Training During a MN Winter

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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...

12 comments:

Anonymous

very nice blog!!!
keep going!!

Steve Stenzel

Let's go for that PR together! Good luck Hun!

K

Lunch Lady arms..LOL. Never heard that one before.

Good luck with your training--you'll do great.

PS. What did steve eat to produce such icky gas? Make sure he doesn't eat it again. Blek.

Maggs

Lunch lady arms is pretty funny. I know what you mean. Good luck with the training, and avoiding the smells.

trimybest

good luck with the pr! after 2 hilly ironmans a flat 70.3 should be a breeze!

Calyx Meredith

Did you really say FIVE hour spin class? Wow. Good luck with that!

Jen Rife

I hear you with being bored on the trainer. Sounds like you're doing really well keeping yourself motivated and working hard - Keep it up! A PR is sure to come!

Trisaratops

OMG, I TOTALLY wish you and Steve could come to my 2 hour triathlon indoor spin this Thursday night--it's 80s HAIR NIGHT--lots of hair bands and they are encouraging people to dress up! Think arm warmers, headbands, etc. I can only imagine the outfit your hubby would pull together! LOL!

Less than 2 months until I see my Mr. and Mrs. Pharmie again! Yay!

Unknown

I can't believe the half is only 8 weeks away! Sounds like you are definitely on track for a PR! Best of luck!

SingletrackJenny (formerly known as IronJenny)

Sounds like you are getting a lot of good training and yes this winter has been a challenge!!! Call me when you are ready to bike outside!

Michelle

It's gonna be great. Remind Steve he can only fart by you and not the rest of us!

21stCenturyMom

I honestly can't imagine trying to keep my motivation up in that weather. I am doing Oceanside the same weekend and I have whined kind of ceaselessly (mostly to myself) about the pain and suffering of trianing this early in the year. hahahaha... all I have to do to get over it is think about you guys and then I start to count my blessings.