Friday, June 1, 2012

Being Intentional...


This week I started my HIM training plan and one thing I vowed to do was to complete all my workouts in the morning before work. Which meant that I was going to have to get my butt up out of bed way before I wanted. So if you are wondering how that went, well, I can say that I was able to keep that commitment this week.

I have decided that during the week, my rides will be done on the trainer and on the weekends, I will get on the road. It is just easier to hook up with other riders on the weekend, plus this lets me work on different things in the week. The trainer did me well for my Olympic race, so I am confident that I can have gains using it during the week.

The toughest part of this plan is the Tuesday/Thursday workouts. I have it set up for a swim followed by a run. That in itself is not bad, but once the mileage starts to jump, it is going to be difficult because I will have to adjust my wake up times. My swims are anywhere from 2000-2900 yards and the runs are anywhere from 4.5 miles to 11 miles, so it will be challenging to fit them in the mornings.


I also have this hanging in my office!
 I do find that getting the workouts done early has its benefits. First, it is not nearly as hot. Secondly, I no longer have to worry about what I eat for lunch or when I eat lunch and the fear that I might see it again! Thirdly, and most importantly to me is that I feel more intentional with my workouts if I get up early.

I have a new sense of focused when I get out of bed, with the house still asleep and get to the pool, or on the bike. Maybe its called dedicated or more intense, I don't know, but something inside tells me that I am in it to go hard and to "Bring IT" (my year long theme). I feel like a triathlete. This last race really brought me over that hump of shying away from calling myself a triathlete and I want to carry on, so yeah, getting up early helps me.

The only issue I have is with my morning fuel! I do not normally eat anything at 5:30AM before my swim workout. I usually will hit a gel packet after the swim, before the run, but it is not enough because I am starving by the time the run is over. Maybe I need to go liquid nutrition, but this is something I have never looked at before. We all know we have to have a nutrition plan for a race, but what about for training? This is definitely something I need to figure out.

4 comments:

  1. Mornings are great! That way you can check your training off the list before life gets in the way. I've used 2 types of liquid nutrition. The first is Infinit, a custom drink mix. It's great. Absolutely no complaints. For the last year or so, I've been eating in a way to make my body as metabolically efficient as possible. I still drank Infinit and it totally worked. For the past few weeks, though, I've been experimenting with Generation UCAN, which uses a modified corn starch instead of sugar for the fuel. I've done a 60 mile bike ride and a 12 mile run (separately) after drinking 1 packet beforehand. It's nice, steady energy. You know what they say about nutrition being the 4th discipline! :)

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    1. I have never tried Infinit, but I have messed around with the website before. Generation UCAN is something I have never even heard of, so I will look into it! Thanks

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    2. Just wanted to let you know that I did a super hard century (8000 feet of climbing all in the second half!) last weekend on Generation UCAN. I had 1 packet before and 2 during and a few banana chunks. That's it! And I had plenty of energy. By far my favorite product now!

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  2. maybe split your run/swim days and do one after work if you have time?

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