Monday, November 6, 2017

Road to IMMT: October training recap

A little late with this, but might as well note down some numbers. October went pretty well - I didn't have a firm plan, but just aimed to swim 2x a week, bike 3x a week, run 4x a week, and lift weights at least twice a week.

Swim
12 swims; 23,950 m

Hmm more focus on the shoulders in the weight room might be called for...


No complaints on the swim! I've been enjoying having a club membership that lets me go use the lap pool pretty much whenever I want, and generally having a lane to myself. I'm not exactly getting any faster (dang) but I'm enjoying my swims. For November I will continue to aim for swimming at least twice a week (preferably 3), and I want to get in at least one 3000m swim this month (I've been maxing out around 2200m or so so far and it's time to bump that up a bit).

Bike
13 rides, 563.84 km




Mostly on the trainer using Zwift, alas, but some solid bike time to at least keep the legs moving and the heart healthy. Still not quite ready to get back into any sort of plan, so November will be aiming to increase the volume a bit and do some longer Zwift rides. And still hopefully get outside a couple more times!

Run
17 runs, 169.7 km

this was the most glorious morning run with the sunrise. It's hard to convince myself to get out early and start running in the dark, but one of my very favourite things is running along the lake as the sun starts to come up. It's magical.

way too excited about running at lunch
Oh running, how frustrating you can be. Still working the low heartrate. Pretty pumped that the paces are coming down (I've even seen some sub 6 minute km recently! woo!). Slowly, achingly slowly, but progress is happening. And with the cooler temperatures running is just flat out more enjoyable. For November I'll aim for at least 4 runs a week again, maybe adding in a 5th if I can, and continue to aim for an average number of km per week of 40-50k. Hopefully building a really solid aerobic base right now will pay off in the long run (ha).

Strength training

If you aren't going #asstograss on your squat, why even bother

checking deadlift form. deadlifts are fun. Who doesn't like picking up heavy things and putting them back down again.
I'm not quite motivated enough to add up the number of strength training sessions, but I know I went at least twice a week all month (and I think 3 times most weeks!). I'm a little surprised how much I've been enjoying it, especially now that I've built my squat weight back up to more than just lifting the bar. I did take last week off due to life getting in the way and being really tired and feeling like I just needed a break. I do not recommend having your child be born on Halloween - it makes that whole holiday just a huge ball of stress and work, what with Halloween basically being the ultimate kid holiday for overwrought sugar-fueled excitement. Adding a bunch of birthday presents on top of that? I'm surprised the child doesn't just spontaneously combust due to the sheer levels of EXCITEMENT. But now that that is all over, I seriously can't wait to get back in there tonight and get back to lifting!

So, steady progress, onwards and such. Oh, and we have a condo booked for Mont Tremblant now, which I think means this is really going to happen, and aaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee. After watching my friends finish the Hamilton marathon yesterday I'm having a little trouble wrapping my head around doing one of those PLUS swimming and biking first, but I assume this will somehow all come together. I hope. Ah. What have I gotten myself into here?!