Why Fitness Isn’t Linear

I am using this workout Wednesday to chat about the workouts that I have completed over the past month. January was the second month of my Ironman training plan and I continued to work on base. Right now, the focus is really on bike and swim fitness while keeping my running mileage around 50 KM a week. My body doesn’t really love the high mileage running and I find that a weekly volume of 50-70 KM is perfect for my goals.

Distance covered: 796 KM

Training hours: 50

SWIMMING: 9 hrs. I average about 6-8,000 m a week right now.

RUNNING

RIDING

New/Interesting Places that I Trained

Nothing crazy this month. I trained in Waterloo, Toronto and Markham in January.

Gear/Training

I used the Polar V800 to track all of my track work, outdoor cycles and runs this month.  Can I just talk about Polar’s customer service for a second? I had an issue with my watch and they went over and above to get me a new one so I had a seamless training week. I was so so impressed with them.

The New Balance 860 continues to be my favourite shoe as I build mileage. It is my current favourite in my rotation.

I am a Performance Project athlete under the coaching of Dave Galloway.

I have been using TrainerRoad software on the bike and noticing some big fitness gains as a result.

Thoughts

Physical

This is the first month that I have started feeling “fit”. Winter is not the time to be in top shape but I felt like a lumbering bear for the first month of my training which was a combination of time off, holiday festivities and just re-adjusting to the workload. Right now, I am slipping back into a nice rhythm of things and feeling really strong and healthy. I am nailing my paces in running and my power zones in cycling but not exceeding them. Right now, it is about that slow, consistent build to get in wicked shape for my races. 

I have also been really good with the preventative stuff. Lots of strength, stretching and yoga!

Mental

I had a few hard workouts this month and they were my own doing. My worst one on the bike was under fuelling for a set of over-unders. I struggled to hit the power zones and ended up adjusting the overall intensity because it just wasn’t my day. That is so hard mentally to do, but less than a week later, I tried again and was way OVER my power zones. It just shows that fitness is not linear. There are so many different elements that affect individual workouts, especially when you are balancing a full-time career alongside a training plan.

My second hard workout was a completely boneheaded move on my part. The week that I had surgery, a crazy week work-wise AND my grandmother’s funeral, I backloaded my week with workouts. Let’s get one thing straight. If you miss a workout, it’s gone. DO NOT make it up or try to cram it in. Continue on with your plan and stay consistent. I made an emotional decision and decided to proceed with running intervals, even though I wasn’t physically feeling up to it. This was the result:

The paces I should have been easily hitting felt hard and that is really mentally discouraging. Honestly, I knew better and knowing when to pull back and when to go is a constantly evolving learning experience for me. Less than a week later, I was meeting a hard tempo workout pace with wind in my face without a problem. Same girl, different rest levels and mental outlook.

For February

I am bookending the month with races. This coming weekend, I will be doing the Refridgeeighter 8 KM as one of my tempo workouts. The rest of the month will be a slow build for the ironman and putting in the hours towards my first big adventure race of the year at the beginning of March. I cannot believe I am less than a month out from the Sea to Sea 72 HR. My teammate and I have been studying maps from last year and it looks to be fast and flat. (Well, as fast as you can be when you are going hard for 72 hours.) Quite frankly, I am just getting excited to go back to Florida for some vitamin D!

This month, I am also planning a USA training weekend to prime my mountain bike handling skills leading into the adventure race and get some trail running miles under my feet.

Also – the winner of my Merrithew Pilates giftpack is:

Ok – time to go train!