Triathlon Training Diary: 3/25 - 3/31 (Week 3)

It wasn't a bad week of training this week, especially considering that I hurt my knee last week but still managed to put in some decent work this week without re-injuring it.  But it was a little frustrating, both because I feel like I've reached the limit of my wife's patience with this whole triathlon thing and because I kept feeling like I needed to hold back to avoid re-tweaking the injury.

Bottom line, this was kind of a big biking week, and it was a huge week for aerobic training, rather than the kind of harder, more uptempo interval work that I prefer.  Still, if it keeps me in the race, I guess that's all I can ask for.

Swim
When you can't run, that leaves riding and swimming.  I swam twice this week, once with the Tri Club on Wednesday and once on Friday.  Wednesday's workout was a super-aerobic workout, all done at a steady mid-distance type pace:

• 3 x 100 warm-up @ 1:30
• 6 x 300 free @ 4:15 (1:25/100 base); 3 x swim & 3 x pull
• 100 cool down

I didn't particularly want to go swim Friday night, but I figured Easter Weekend was gonna be crazy, and anyway, I knew that the pool was gonna be closed on Sunday.  So that left Friday.

I got in and tried to come up with about an hour's worth of work:

• 5 x 100 @ 1:30 warm-up
• 5 x 200 free @ 2:50 (tempo)
• 200 kick
• 400 pull
• 50 drill (catch-up with fingertip drag)
• 5 x 100 free @ 1:25 (tempo)
• 150 cool down

Swimming Total: 2 x swim (2200, 2800); 50 pts.

Bike

It rained Monday.  But I rode my regular commute the rest of the week and felt good doing it.  Saturday, I rode from my house to the YMCA, met a couple of guys from the club, and then we rode a 19-mile loop.  And then my friend Ben rode back to my place with me--giving both of us a total of about 39-miles on the day.  Not a bad little ride, and very nice weather.  That ride was probably the highlight of my week.

Riding Total: 4 x commute ride & 1 group ride (4 x 11, 39.1); 83.1 pts.

Run

I usually try to get in at least one lunchtime run during the week, but this week I made a conscious decision to rest my knee.  I did, however, put in an easy two miles of running after Ben left on Saturday, and I felt okay. Didn't have any knee pain on Saturday and woke up pain-free on Sunday.  That right there is worth quite a lot.

Running Total: 1 x run (2-miles from brick); 8 pts.

Weekly Training Total: 142 pts.

All things considered, 142 pts on a week where I didn't run much... That's not bad.  My wife and I had hoped to get in a little run together on Sunday, but life is so crazy right now that frankly, it's a miracle I can train at all.  Needless to say, we didn't have any time for a run Sunday.  I wanted to, but we just didn't get there, and really, I don't think we were particularly close.

*sigh*

It's fine to be a triathlete, but as a working adult, husband, and father, it's important to remember that the sport isn't just a commitment for you, it's a commitment for your whole family.  That's simple reality.  Sometimes you just do the best you can with the time you have, and if that isn't enough, you still have thank God that you at least had time for something.