20 Weeks ’til Ironman Boulder

number 20

WHAT?!?!?!?! Next week is going to have a 1 in front of it…eek!! I can’t believe how time flies!! Last week was full of workouts, fun and pushing through the final week before spring break…OH…and it was my birthday week ๐Ÿ™‚ Warmer temperatures have blessed us, which means outdoor activities where we don’t have to bundle up in down parkas to go outside. Finally…spring is here!!

Monday:

My day started with a 1 hour strength training session where I held plank for 4 minutes for the first time ever. I am excited…a 5 minute plank by the end of March might actually happen. #progress ๐Ÿ™‚ It was a long day at work with students who were all starting to mentally check out and go on spring break…UGH!! I was ready to burn off some steam after work, so it was a good thing I had some #bikelove coming my way with the 1-2-3-2-1 bike #interval workout. I thought about taking the bike and trainer to the front yard, but decided 54F might be a bit chilly and opted for leaving the bike in the basement for a few more days.

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Plank time…4 minutes ๐Ÿ™‚ Can I reach 5 by the end of March???

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Tuesday:

Thankfully “early bird lap swim” has started at the high school pool and it has temperatures more conducive for lap swimming…less than 86F. YIPPEE!! While the time of day could be earlier for the Iron Hippie and me, we’ve adjusted our schedule just a bit on Tuesday mornings to get the opportunity to swim at a different location. Soooo, this is how I started my Tuesday…3100 yards of #swimlove swimming. I was really excited about swimming at the high school, but I could not get my swim form to fall together, so I didn’t feel the #swimlove that I was hoping for. I followed this up with another REALLY long day with the students even more checked out than Monday. They were even starting to get mouthy. One student said, “Mrs. Fencl, you’re trippin’!” to which I responded, “I certainly hope I’m not “trippin’ since I have to run after school.” I was so excited to get outside after school and run!! It was a BEAUTIFUL, sunny, warm afternoon. It doesn’t get better than this in March in Iowa!! Can you say #runlove…I had a lot of love on this run!!

Finally...a cool swimming pool :)
Finally…a cool swimming pool ๐Ÿ™‚
Outdoor running in shorts and a tank top in March.  It doesn't get better than this!!
Outdoor running in shorts and a tank top in March. It doesn’t get better than this!!

Wednesday:

I started my day with an easy 75 minute trainer ride just to spin out the legs. This was followed up with an even longer day than the previous days this week. It wasn’t just the students that were getting antsy for break…I was too!! It didn’t help that we had temperatures in the upper 60s/low 70s all week. I just wanted to be outside!! I debated skipping my swim after school and doing something outside, but I decided I should go swim. I knew I would be upset with myself if I skipped a workout. So I went to the pool and swam. After my swim, I spent the evening outside grilling, walking the dogs and just relaxing while I enjoyed some fresh air and vitamin D ๐Ÿ™‚

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Thursday:

My day started with the Iron Hippie playing this as my wake up “call”…

This was followed up with 45 minutes of #runlove with the Iron Hippie and Basil. It was so peaceful to run outside at 4:30 am with very few people out, the streets all to ourselves, the temperature near 45F, and an “easy run” on the calendar. Can you say…run bliss?!?!?! After the run, the Iron Hippie made me a “birthday smoothie,” which would replace the “cake” that normalย people typically consume. I had another long day at school, with lots of birthday wishes. One class even sang “Happy Birthday” to me…a lot off key, but it was the thought that counts! I was incredibly antsy all day to get outside. It was 74F and I wanted to ride my bike!! I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to ride on the roads because I had to teach TRX, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t ride my trainer outdoors! Thanks to Allen for the party shenanigans while we rode ๐Ÿ™‚ It wasn’t all fun and games. We did get to work for some serious #bikelove and #intervals. After all, that is the only way to make #progress. TRX was difficult, because my legs were so tired, but we did a lot more core work in this class, so the legs could take a bit of a break for Friday’s long run.

