Saturday, September 26, 2009

Choo-Choo: Base Training Begins

Well, my version of base training.

What this means is that the 2009 tri season is over; it is "lull" time before training for IM WI 2010 begins in earnest.

My goals for the next three months?
  • Lose some of the stubborn weight gained last WINTER (yes, winter) that would did not seem to budge all summer (yes, SUMMER).
  • Learn to love again. No, not Hubby. I love him all the time, no matter what. Love other stuff again like running; weight lifting; weighing and mesuring portions; limiting (evenutally eliminating) sugar and getting up and going to the gym before work.
  • Have a super solid base and be ready to hit the training in earnest in January so I have a reasonable chance of finishing the Ironman standing up and before midnight.

I am dubbing this the "Little Amy That Could" base building: "I think I can; I think I can; I know I can; I know I can".

The past week was okay for basic base: I rode my bike once; swam once and ran twice.

Currently, I'm least concerned about the biking/swimming pieces. It's been running that has been so tough for me this year. I just could not really talk myself in to a committed pattern of running. So, going out twice this week seemed like a huge victory.

I ran on Wednesday with my friends Gary and Marcia. We did 6.5 miles that included lots of hills. Gary created a route that takes us from our health club to a residenital area with 3 loops of killer hills (we did the middle hill and the big hill) and then we trot over to a bird santuary (with another big hill) and then we trot over to another residential area with more big hills. Then we plod -- becasue we are tired now -- back to the club. I actually really like the course. We get to do hills but not hill repeats, which, of course, serve their own purpose.

Today, Hubby was going to golf with his buddies and woke up before me. I was supposed to meet friends to run, but he neglected to reset the alarm, so I had a nice long sleep instead.

When I got out, I ended up running 8.02 miles, which included looping Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/mn/minneapolis/305125400037423107


The weather today is perfect! Cool, sunny, just lovely. I got tired, but not in a bad way, just in that "gee, I'm glad I'm out here doing this and I may kind of like you, Running..." kind of way.


I just may go on a date with Running again next week!

Upcoming stuff: Next week, I'm going to interview a potential coach for next year. I contacted a group that has a track record of training people for endurance events. My biggest concern is if the coach is really willing to work with an older, slower athlete. If I'm going to pay the money, I want the attention.

I'll keep you all posted.

5 comments:

IronWaddler said...

How exciting -enjoy the journey. Following along.

Dori said...

Yes, You Can!

Oh, sorry. Wrong topic. ;-) Good job on your running. I know the hills you ran and it brought back some nice memories of marathon training with Club Run. Was that Gary's famous "Hills are Alive" route?

Sunshine said...

Those goals look good!
I might even borrow them.. a little.

Beth said...

I like your goals for the next three months. I am going to borrow some of them, particularly #1. You had a great first week. Off on the right foot! Good luck interviewing the coach. You deserve a good one.

Sunshine said...

Oh thanks for your delightful encouragement!
And I'm saying again that I like those 3 goals for the next 3 months.