Week three

Well it's done! and boy was it tough! Every work out was ramped up so the body was feeling pretty toasted by the end of this week. My biggest accomplishment this week was my swimming.. I am now able to swim 2100 meters fairly well. Today I was able to swim 300 meters a few times non-stop then only taking 5 second breaks in between which is what you are supposed do after every 100 meters so I am pretty proud of myself. I thought I would never be able to swim more then 50 meters non-stop, I love this. I can see how this program does have you advance in your progress perfectly. It's working like a charm for me. I now look forward more to my swimming workouts.

The cycling is going great as well. Having the sun shinning and the roads dry while being out there really gets you motivated and so very happy he he... Ivan and I have been able to sneak in a few cycling workouts outside right after work now because it is lighter longer now, so that has been great!

I am worried about my running only because I feel I am not running enough and I feel my swimming and cycling sometimes takes away from my running but I believe in this training program we are doing and it's only been 3 weeks now so I have to give it time. I also know that this is all very new to me and my body has to adjust and I believe it will all come together in the end.

I am so looking forward to our recovery week now and even more looking forward to coming home after work tomorrow and putting on my PJ's and doing nothing! Awwwwwwww life is good! :)

Oh one more thing today Ivan and I ran west wood lake twice and the lake was so beautiful because it was very still and at the back end of it, it had some ice still on top and in the back ground with the sun shinning bright a man in a canoe was fishing.. Oh if only I had my camera with me. This is why we are out there!

Well it's done! Week 2

Oh my gosh, what a week! All good but tough... This weekend was great, Ivan and I got to do our first brick workout. Saturday we headed out for one hour bike ride and I have to say having dry roads and a little sun shinning through the clouds was awesome! Right after the bike ride we headed out for our 20 minute run. I was surprised with the lack of heaviness I normally get in the legs right after getting off the bike and right into a run, it's a good sign I'm sure. I was full of energy so I went out on the run with a good pace right to the end.

Today was the day I was pretty nervous of cause we were supposed to swim 2000 meters and I was worried about that distance. Well at first my legs were doing the twinge thing that said, be cautious I may cramp on you, so when I would feel that I would kick harder to shake it away and said to myself, "no way, not today!" and it didn't happen. "Pheff" that was scarey! I did it, I swam all of it. I do have to admit though on the last 300 meters of the cool down I was so worn out that I used a pull boy but I figured it was a cool down so it can't be cheating right? Total swim today was 2100 meters. After getting home I threw on my running cloths and headed out in the sun shine (love that) and ran for 52 minutes.

I watched Ivan swim at times and he swims so graceful so I hope to be able to swim like him one day. He is amazing and I am very proud of him!

Monday is a day of rest which I look forward too and then we start week 3 which is going to be the toughest yet because everything gets ramped up a bit more and then week 4 is recovery week "yea" so we just need to hang in there.

I got to watch Iron man Kona this saturday and it really inspires me to see those age groupers out there plus people who have their own personal hurdles to overcome enjoying this sport. It makes all this training worth while! and makes me feel lucky to have a chance to be among people like them.

Wed and Thursday workouts

Wow the last two days have been again very challenging! Wed night was a 40 minute fartlek run so 8x's 30second sprints with steady running in between. The night was clear and so nice, this gave me a lot of energy so this was not a hard workout for me just enjoyable. Poor Ivan was suffering a little with very sore legs from his weights the night before. He's just not used to it yet. He did great though.

We headed to the pool right away after the run and we did 1600 meters total. I am feeling more and more relaxed now. Still a tough workout though. The kicking is still my weakness so will keep working at it, but the endurance part is getting better and better. Good workout at the pool, very happy!

Tonight was a steady ride on the bike for 1:15 and that's what I did. Legs are tired, I can feel it now. I did some good yoga afterwards to help relieve my poor quads, and it helps a lot.

Every time I think about how close our half ironman is now, Well I get butterflies in my tummy and goose bumps every where! Oh and let's not forget the nervousness he he..... "I can't wait!"

Week two

I can't believe we now are in our second week of training! The first week of training was tough at times but it can be done if you want it bad enough and I do! Having the chance to do all this with my Hubby is pretty incredible too!

