I will get my nutrition back on track b/c it is waaayy too easy to gain back 8lbs.

One day, I will get my lazy arse in gear to start training for a season packed full of big events and lofty goals.

Shout out to two locals (I'm sure there are more, but these are the only two names I know), Justin Ladner & Jessica Jacobs, who are competing at the IM World Championships in Kona this weekend...give 'em hell.

Eric's Quote of the Day: "Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us." ~Thomas Paine