Weekly Workout Totals 02/23/2009-03/01/2009 and Getting Into Gear

Overall, last week was great, training wise. I nailed my key workouts. I embarked on my 4-week disciplinary action, which was a good excuse to do some tweaking to my diet and some other things. On paper, everything was pretty solid, and I am feeling damn strong.

2 years ago when I did the 4 indoor tris and just added them on top of my usual serious training build, I wasn't able to keep up my run volume. Looking back, it may have been because I did a marathon in January, 2007 (actually Goofy Challenge), but it may have been that I wasn't strong enough at the time to do it.

This year, though, I haven't missed a beat (knock wood!) on my running except for one week when I was sick, and I cut back just a little there. Don't get me wrong--Mondays after a sprint plus 1:30-1:40 of running has still been a challenge to recover from, but I've been getting it done in the midst of recovering from a serious back injury, my strength buildup, weekly track workouts, and pretty solid bike workouts.

I guess 2009 is the year of the big changes. I am tweaking things here and there, and it feels good to do it and that means it was probably necessary. At the end of the day, I just want to feel strong and solid and be able to train (i.e., have fun) a lot! So doing a few odd group trainer workouts, swimming with paddles (yeah I know there are those who say that's good and those who say not--I don't care--my upper body is responding well to them so good for me), adding some new peripheral stuff (chinups, extra pushups and abs work and jump rope), and paying more (actually what is generally my normal) attention to my diet, all seems to be moving me in the right direction.

This coming on the heels of a stinky prior racing season and major renovation of my house, all feels pretty great. My beautiful upstairs bathroom is finally 100% functional (freezing pipes solved), and I know it sounds silly, but I am really looking forward to taking a bath in there! I don't take baths very often, as I'm usually showering twice a day as it is, but I am going to park myself in there this week sometime and enjoy the hell out of it.

This week my strengh routine moves to maintenance mode, which is going to feel like a piece of cake compared to the last 7 weeks. But as soon as my new, heavier medicine ball arrives, I will be putting the hurt to my abs, which have languished for the last few years at the same resistance level (12 lbs.; moving to 15), so that should be interesting, huh?

I've ordered seeds, a few plants and some lily bulbs to plant once it warms up, and I have already noticed certain bulbs poking out of the ground. We've had plenty of snow this winter, so spring should be outstanding, and while I have a lot of perennial stems to cut down and don't particularly look forward to mowing the lawn, every spring I am always so in awe of all the beautiful flowers I've planted through the years and the fact that with minimal care, they come back and just, well, make my yard a thing of beauty and a place for me to just walk around and be amazed by the colors, scents, insects and birds. Actually something is already blooming--my giant pussy willow is full of catkins (ha ha that's the technical term you pervs) that will soon explode and begin attracting bees, and crocuses are not far behind, and then daffodils, hyacinths, peonies--I have close to 100 different flowering plants in my yard. And yet each spring I am surprised at the procession of green and flowers, and it's so rejuvenating.

March is the month here when you get teased by the spectre of warm weather, and it's important to be prepared to take advantage whenever the opportunity presents. It's supposed to be in the 50's on Friday, so that may mean an outdoor ride. I'll begin transitioning to more and more outdoor running, but need to build that up gradually to get my legs used to the pounding of the pavement and also my nearby hills! Yes, hills! I miss them...and I look forward to cursing them.

Well, time to go run and swim. Happy Monday!

Weekly Workout Totals	02/23/2009-03/01/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by Discipline
Swim:	9500 yards (5.39 miles) in 3.3 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 1155 calories burned Canadian: 8686.8 meters
Bike:	Approx. 106.56 miles in 5.9 hours; 41% of weekly workout time; approx. 3187 calories burned; Total TSS=355 Canadian: 171.49 kilometers
Run:	Approx. 24.3 miles in 3.81 hours; 26% of weekly workout time; approx. 1729 calories burned Canadian: 39.11 kilometers
Strength:	1.55 hours; 11% of weekly workout time; approx. 388 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 136.25 miles in 14.56 hours; approx. 6459 calories burned Canadian: 7.71 kilometers
Sleep:	7.71 hours avg./night
Stretching:	3.3 hours. Massage: 0 hours