I’m sure nothing excites my friends more than reading my lame weekly workout blogs, but I like having them to refer back to, especially with a goal as big as this one.

As I mentioned before, I’m using a plan from the book “Be Iron Fit”. The goal here is to follow the Intermediate plan as closely as possible, but at the very least hit the hours given in the Just Finish. The plan in its entirety is 30 weeks so I jumped in a little late. The first 10 weeks is the Base Phase, which is basically what it sounds like – building a base. The base in the  Just Finish plan is so minimal though, especially in the first 7-8 weeks, that I’ve pretty much been following the Intermediate anyway. We will see as time goes on how this plays out.

Monday – swim. 2000 meters. A girl I met at the pool and I have been starting to meet here on Mondays to do a swim workout together. She is faster than me but trying to keep up with her has helped me get a little faster. Plus, she comes with workouts and ideas from a swim camp she is attending. Since it is on Thursday nights and Bryan works, she is nice enough to pass along the info. This week we focused on head position form wise, and did an all out 100 meter “sprint”, which for me took just under 2 minutes.

Tuesday– ride. 60 minutes in Zone 2, which translated to about 16.7 miles. I also did 15 minutes of weights. I’m really trying to keep some strength in as part of my workouts.

Wednesday– brick. Swim 1550 meters in the morning and run about 45 minutes (4.6 miles) in the evening. I’ve started to join the YMCA tri team for the morning swim in the wee hours (5am), though I aim to get there more about 5:30. The evening workout was the Fleet Feet group run, with an average pace at 9:18.

Thursday – brick. Trainer ride for 30 minutes (6.2ish miles) in Zone 2 followed by a 30 minute run (a little over 3 miles) in Zone 2 also. I’m hellishly slow on a trainer, and took the twins with me for the run, which slowed my pace down some (average 9:38)

Friday – rest day

Saturday– group long ride. 1 hour 30 minutes in Zone 2 (you’ll see this as a pattern) which translated to a little under 25 miles. I stepped in some mud walking to use the bathroom in my bike shoes and it took me almost a mile to get clipped in, so I got way behind the group. I spent 15 minutes way above Zone 2 trying to catch up before I just hung out by myself for awhile, finally meeting up with part of them about halfway through.

Sunday – long run. 1 hour in Zone 2 with the stroller. Luckily this time I had some company who was willing to help me push when my heart rate started getting too high, so our pace stayed around 9:22.

Total Training Time:  7 hours 15 minutes (including the weights)

Training Thoughts: I still can’t believe I signed up for an Ironman (and my family can’t either). So far, the plan is manageable, but it is also very early. The Zone 2 training is nice because all of the workouts feel easy compared to marathon training or even Triathlon training last year where I pushed myself almost every workout. It is a nice “break” after all the pace (speed) specific workouts for both marathons. I think this is what is going to make this more manageable….at least I hope so. Also, This post is horribly boring without pictures. More for next week.