Training During a MN Winter

New Orleans 70.3 is just 8 weeks away! Admittedly, I've not been following the plan exactly, but I've been getting in some great workouts.

Swimming: I've been swimming once or twice a week, at least a mile at a time. Ironman has sort of given me the mentality that it's not worth showing up if I'm going to do something short. I'm trying to focus on quality in addition to quantity. Last year I got a good start. I'd like to keep with the speed/quality work this year, too. I'm meeting with one of the swim instructors at the Y next week. I've never actually had a professional coach watch me swim. I know my stroke has gotten much better over the years, especially after Steve and I completed Total Immersion. Now I just need to get a bit faster! Hopefully Andrea will have some pointers for me. There's a lot of room to cut time off my swim split of a 70.3. We'll see if I can do it in a couple of months.

Bike: I've been getting to know my Cyclops trainer very well. Thanks to Borsch, we're well stocked on movies, so I've been doing at least one long ride a week along with a short ride or two per week. I really miss spin classes, but as I've said on here before, I'm not a fan of the ones my Y offers. Borsch had some recommendations for some instructors at his gym, so I may go to check them out! My sister even found a 5 hour spin class at the end of Feb, so I think I'm going to give it a go. My problem is that I can't force the kind of intensity that spin classes give when I'm in my basement. The trainer is fine for long endurance rides, but it gets a little lonely down there by myself! Thankfully, the NO bike course is pretty flat, because I won't be in hill shape by April. Speaking of the bike, I think I owe my trainer a 45 miler this afternoon...

Run: This is the first winter that I really haven't spent much time running outside. The sidewalks have been rather treacherous this year, more so it seems than in the past. Several of my long runs have been on the treadmill, and I get so BORED here, but a little motivational music mostly keeps me occupied. That and trying not to choke on Steve's nasty farts during my 8 miler yesterday (see his post from today). I've also been doing weekly speed work at the Metrodome. I love dome running! For a dollar, I can run inside on a relatively large loop in my shorts in the winter. This still blows my mind. I could never force 2 treadmill workouts in a week, so intervals at the dome is great! I eeked out 10 x 600s last week. Haven't decided what this weeks' workouts will be yet. Normally I would try to force myself outside more, but I am well aware that fully acclimating myself to a MN winter would make racing in New Orleans' weather that much harder for me come April. I haven't put the space heater in my bike room or anything, but I'm hoping that lots of training indoors will prepare me a little better...

Weights: A severely neglected component of training right now. I am usually really good about lifting during the winter, but having a tri so early in the season is making it harder than usual to get in the weight room. Gotta get rid of lunch lady arms before tri top season!

In summary: I'm getting in the long workouts and trying to sneak some speed work in as well. Lots of indoor stuff right now, which is probably for the better since my 70.3 is likely to be hot and humid. I know I'll be ready. Now let's see if I can eek out a PR...