Week 2 - Be on the lookout for GERMS!

Week 2 is in the books.  It was a tough week.  As much as I love my almost 3 year old son, he is somewhat of a walking petri dish.  True to form, he managed to infect me last week although this toddler born disease was weaker than most.  Still it caused me to miss a key workout and made me take two days off.  While the week was not a total loss, it made me re-shuffle this weeks schedule a bit.  I had to add back last weeks critical workout and add an extra recovery day to the mix.  No biggie, training is nothing if not an exercise in flexibility and consistency.

The one critical workout I made sure not to miss was my long ride.  This workout is important for a number of reasons.  First it teaches my body to use fat for fuel more efficiently.  Secondly, it helps me maintain or drop weight by increasing my fat burning metabolism for the remainder of the day. Thirdly, it forces me to FOCUS on my pace for a long period of time.  This skill comes in handy during races when hard efforts can cause the mind to wander.

The first 4 weeks of my training plan is a build up for the hard workouts to come in the later weeks.  I am counting on a 2 to 3 pound weight loss to help build some running speed so I am also paying special attention to my diet.  I start each day by monitoring my weight and then eating a good breakfast, oh and before I forget.... by getting a good night sleep (minimum 7.5 hours).  Lunch is my "wild card" meal where I will give myself a little leeway for eating something "fun".  That said I am eating lots of fruit for snacks throughout the afternoon to ward off those hunger cravings.  Dinner is a balanced meal, but I am cutting the calories back by about 100 to help with the slow weight loss I am trying to accomplish.  In addition, I am trying to drink more water (I hate water, I really do) and so far that seems to be working.  On average I have between 7.5 and 8 hours of training a week planned.  This may seem like a little, but it is a short race!  I expect the whole race to take between 1 and 15 minutes and 1 hour and 17 minutes.  At least that's the goal.  I will know better when I start doing some testing this week.  

Key Workouts:

This week one of the key workouts I will undertake is developing my power profile.  I will be testing my power output at 5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 20 minutes.  The idea behind this is to see what kind of rider my physiology says I am.  Once I have the results, I can begin to bolster my weaknesses and focus on the types of workouts I need to schedule for the race.  The other key workout will be the aforementioned long ride (with hills this week).  Great fitness here I come.....

Random Thoughts:

I want to wish good tidings to the triathletes from OnPoint Fitness who are racing the Iron Girl triathlon this weekend.  You ladies rock!  I will be there to cheer you ladies on (after my ride of course!)

Peace and great training to all......