Happy Presidents' Day! I hope lots of you are getting to enjoy the day off!

Before I dive into my training review for this week, I wanted to say a quick thank you for all the awesome breakfast ideas you shared with me on Friday's post. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who struggles with the breakfast dilemma. I plan to experiment with a lot of your suggestions over the next couple of weeks to see what works for me!

Training Week One:

As for my first week of training, it's been an interesting one so far.

You might remember that my training plan is a little bit complicated since it incorporates training for a 10 mile race in April, a sprint tri in May and a Olympic-distance tri in June. The first several weeks are very running focused with fewer swim and bike workouts, but that will change in mid-March as I begin to focus more heavily on tri-specific training.

I struggled to fit in a couple of my tri-specific workouts, once because I stayed up too late and once because the pool was closed for a swim meet. But I did manage to hit all of my runs as scheduled.

I guess it's not real surprise that the runs came easiest for me. That is my strongest sport after all. Plus it requires the fewest logistics.

Here's a break down of what the week looked like:

Monday: 3 miles

This run felt much, much harder than it should have because my legs were still tired from the 5K I ran the day before. It always amazes me how one day three miles can feel like a piece of cake and the next it can feel like a huge struggle. I finished these three miles almost three minutes slower than I ran the 5K the day before.

Tuesday: Bike on trainer + volleyball game


I was planning to do my bike ride in the morning before work since I had my volleyball game at night, but I stayed up really late Monday night catching up with a friend and there was just no way I could drag myself out of bed on four hours of sleep. I skipped the ride, but rocked it during our volleyball game. It was a good night for team That's What She Sets. We went 3-1 on the night and delivered the only previously undefeated team in the league their first loss of the season!

Wednesday: 4 miles

My plan was to take this run nice and easy, but I guess I started to feel really good after the first mile because I ended up negative splitting the heck out of this run:

Mile 1: 9:45
Mile 2: 9:30
Mile 3: 9:28
Mile 4: 9:05

Thursday: Swim

I was so excited to get back in the pool after more than a month off, but a swim meet at the pool meant it wasn't open to the public all weekend long. I was so, so disappointed.

Friday: Rest Day!

Saturday: 6 miles


Saturday was another one of those freakishly nice days in DC this winter and it was perfect for running. I did a six-mile out and back along a nice flat stretch of road. My goal was to go nice and easy since I have a tendency to run my long runs too fast. I managed to do an OK job and finished the six miles in just under 58 minutes.

Sunday: Optional swim, bike or rest

Depending how I'm feeling, I've left Sundays as an optional day to swim, bike or rest. Since I had so been looking forward to swimming on Thursday, I decided to get a nice swim in on Sunday instead. I spent a good deal of time looking for a pool that wasn't hosting a swim meet (who knew it was such a popular weekend for meets?) and I eventually found one that wasn't too far of a drive away. I did a pretty short workout and really tried to focus on my form and breathing.

Warm-up: 500 yds.
Pre-set: 5x50 with focus on alternating breathing
Main set: 2x300, maintaing form
5x50, quicker with good form
Cool down: Flip turn practice for fun
Total yardage: 1,600

After my first week of training I've found that I enjoy running three days a week and mixing in some more cross training. I never used to be a cross training fan at all, but now that I feel like it has a purpose -- my upcoming tri -- I'm enjoying it much more. I'm hoping mixing in the other sports leaves me a more balanced and less burnt out runner. If it's a pattern that works through the spring, it's definitely something I'll be keeping around when it's time to start training for fall marathons.