Well tonight I worked out with Coach Troy on the bike and I did a lot of high cadence work which is still the toughest part of cycling for me cause I am a bit of a grinder but it is coming along. I cycled for 1:10. Then it was off to the gym to work my legs and boy did I do that! There is not much left of them now he he....

Time for bed now so I have some energy for tomorrow's hard work out of swimming and running.

Saturday's ride... Day 5

I woke up this morning after having a bit of a sleep in; cause last night we went to a benefit concert for a little girl who has cancer. My little sister in-law Stephine Lang put it together and boy was it good and for a great cause, but a late night for me.

Well back to running to the window after I got up and looking to see if the roads were dry for a bike ride. They weren't but it wasn't raining so I got Ivan up and said we are hitting the roads today and not the trainer downstairs! He agreed, so we got ready and hit the roads for 1:45 steady ride and boy did it feel good to be out. This was funny though, I was behind Ivan once we got onto the highway to draft a bit and all of a sudden I thought the rain had kicked in cause I was being pelted but quickly relized I was getting Ivan's mud off his back tire "nice", my glasses were hard to see out of and my yellow jacket was now brown he he...

Great ride around our Yellow point loop. We both felt strong the whole way. We road 42.60 kms.

Later in the evening we headed down stairs for our chest and tri workout with core and some yoga. Perfect training day.

Don't you love it when Hubby tries to make our photo unique! This is us after our bike ride.. I love the yellow shades I wear "not!" lol.....

Here's me giving it on the bike tonight... Always looking my best lol.....

Day three and four

Yesterday was quite the training night! Hubby and I headed out for our fartlek run but little did we realize how the weather was going to be. I thought it was a warmer night so I headed out with my thin gloves, well I found out I was wrong and boy was it cold! My hands hurt so bad, I almost went back home to get warmer gloves but Ivan said hold on and here take mine, that helped a lot. Thank goodness for him! It was snowing with freezing rain and incredible winds, sometimes at our back and of course right in the face, "intence!" We did it though, 6x's 30 second speed play, went good, was a 40 minute workout.

Off to the pool right after that with frozen body parts and everything. My stroke is getting better and better so that made me feel more at ease. I swam so good tonight. I did 1500 meters which I haven't done in a long time and no shoulder pain "yea"

Now tonight well I just finished my steady ride of 1:00 and that's about all I needed cause I am feeling all this training, plus it's been slow at work so it seems to drain me. I am about to go back down stairs and work my back and shoulders when Ivan is done his ride. I am sure I will live through it.

Looking forward to a night off tomorrow, then back at it saturday.

Day two

"Wow what a night!" First my leg is all better now.. what a relief! So tonight was bike night onto my trainer downstairs I went I did some high cadence with anaerobic threshold work for 1:10 and I gave it all I had so when I got off the bike I had some strange shaking going on he he no good workout on the bike!

Then it was straight to the gym and Hubby and I worked what was left of our legs and I added some bi's in there, and of course our core. We played on the stability ball and wobble board all good stuff.

Tonight was a perfect training session.

Day one of our 20 week training program

"Oh my gosh it's finally here!" Ok here is how day one went for me... First I need to talk a bit about yesterday. I went to Nanaimo pool to practice my stroke after getting some help from a coach. I had to wear fins so I could just work on my stroke and that's it, well that worked like a charm but after 45 minutes of fins my legs were going to talk to me later I found out. At 3:00 am in the morning I was awoken up by one leg aching. Then at work today it would go through moments when it would ache again, this made me nervous about running tonight.

Ok so now back to today, so I came home and was suposed to run an easy 40 minutes at a easy pace but decided to rest my legs instead, I hope I made the right choice! We also were to go to the pool and do a workout which I did do. Now the pool was a bit crazy tonight. When we first got there, there was only one gal in there so perfect. Off I went to do a easy 300 meters to warm up, which I should mention I felt like I was drowning at first but then found my stroke and it got better. When Ivan and I were doing our 100's we had 8 people in one lane, I know insane!!! One gal got cranky and left.

Oh well you make do and carry on right? I did 1400 meters tonight and my stroke is improving "yea".

Well this is it training only get's better from here!

Until tomorrow....

Two more sleeps

This is Hubby warming up his legs for the real training to come. I will post me when I get a good shot of me.

Well two more sleeps until we offically start our 20 week training for our very first half ironman! Hubby and I are very excited. I will post how are training is going. This will be quite the journey for us!