Friday, April 2, 2010

Wow, it's April!

I tend to blog when things are (1) exciting and going well or (2) frustrating and going poorly. It seems March was fairly uneventful, thus no blog entries. That's not altogether a bad thing!

I have my first full month of structured, integrated, race-specific triathlon training for 2010 under my belt. I'd been working at my cycling and swimming twice each per week with Coach Jim since the last triathlon in August, but I worked with Jake on the running and strength training parts since the focus had turned to running and powerlifting for the winter.

I get my workouts in two week batches and it really is like opening a present, to see what's in it and what's in store. I try to notice areas that have gotten longer/more intense and other areas where perhaps we are backing off to make more room to focus on another area. I like to try to make sense of the ebb and flow of things, but honestly, and I've said it before, it is really a gift to leave the planning to an expert which allows me to focus on the doing. That's as much as I can handle.

There have been a few times where I have taken the workouts more as suggestions than actual directives. I realized that if I'm asking for Jim's help and coaching, I had better take it as is. He knows what he is doing and my liberties with one workout can jeopardize another. So I am sticking pretty close to what he writes.

The swimming continues to steadily improve and feel more native. I've gotten out on the bike a bit too. I had my first nice little wipeout on gravel today leaving me with a bit of a torqued knee and my illusion of invincibility shattered (!). I'm running a bit less in terms of weekly mileage but I'm regaining some spring in my step and have a had a number of runs that felt quite simply amazing.

I'm a month out from my first triathlon of the season, which is weird considering it seemed like we might never get through winter, but here we are, closing in on it. I am ready, but I'll really be ready come May. I just need some practice with the wetsuit and transitions, but otherwise, I'm ready to see what I've got!