Three Weeks Out

I'm three weeks out from my second triathlon. Yay! Tentative schedule for this week barring sore body parts:

Monday - 30 min. weights, 2 mile easy run

Tuesday - 2500-3000 yard swim practice

Wednesday - 5 mile run (either easy or tempo), 30 min. weights

Thursday - probably rest as it's Girls' Night

Friday - 30 min. weights, easy 6 mile run

Saturday - wedding, on my feet for 12+ hours

Sunday - rest or easy bike ride; quick run-through of transitions at home


The weather for this tri will probably be remarkably cooler than the last one. Need to look into this and figure out what to wear.

I was looking at the girls in my age group signed up for this tri and some of them are FAST. Holy crap. Like regional leaders fast. I think my original "realistic" goal of placing in the top 15 of my age group is still reasonable. My "preferred" goal of placing in the top 7 of my age group is probably a little unreasonable. I will be happy to get top 10. My "holy crap" goal of top 3 is still that - holy crap and highly unlikely. But it's all good. It should be a cool experience to meet such fast girls and see how they race.

Goals

Yesterday's spaghetti squash dinner was tonight's leftovers and they were just as good.

I also made another batch of chocolate hazelnut bites because we've already eaten the entire other batch *blush*. In our defense it doesn't make a ton but, still, we did eat more than we should have. This time I'm trying it with homemade granola that I bought at the farmer's market this weekend. It is much less sweet than commercial granola, and also a bit softer, so I'm hoping it will create the particular taste and texture I'm looking for.

I'm well into my 10K training plan now and enjoying it, although having to keep to a fairly specific running schedule to allow for enough recovery time does make it a bit difficult to fit other exercising in. I shouldn't do heavy legs on a run day of more than 2 or 3 miles. I shouldn't do a long bike ride after a long run. I shouldn't bike and run on the same day. I shouldn't bike or run every single day. These are all self-imposed rules designed to protect my knees as they continue to heal. Along with all of that, I have friends and triathlon club members doing runs and rides of their own on which I would love to tag along, except it's almost impossible for my schedule and their plans to overlap just right.

Anyway, because of that, I find myself a bit restricted in exactly what I can do each day. And usually I find myself doing it alone. However, D has started doing some of my runs with me and that is really nice.

I haven't signed up for my next triathlon yet. It takes place on October 11. I'm sort of scared to make the commitment just in case something goes wrong in my 10K training and I tear up my knees. I am 4.5 weeks out from it and just realized that, if I'm going to switch over to clipless pedals anytime soon, it needs to be ASAP.

Here are some of my short-term goals. It's nerve-wracking putting these in writing instead of keeping them in my head but now that I've stated them I've gotta make them!

October Sprint Tri
Realistic goal: Place top 15 in my age group
Preferred goal: Place top 7 in my age group
Holy crap goal: Place top 3 in my age group

October 10K
Realistic goal: Break 56 min.
Preferred goal: Break 54 min.
Holy crap goal: Break 53 min.

December 5K
Realistic goal: Break 26:50
Preferred goal: Break 26:20
Holy crap goal: Break 26 min.

10K Plan

I think I'm training for a 10K now. Maybe.

Here's the plan according to my buddy, Mr. SmartCoach. The goal is to ramp up slowly in order to avoid injury.

Here's your individualized training program:

Your current race time is: 0:26:30 for a 5 K Your distance training goal is: 10 K You currently train: 6 - 10 miles/week How hard you want to train: Moderate Your long-run day: Saturday Your training program Starts: Monday, 8/24/2009 and Ends: Sunday, 10/25/2009 Length of your training schedule: 9 weeks

Wk Dat Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total 1 8/24 8/30 Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:53 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:53 Rest / XT Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:53 Rest / XT 6 miles 2 8/31 9/6 Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:53 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:53 Rest / XT Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 3 mi @10:53 Rest / XT 7 miles 3 9/7 9/13 Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:53 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 3 mi @10:53 Rest / XT Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 4 mi @10:53 Rest / XT 9 miles 4 9/14 9/20 Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:53 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 3 mi @10:53 Rest / XT Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 5 mi @10:53 Rest / XT 10 miles 5 9/21 9/27 Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:47 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 5 mi, inc Warm; 3 mi @ 9:12; Cool Rest / XT Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 6 mi @10:47 Rest / XT 13 miles 6 9/28 10/4 Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:47 Rest / XT Speedwork Dist: 5 mi, inc Warm; 3x800 in 4:07 w/400 jogs; Cool Rest / XT Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 6 mi @10:47 Rest / XT 13 miles 7 10/5 10/11 Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:47 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 5 mi, inc Warm; 3 mi @ 9:12; Cool Rest / XT Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 7 mi @10:47 Rest / XT 14 miles 8 10/12 10/18 Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:47 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 6 mi, inc Warm; 4 mi @ 9:17; Cool Rest / XT Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 7 mi @10:47 Rest / XT 15 miles 9 10/19 10/25 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 2 mi @10:53 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 5 mi, inc Warm; 3 mi @ 9:17; Cool Rest / XT Rest / XT Race Day Dist: 10 K @8:48 Time: 54:44 13 miles