Base Training

Well, so far so good. I think I have finally gotten into a bit of a training routine and feel like I'm getting my mojo back again. Although the first two weeks of January were technically "prep" weeks, there wasn't a whole lot of training going on, other than running that is, and even my running wasn't without issues, as usual. But this week, as I begin Base 1, I scheduled a workout every single day and so far, I've managed to "get 'er done". Part of my method was to keep it simple and not over do it the first week.

So here's what I actually accomplished over the first 3 weeks of January.

Week One - Jan 3-9 - Prep

1/3 - Yin Yoga Class - 60 min
1/4 - Chiro appt - 2nd ART/Graston treatment, 20 min stretching
1/5 - 30 min run, 20 min stretching
1/6 - 30 min stretching
1/7 - 45 min run, 3rd ART appt, 60 min stretching
1/8 - skate ski - 2 hours, 20 min stretching
1/9 - 1 long run 60 min, on solid ice wearing trail shoes and gripons. Bottom of left foot started to hurt halfway thru the run

Ate really healthy all week, no meat until steak on Friday night. A bit too much crap on the weekend though.

Week Two - Jan 10 - 16 - Prep

1/10 - foot sore, 30 minutes of stretching
1/11 - 4th ART appointment, no real progress yet
1/12 - foot too sore to run, stretching only
1/13 - foot still sore, stretching only
1/14 - easy cautious run, 30 minutes. felt ok, but not perfect.
1/15 - 50 LT test on trainer, 20 minutes of strength work. LTHR 174.
1/16 - long run, on the road, foot noticeable but ok. Sore later tho.

Ate really healthy for another week and was more cautious on the weekend as well this time. Lost one pound.

Week Three - Jan 17 - 23 - Base 1

1/17 - physio appt today, IMS on low back, adductors and glutes. Supposed to complement the ART treaments. We shall see. More next Monday.
1/18 - elliptical 45 minfoot sore so went to gym
1/19 - 5th ART appt, seeing improvement. 30 min strength training and stretching at home.
1/20 - 50 min slow run, foot ok but not perfect. Then 60 minutes of yoga, strength, and stretching.

Scheduled for the rest of this week

1/21 - 60 minutes massage, hopefully 45 min trainer ride later (maybe), yoga
1/22 - long run 60-75 min I hope. Maybe hit pool for first time today or Sunday - undecided.
1/23 - trainer 60-90 min zone 2 and drills

Swimming

So I'm torn about when I want to head back to the pool. I'm probably going to go swim sometime in the next week or so and see where I'm at and then I'll decide how much swimming I need to do.

This may not be the best training method but I've made one decision. I'm going to swim less this season. Last year, I followed a very careful plan, with lots of specific workouts to improve my swimming but I showed very little gain for the huge time commitment. I've determined that, at least for me, investing a lot of time in swimming is not worth the reward. I'd much prefer to put that time in on the bike and see a 5-15 minute improvement in my bike time instead of a 30-60 second improvement in my swim time. I think that's what makes sense to me.

Maybe some of you might think it's only because I'd do anything to avoid dragging my ass down to the H20 Centre and jumping into a freaking cold pool but my justification does make sense, doesn't it?? ;)

So for now, I'm going to follow the Half Iron plan in my new book (see my last post) but only do 2 swims per week, and I may not even start up the swimming for a few more weeks, we'll see.

Goals this week

- lose another pound (I'm down 2 lbs since Jan 1st)
- Run without foot pain
- Get this stupid groin thing under control between the chiro and the physiotherapist.
- Keep eating healthy meals - I've been mostly going meatless all week and only eating meat on weekends. And even that amount has been cut in half. During the week, I eat lots of fruit and veggies, whole grains and beans, cottage cheese, some eggs, and yogurt. As you can see, dairy is still in there - please don't email me and tell me to cut out dairy cuz I won't do it. :)
- get back on the trainer on a regular basis.