Yea, so the whole "I'm going to start posting again thing really didn't pan out so much. Oh well. I haven't had much to say. I had been doing P90X over the past couple months to work on some of my short comings, which is primarily strength. It worked I'd say. I managed to add on a few pounds of muscle, I think. My weight is up about 13 pounds since the ironman, but considering there was thanksgiving, a cruise, and christmas in between there, I would venture a guess that I did not gain 13 pounds of muscle since then. But, I definitely noticed and felt a difference in strength by the time I put an end to P90X. It definitely works, but I just hated every moment of it. I was really happy to get back to tri training this week. Indoor training is not for me. Nor is waking up at 5:15 every day. So anyway, I had done a few runs, swims and bike rides interspersed over the past few months, but nothing really consistent. I did a 10 a few weeks ago. I did finally accomplish one goal, which was a sub 1 hr 10k . I do feel I could've done a lot better with a better strategy. I had actually done the route the week before, in worse conditions, with a slightly better time. I just went too hard at first leaving me dieing over the final two miles, especially the final half mile of steep climbing.
I started up this week with my training set for my target race at the Biltmore Lake Sprint. I'm hoping for a drastic improvement from last years race when I really didn't train for it it all. It was during my down time between training periods and it was just a local race I wanted to race. So I have no reason why I shouldn't beat my time of 1:47 from last year. I did place 3rd in my group though, so it would be cool to improve on that.
My training has been super easy so far, quite a huge change from Ironman training. The sessions are far shorter now, but are focused on higher intensity for the most part. It does make them considerably more difficult than last year, but far far far less time. I haven't really taken my road bike out at all do to weather and laziness. But I have gotten two indoor trainer sessions in so far. It seems that swimming is my most vastly improved segment, possibly as a result of P90X. My upper body strength was easily my biggest weakness, and despite swimming being my strongest sport before, it so far seems even stronger. My running is feeling pretty good too. I'm not watching my HR like a hawk like I had been before, but more running by feel. My comfortable pace seems to be in the 9:45 range, give or take depending on the terrain.
I've become part of a weekly group run on saturdays that focuses on trail runs, so that'll definitely help tremendously with leg strength and endurance. Hills have been a huge stumbling block for me, so this will definitely help a lot.
Well, that about covers it, back to work I guess.
