Feeling Focused

Last week was one of the best training weeks I have had in a long time. In my crossing America Challenge I am approximately 45 minutes past Phoenix Arizona.

I got in a couple of good swims last week, the longest only being about 2150m. I felt good in the water and that is important. When I have a crappy swim I find it hard to be motivated to get back in the pool. Tom Price sent me a bunch of swim workouts and it has kept me interested in the pool. Every coach is a little different and so it has been a good change up.

I biked a lot last week, which made me realize how important frequency in this type of training can be. I biked for 2 hours last night and felt good the entire time. When I bike on the trainer I tend to forget about nutrition, so last night I made sure to take in calories and electrolytes. It made a HUGE difference. What didn't help is Chad hitting my rear brakes all of the time when I wasn't paying attention:)

Running last week was pretty good. I did 90 minutes on Saturday and I felt good the entire time. I had been using sport beans, sharkies, gels, etc. while I run, but they tend to upset my stomach. I think its because they cram so much stuff into them. Sonja from work told me that when she was training for her marathon she used Swedish berries during her longer runs. I think I am going to give that a go. I used fruit snacks on Saturday with an electrolyte drink and it was much better!

I also did my first brick workout since my last race, and I could feel it. I did a 60 minute bike followed by a 30 minute run. My legs were tired before I even started biking, so by the time the run came around the first 10 minutes or so were not very much fun. I felt okay from about 12 minutes to 25 minutes....the last 5 minutes all I did was stare at the time on the treadmill! Tom and Darlene (Chad's parents) got me one of those watches that plug into your ipod for Christmas and it is pretty fun. I can control everything on my ipod from the watch and I can put my ipod in my pocket etc.

I didn't get weights in very often last week, on Friday after my brick workout I just wanted to go home and lay on the couch for awhile...so that is what I did. Hopefully this week will be a little better for weight training and core work:)