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Chocolate almond milk, 1/2 a bag of mint Oreo cookies, a heaping scoop of peanut butter and two scoops of Osmo Recovery...#toomanycalories
Chocolate almond milk, 1/2 a bag of mint Oreo cookies, a heaping scoop of peanut butter and two scoops of Osmo Recovery…#toomanycalories

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Friday:

There was no AM workout, so it was nice sleeping in a bit…hey a 6 am wake up call gave me 2 extra hours to sleep ๐Ÿ™‚ I was so thankful to have an early dismissal at 1 pm today. It was a beautiful afternoon for a run, so I broke out another new Coeur Sports tri kit and ran and ran and ran…

15 miles in the sun and beautiful outdoor weather.
15 miles in the sun and beautiful outdoor weather.

Saturday:

I slept in until almost 7 am. I don’t remember the last time that happened!! When I got up, I went to the gym for 30 minutes of core work and followed it up with Bananas Foster Oatmeal at The Cafe for breakfast…YUMMY!! After taking a nap, I cleaned up the house a bit and enjoyed the sunshine and warmer weather before cheering on the Cyclones toย the Big 12 Championships. By the end of the game, I was sure I would need to see Coach Fred Hoiberg’s heart doctor…thankfully, the Come Back Kids strike again ๐Ÿ™‚

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Basil enjoyed the sun, warmer weather and a bone ๐Ÿ™‚
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#cyclONEnation

Sunday:

The dayย started with a 3:20:00 brick. After a 30 minute warm up, we rode 5 minutes in zone 3 followed by 10 minutes in zone 2 which we repeated forย a total of 10 times before hopping off the bike and running easy for 20 minutes. Then it was time for fueling, bike cleaning, paying bills and house work.

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Weekly Totals:

Swim: 5600 yards

Bike: 85.6 miles

Run: 27.7 miles

Strength Training: 2:15:00

Total Duration: 14 hours and 44 minutes

How was your week? What were the highlights of your week?

Random Training Thoughts

Kristen over at Glitter and Dust posted aboutย her random training thoughts and she asked me to share mine, so here are a variety of my random training thoughts over the last few weeks.

  1. While biking…Why does my Garmin keep quitting on me? SERIOUSLY…How many times will I have to restart my Garmin to collect data during this 2 1/2 hour ride? Apparently…10 times…UGH!! I think it might be time for a new Garmin.
  2. While swimming…I’m wearing goggles, so why do I close my eyes when someone splashes water in my face?
  3. While biking…I LOVE the seamless chamois in my Coeur Sports tri shorts!! #noangrykitty ๐Ÿ™‚ ย IMG_1652
  4. While getting ART (active release therapy) done on my leg…When do I get to inflict this kind of pain on Dr. Chris?
  5. While running…Why is Basil always so happy to go run? It is so much fun to watch the joy Basil has while running. I wonder what she thinks about while we run… ย ย IMG_1369
  6. While biking…Mojo, why do we have such a perfect chemistry? I love this bike!!!
  7. While running…How many more hills are we going to climb today? Here comes another one…That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
  8. While biking…Why do my sensor (power and cadence)ย batteries have to die during the middle of a workout? Why can’t they wait until the end of the workout to go kaput?
  9. While swimming (with only a strap around my feet…no pull buoy)…I am SO thankful I am not paraplegic. Keeping my legs afloat is very challenging!!
  10. While running…Thank you Osmo Nutrition for keeping me hydrated!! That was a VERY sweaty run!! #womenarenotsmallmen ย ย IMG_1508
  11. While getting a massage…OOUUCH!! My muscles are SO tight!! ย IMG_4210
  12. After a massage…FINALLY…I can relax ๐Ÿ™‚
  13. While biking…Why do zone 2 rides have to be so boring? I love intervals…give me speed work…I want hills…give me variety!!
  14. While on the trainer during a HARD #interval set…I love to ride my bicycle, I love to ride my bicycle :)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii1VuMX_G88
  15. While swimming…My legs are VERY tired today…please don’t drown, please don’t drown.

What random thoughts do you have while training?