Base training time!

I'm feeling the urge to do weekly training updates again, so I'm going with it. Really, I need to do something with all the pictures I've been taking that I don't feel like putting on Instagram. And Nicole is inspiring me!

Pictures like these random grassy things that were fascinating me on one of my long runs. 

Last week's workouts:
Monday: rest day
Tuesday: 1600m swim (morning)
90 minutes on the trainer (evening)
Wednesday: 45 minute low heart rate run
Thursday: 90 minutes on the trainer
Friday: 45 minute low heart rate run
Saturday: 30 minute low heart rate run
90 minutes on the trainer
2400m swim
Sunday: Egg Nog jog route training run (NOT low heart rate!)

Running with my husband on the Egg Nog Jog route. Plus brunch after with Zindine and Irina and other FMCT members - I forgot to take a picture of my eggs Benedict before I inhaled it. Also I would seriously go back to that diner just for the potatoes. 

Total training time: 9 hours

My race schedule for next year is starting to come together, with the biggies being Muskoka 70.3 and Barrelman. Other than that, there are still a lot of question marks. On the running front, I may take another run (HA) at a half PB at the Chilly, or maybe Ottawa in May. I am somewhat undecided/ambivalent right now about the thought of hard run training, though. Sticking with my slow low heart rate stuff for the next four weeks, then I will revisit and decide how I want to proceed. The general idea right now is to be running 35k or so a week by 16 weeks before Around the Bay, so that I have some base miles to work off for the actual training - whatever form that training ends up taking!

First run in a vest for this fall! Found it at Marshalls, and I love it. Even if the odds of me keeping it white are slim.

For the bike, it's Trainerroad. Outdoor riding may be about done for the year - not even so much because of the cold, really, but because it's so dark! It's so much easier to schedule in outside rides when I have the option of starting at 6 am. If I can't even safely get out the door until 7:30 (or later if waiting for the temp to go up a bit), it really screws up the weekend plans. So the trainer it is. Right now I'm on week three of the traditional base building plan, but I'm eagerly anticipating the new triathlon-specific base plans that are supposed to be released any time now. I may finish up Base I or switch to the tri plan, depending on the timing and what the new plans look like. At any rate, I'm on the trainer at least three times a week right now, laying down that aerobic base that will hopefully see me rocking the Muskoka course in July! And the best part is we've managed to suck Sam and Nicole and Ivanka and my husband into Trainerroad too, which means other people who will actually understand the incomprehensible graphs and the pain of over-unders and VO2 max intervals! YAY for suffering on the bike!

Watching Daredevil, hitting the power targets. 

Trainer selfies are awkward.

I've been to the pool a bunch of times over the last couple of weeks, and hooray, I remember how to swim! And also I remember how much I like to swim. So that's been super motivating. The first few times I was really missing open water (damn walls), but I've found my groove again and remembered how nicely meditative lap swimming can be, when you are aren't having to dodge the various weirdos who show up at lap swim (oh god, what if I am one of the weirdos?). Right now the goal is to swim at least twice a week, preferably three times, just to maintain my feel for the water. At some point I'll start adding in some sprint sets and such, but right now I'm content to just swim and enjoy it.

swim caps are dead sexy.

Sooooooooo, I learned something after Barrelman, which is that you can't keep eating like you are in peak training for a half ironman after the race and not face some consequences. I don't weigh myself very often or worry about my weight much, but certain clothing items were starting to feel a little, uh, tight. And I blew the dust off the scale and yikes. Consequences. So I've been tracking my diet for the last two weeks with My Fitness Pal and getting my portion sizes sorted out and I think I've got that situation under control. It turns out when you do as much exercise as I do you really have to eat a lot to support it, which is awesome, because man do I love food. But it helps to think about the macro nutrients and making those calories good ones. And, of course, more than a few treats mixed in there too.

The 2 kilo bag of chocolate chips from Costco may not have been the best idea.

So, base building continues! The plan for this week:

Monday: rest day
Tuesday: 30 minute swim in the morning, 1:45 on the trainer in the evening
Wednesday: 45 minute low heart rate run at lunch
Thursday: 30 minute swim in the morning, 1:45 on the trainer in the evening
Friday: 45 minute low heart rate run at lunch
Saturday: 1:45 on the trainer; 30 minute brick run after.
Sunday: 90 minute low heart rate run, 1 hour swim

(man, if this is base building, what's actual training going to be like??!! eeek.)