Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Working Hard!

Wow, is it really only Tuesday?  Now that January is here I need to be sure I hit my workouts so the game plan at the moment is me getting back in the groove of working out regularly.  I definitely didn’t do enough in December, but its a new year right?  Time to get back on track!

The Run

I had a 30 minute run on the schedule for Monday.  The chinook weather continues here in Calgary so it was another perfect day for a run in capris, a long sleeve and my favourite new jacket.  The legs were a little tired from Sunday’s spin-a-thon but I still managed to crank out a nice 30 minute 5K. 

The Swim

I debated between swimming Monday night and Tuesday morning.  Initially I was pretty keen to swim downtown Monday night just so I can get in the groove of evening swims.  I had to run errands after work though and by the time I made it home I had about half an hour to cook dinner and eat.  Ultimately I didn’t want to be rushed to make it to the pool so I decided to relax and get up at 4:30 am for an early morning swim. 

Can you believe that I just used the words “relax” and “4:30 am” in the same sentence?  Haha!

I tried something new to make sure I wouldn’t sleep through my alarm clock.  I actually have two alarm clocks.  One is a radio that goes off and I wake up to the morning show on the UK’s BBC Radio One thanks to XM Radio.  The second is a really obnoxious and loud Mickey Mouse alarm clock.  I put that alarm clock up on my dresser so that when it went off I would have no choice but to get up and out of bed.  And it worked!  I actually made it to the YMCA five minutes before it even opened.

The swim was a good one.  My workouts involve on focusing on technique a lot.  This would explain the overabundance of one armed drills and 6 kick roll sets.  I sure hope I’m starting to catch on!

The Bike

Spin class tonight was awesome and hard!!  It was a strength night, one of my favourites!  We did some single leg stuff and some super intense pyramids.

  • Keep your gearing constant throughout a set of 50 rpm, 60 rpm, 70 rpm and 80 rpm intervals.
  • Keep gearing constant and alternate between intervals of 70 rpm and 90 rpm. 

Those things were tough!  All in all I was on the bike for 1:48 and followed it up with 10 minutes of core.  I also tried out a new pair of shorts today, a pair of Cannondale Domestique shorts that I picked up awhile ago.  They were pretty comfy despite the fact that my sit bones were complaining about Sunday’s spin-a-thon…

16 comments:

Mike Russell said...

You are doing a great job of training through that tough Alberta winter. Chinook or not, it is still cold! Great work.

Nicole @ Geek Turned Athlete said...

I hear you on technique focused swimming! I can always get more efficient in the water! You are amazing to get up at 4:30 to swim though!

teacherwoman said...

relax? 4:30am?

Someone seriously needs to kick my rear in the morning. I have been struggling to get any workout done in the AM's as of late.

Mel-2nd Chances said...

that relax and 4:30am sentence kinda threw me haha. You're amazing Leana -- took you no time to get back into the groove!

Anonymous said...

You are doing great. Your workouts sounds really challenging. This will only help you as IRONMAN gets closer.

Julie said...

All that technique work sure is going to make you "catch on!!" LOL!!!!! :) :) :)

TNTcoach Ken said...

I'm dozing off reading this crazy talk about 4:30 AM..... I'm glad my clock doesn't have a 4:30 AM!

Becca said...

I had to do the whole, alarm clock on the other side of the room thing, myself! Hey, whatever it takes!

Keith said...

You say "get up at 4:30 am" like it's a hard thing to do. Maybe it's one of those things, like 50 x 50m on 50 seconds that some find easy, and others find hard.

Sounds like some great workouts.

Marlene said...

You're a workout machine! Congrats on the run, swim and spin!

ShirleyPerly said...

Leana, you never cease to amaze me with your energy and enthusiasm, esp. in the winter conditions you have there. I must learn from you. I've been such a whiny wimp because of the "cold" we have in FL.

Molly said...

Yes, only 2 days down this week and so many workouts between us already! :0 I'd forgotten how much effort gets put in this time of year (after IM training, the winter seemed so light - what was I smoking?).

Alisa said...

I'd say you're off to a good start with training. 4:30 and relax don't seem like they belong in the same sentence do they?

Spin classes are great aren't they??? I love em! I just wish the new years resolutioners would stop over crowding the classes.

Badgergirl said...

The second alarm clock is supposed to be on the other side of the room? No wonder the two-alarm system isn't working for me :)

Nice job on the workouts! You'll be back in the groove in no time!

Lindsay said...

4:30! that takes dedication. i think i'd still crawl back into bed even if my alarm clock was across the room :)

sounds like the workouts are falling into place!

Rainmaker said...

4:30AM just sounds painful....like really really painful...perhaps because it IS painful. :-/