I have been back from Michigan for three weeks now and I am fully into my Ironman training for Kona.  My cycling has been going great, I have had 3 long rides ranging from 5:20 to 6:10 and all have been epic, each better than the next.  There is something to be said about going into a mega block of training undertrained, it certainly feels good to keep getting fit.  On my long epic rides I have been riding with my coach M2 (Michael Mccormack); just mano y mano.  Much different than group riding as we have NO down time.  I had to start bringing more water so I could last to our small break around the 4 hour mark.  I am riding the best I have ever ridden, the GURU Crono is awesome and I am so glad it is back…I sing “reunited and it feels so good” while I am rocking and rolling along the terrain.  Speaking of, did I mention that I went up to Santa Rosa a week or so ago and had a training session with the detectives.  Pretty awesome.  Greg and JB were great, we had a good ride and a good run and it was great fun hanging out with them. I am so pleased to have met two new training partners and friends.  Everytime I ride my bike I think of them and I smile because I can’t wait to race Kona, I love my TT bike and can’t wait to see what I can do on that race course! 

My running is coming around, I will say since the baby it is taking a bit longer than I expected.  I have to be careful to not really over due it as I don’t want any permanent damage to my lower abdomen area but all in all I am feeling very good and I am very happy with how I am repsonding to my training blocks.  I have learned a lot in the last few years one being it is better to change up your training week to week and not do the same workout on the same day each week.  I am actually focusing on my recovery so I can hit all my target workouts.  Below is a sample of last weeks training block and what I am planning for this week.

This past week:

Monday: recovery swim

Tuesday: Hard swim, recovery run, core

Wednesday: Hill repeats bike, track run

Thursday: Hard swim, recovery bike; moderate run

Friday: Epic long ride, 15 minute hard run

Saturday: 2+ hour run, tempo, pace variation for most

Sunday: 2  hour IM race pace ride, tempo run + track (all in one)

This week:

Monday: recovery swim

Tuesday: recovery ride, hard swim, recovery run

Wednesday: Hard swim, Hill repeats + pace riding, track workout

Thursday: epic long ride, 20 min hard run

Friday: hard swim, 2:30 Ironman pace ride, tempo+track workout

Saturday: recovery run

Sunday: 2:15 run with pace variation

My workouts are not the same but the theme is the same. Since I have had kids I have learned that I can not do everything the same each week, especially since my husbands schedule changes every week.  Some weeks he is home more and some weeks I am alone more so I have to change accordingly.  My body has repsonded so much better from training this way that I keep getting more aggressive on my blocks and each time I do I build more and more confidence. 

You know people say you get better after having children, for me, I have just gotten smarter and in doing so realized I was kicking my own ass far too much and far too often with no focus.  Now I am focused on one goal, I kick butt during my workouts when I need to; and then I recover.  What is better about my recovery now than before, I have kids that I play with during that time.

let it go,

gina