Training Recap: A Mental Shift

March 16, 2015 Faux Runner Comments 2 comments

A few weeks back, I was dreading writing my weekly training recap because I was feeling so very down. In fact, almost the entire month of February had me in a state – I was tired, I was not my usual perky self and the winter was just getting to me. Luckily, instead of letting myself be drawn into a full blown funk, I worked to establish a routine and to be positive – both with workouts and at home. I plodded on, whether I wanted to or not.

And this week I think it has started to come together. My bike rides weren’t as scary and my long run I described happy and peaceful. It wasn’t just the actual physical act of running or biking, but the mental thought process going into it. For the first time in a long time, I did not worry about what I had on schedule. I just prepped and went about it.

That – that mental shift in itself is BIG for me. It wins half the battle even before I’ve started. Let’s hope that this attitude carries forward through to Pittsburg and Augusta.

Monday – Rest Day. Whew!!! Wasn’t I complaining about being bored with all the recovery stuff I was doing? These weeks are hitting me hard now! And I’m completely appreciating the rest day.

Tuesday – 45min swim + 45min trainer ride. Nice way to ease into the week.

Wednesday – 6 x 1 mile repeats.

When I turned up at my usual place just a little before 6am to run, there were no runners other than myself and two randomly parked cars on the road, one of them a 12 passenger van near the houses at the entrance. Parking is not allowed on the road and that made me seriously consider ditching outside run for safety of treadmill, even though it was a long hard run on schedule.

I waited 20-30minutes to see if someone would show up. There was absolutely no one running. If the van & car hadn’t been parked randomly on the road, I would’ve ventured out. So I left to do them on the treadmill.

I later learnt that someone had called the cops on the van parked there!! I’m glad I didn’t feel the need to prove how brave I was and that I decided to leave for a treadmill run!!! Safety first, always!

MileRepeats — Before, during and After – Exhausted!

Thursday – 45min swim + 1hr trainer ride. I had to juggle my work schedule a bit to get both these in. As the double workout days start getting longer, I need to get a bit more creative on how to fit them in.

Friday – 45min base run.

Saturday – 2hr 30min progression run.

What can I say about this run that can be practical and makes sense? It was just so peaceful and I felt like I was running smoothly all throughout even with the HR constraints; which did not feel like constraints today. Perhaps it was the perfect running weather, but whatever it was it felt like the run came together.

All I can say again is that my misgivings over not running as much after Dopey was unfounded. I seem to have picked up right back where I left off.

Sunday – 3hr/37 miles bike ride

Trainer ride was ditched in favour of riding outside. And it was a beautiful day to ride with friends. This was the longest I’ve been on the saddle. And it was a great ride minus a fall – while standing!

I still can’t figure out how I fell – standing!! I was standing at the stop sign waiting to cross. When I tried to start back up, I was on the ground. Don’t know quite what happened there – did I lean towards the right while standing? Did I try to take my clipped in shoe off while standing? Did I start moving and not have balance? Did my chain come undone and hence I couldn’t move and mount?

All I knew was that I was on the ground and my chain was off.

It was barely 5 miles from the start and instantly my mind flashed to how this might turn out to be a horrible ride. But completely uncharacteristic of me, I put it aside and went on. (Who am I and what have I done with the old nervous Nellie?)

I also had a couple of near loss of balance while mounting back. One when I was in a higher gear while starting back up, and a couple of instances where the bike seat would hit my chamois on the bike shorts, … only me … sigh.

Nutrition

Sadly, this week wasn’t as good as the previous week. Mainly because I had forgotten to shop and I didn’t have anything at home for salad vegetables. I was working late for the first half of the week and just didn’t have enough energy left over for the second half of the week.

Excuses, excuses.

And I gobbled this up –

But I stuck with my protein shakes and even made a dinner out of it one night when I was just too tired for everything else.

And then after almost throwing up after I had eaten a slice of Pizza and a brownie (because it caused a stomach upset), I redeemed myself over the weekend when I went on a cooking spree on Saturday and whipped up a bunch of healthy, vegetarian, South Indian food.

Areas for Improvement

Prep and Planning – I failed in the very first part of preparing nutritious meals – I didn’t plan the weekend to shop and have the ingredients in hand. So the whole week I had to make do with whatever I could find. That was hard for me, especially when I had to do the same for my minions as well.

Stretching/Yoga – I usually try to get in atleast 2-3 deep stretching sessions. Sadly, I didn’t any this week. I missed the class at the yoga studio because Mr. FauxTriathlete was traveling and then I missed doing anything at home because I was working on a tight schedule.