One Last Tri - Week 1
The first week of triathlon training is in the books, my friends. This is going to be slightly more informal than my typical post, but I believe it will be the best way to stay consistent. I would like to primarily discuss the goals that I have for each week, what specific areas I am focusing on training, and breaking down a few of strategies that I am focusing on. I hope that in sharing this it holds me accountable for my training, as well as inspires someone else to sign up and chase down their own race!
The objective for this week of training was primarily to get back into the habit of training. I want to build a base of endurance that can be expanded on in weeks to come. I will mostly be focusing on zone training, using the 5 zone system. With endurance training, it is important to build a strong cardiovascular system. This is done by exercising approximately 80% of the time in zone 2. Heart rate zones vary from person to person, and are most accurately calculated using a lactate threshold test, they can also be estimated by a formula. In upcoming weeks I will go a little deeper into the importance of this, but for now just bare with me.
Day one's training was at the gym on the stationary bike. The objective that day was to complete an hour of consistent zone 2 effort, followed with a very short ten-minute run. With the goal of triathlon in mind, it is important to train the body to be able to hop off the bike and begin the run immediately. This is something that I have never done in the past and I wanted to get a good feeling of what it is like. My legs felt much weaker than I expected after such an easy bike ride, but I was surprised to see that my heart rate did not spike at all. After the short run, I went through a stretching routine for my legs, trying to spend about 3-4 breathes on each stretch. I find it easy to stretch using breath work rather than counting because it is a nice reminder to breathe.
Day two was a rest day, however, I was still able to get in around 10,500 steps at work. I focused mainly on eating a balanced diet, doing my morning meditation, and getting a full 8 hours of sleep.
Day three was one that I was looking forward to, the long bike ride. For this ride, I was working to maintain good form and stay on the drop bars as much as possible. I was also trying to pay attention to any pains that are being caused because of the position I was in, or if there were any adjustments I could make to my bike fit to help my comfort in an aero position. I rode for a little more than two hours, with an average heart rate remaining in zone 2 the majority of the time. About halfway I noticed a lot of shoulder pain in addition to some mid back pain. I believe that the back pain was simply because I was not used to riding in that position for extended periods of time. The shoulder pain, on the other hand, is something that I have dealt with in the past. To try and help this issue I will need to focus a little more on stretching and strengthening my shoulders.
With that being said, day four was a strength training day. I warmed up by spending about 15 minutes on the elliptical. Following that with some deadlifts, and then doing a little band work for my shoulders. I was using bands instead of dumbbells primarily because I am nursing a broken finger back to health. Once that it back to full strength I will be using dumbbells again. Dumbbells, if you are able to, work stabilizing muscles as well as the muscles you are targeting with the exercise. This is good for core strength, which is very important to all three disciplines of triathlon.
Day five was supposed to be a short run. However, life happened and the run did not. This is actually a very important lesson because life does happen and that is ok. Every aspect of training does not need to be perfect. I believe it is more important to stay consistent and not beat myself up over a missed day of training, there will be plenty more to come.
Day six was a rest day. It was actually a very busy day at work and I spent the majority of the day on my feet. I was debating if I should push myself and go for a short run after work but eventually decided against it. Realizing that sleep would be much more beneficial for my body than a late night run.
Day seven was my long run. I am sticking to a time-based approach to training rather than distance based as the ultimate goal is to maintain a low heart rate. This means doing my LEAST FAVORITE THING on a run, and that is to walk. At the start of the run, I was feeling great, taking an easy stride and enjoying the fresh air. Around 20 minutes into the run my HR began to spike into zone 3, I was able to counter this by slowing my pace and focusing on my breathing. This pattern of my heart rate spiking became more frequent around 30 minutes, and towards the last part of my run, I was spending a majority of my time walking. I believe that the anxiety I was feeling by walking and being passed by other runners also played into my heart rate spiking up uncontrollably, however, I forced myself to walk when I needed to lower my heart rate, and spent more time walking than I feel comfortable admitting. This is the process that I believe in, by training in lower zones I am forcing my body to become more efficient in that zone and therefore becoming faster while burning less energy and not damaging my body so much that I am unable to recover.
It takes a lot more focus to go that slow than I expected. I believe this will be the most beneficial for my training so I am glad that I stuck to it this week. Everything that I have read, watched, and witnessed is that training in a lower heart rate range will eventually give me the best results. I feel as if I am recovering very quickly, which is nice because I will be able to stay consistent with my training. I want to put more focus into my sleep, it is important to remember that the work put in is only beneficial if I am taking care of my body in the other areas that I can. Training is more about the recovery and growth of the body than the actual training efforts we put in. Sleep, meditation, stretching, nutrition, all of these play a vital role in the results that I will see.
In the upcoming week my main goal is to continue training in zone 2, but start increasing the time I spend training. I also have a goal to stretch every night, this is something that I have not been consistent with and I know would help dramatically to increase my recovery, as well as my performance. I do not think this upcoming week will place me in the pool due to my broken finger, but we shall see. I look forward to sharing my experience with swimming!
