Week 4 -- Done!

This weekend was the Indian Guide Winter Camp out. Different campground this time; we were in Burlington, WI. Cole and I had a lot of fun. It was his first camp out. He picked his "Indian" name, "Little Napping Badger," in honor my father, his grandfather. When I was in Indian Guides with my Dad, his name was, "Napping Badger." Cole liked this name and called his grandfather to see if he could use the name as well. I think my Dad was tickled at the idea.

Anyhow, another weekend off in the wood made for another shortened workout week. Here's what I accomplished:

Monday, 1/19: Swim workout in the Morning. The Triathlon Geek folks had me do my first "Cooper Test," which was a 12 minute swim for distance. I covered 800 yards in the 12 minutes, which put me into the "very good" range for my age group. Yeah me. Monday evening was a lower body and core strength training session.

Tuesday, 1/20: Tuesday morning was a high RPM interval training session on the bike. Tuesday evening was an upper body and core strength training session.

Wednesday 1/21: I got to do my first running "Cooper Test." Just like this swim, this is 12 minute run distance. I was on the treadmill, which is not the recommended way to do this test. But I figured the treadmill was better than running on icy roads in the pre-dawn darkness of a cold winter morning. I covered a little more than 1.5 miles in my 12 minutes. No, I'm not Kenyan, but I'm OK with that. The 1.5 miles put me in the "good" category for my age range. Wednesday night I figured I'd get my swim in that was planned for Thursday morning. I was already at the pool, coaching my swim team and there was adult lap swimming after the swim team practice ended. I got my workout in, about 1650 yards. Now I remember why I don't like to swim in the late evening. By the time I finished, it was pushing 10 o'clock. I get home and I'm keyed up from my workout and could not get to sleep until well after midnight. Lesson learned.

Thursday 1/22: Ended up being an off day since I got my swim in Wednesday night.

Friday 1/23 - Sunday 1/25: At the camp out. No formal workouts. We did play broom ball (think hockey with brooms, instead of hockey sticks, and a soccer ball, instead of a puck) on the frozen lake. The camp also had a good old fashioned toboggan run. I lost count home many trips up and down the hill we make with the toboggan. For some reason, I was always the one lugging the toboggan up the hill and up the steps of the run. My hip flexors are a little bit sore today, so I guess I got some hill and or lower leg strength training in over the weekend.

Winter camp out season is over. Little, well relatively little, planned for the next few weeks, so I'm hoping training goes according to plan. I'm hoping to get some new running shoes this week. Mark @ Runners High 'n' Tri (http://www.runnershigh.biz/), here I come.

Also, I'm working on plans for my new bike. The only problem is what to choose. My local bike shop, Campbell Street Bicycle Shop (http://www.campbellstreetbikes.com/) carries Fuji and Kestrel. So I'm debating between the new Fuji D6 and the Kestrel Airfoil Pro SL.... decisions, decisions...

A Compressed Training Week #3

Week three was condensed into five days, which meant double workouts most days. The reason? I had the pleasure of going on our winter "Indian Princess" camp out Friday through Sunday. We were at a very nice YMCA camp near Lafayette, IN. Abby took a horse trail ride. We shot rifles. Abby did archery. Abby climbed a rock wall. We played some fun games: target shooting using a PVC pipe and mini-marshmallows and the "I-Dad-a-Rod" (dads pulling their daughters on a sled over a course for time). The camp food was awful, but the company was second to none.

Here's my Week 3 workout breakdown:

Monday 1/12: A little over 2 hours on the bike trainer.

Tuesday 1/13: A 3 mile run on the treadmill and about 1100 yards in the pool.

Wednesday 1/14: 4 miles on the treadmill plus upper body, lower body, and core strength training.

Thursday: 1/15: A quick 1000 yards swim workout and 90 minutes on the bike trainer.

Friday: 1/16: 5 miles on the treadmill.

Saturday 1/17 & Sunday 1/18: "Off Days" at camp -- a couple hours hiking in the snow each day.

Overall, a good week.

Week Two -- A little Crazy

Well, Week Two didn't go off quite as smoothly as Week One. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were good. Thurday night into Friday morning we were up almost the entire night with a sick three year old. Friday night into Saturday morning, I was playing Super Dad while Heidi was out at her company holiday/anniversary party. Saturday the older two kids had a swim meet. Saturday night into Sunday, Heidi had a G.N.O that'd she's been trying to schedule for some time. Sunday morning was church and Sunday school. Sunday afternoon was spent shoveling snow and then sledding. Sunday evening brought more swim team coaching.

We all made it through unharmed. Some days, September feels like it's a long way off. Other days, it seems like it's just around the corner.

Here's my Week Two workout breakdown:

Monday, 1/5: Off Day.

Tuesday, 1/6: 3 mile run + core strength training.

Wednesday, 1/7: 1400 yard swim workout.

Thursday, 1/8: About an hour on the bike trainer doing drills and some interval work.

Friday, 1/9: I was supposed to swim, but after only sleeping from 11pm to 1am, and then from 4:30am to 5:30am, I opted for the extra hour of sleep from 5:30 to 6:30 instead of the swim.

Saturday, 1/10: 3 mile run + lower body and core strength training.

Sunday, 1/11: 20 miles on the bike trainer (mostly easy pedaling, with some interval work).

Overall, no complaints. After the some R&R time this fall and the holiday craziness, it's nice to be getting back in to a routine. I'm feeling good. On advice of a an IM veteran, I'm not trying to do too much too early. At this point I feel like I'm getting a good base in to lead me in to the Spring and Summer.

Week One Down!

Week 1 is in the books. Here's a quick workout summary:

12/29: Easy treadmill workout. 45 minutes total with easy/moderate repeats.

12/30: Upper body and core workout. Here's my plug for a couple of my new toys: 1) the "Strength Builder" (www.strengthbuilder.com); 2) "Perfect Pull-up" (www.perfectpullup.com). Push-ups, pull-ups, dips, all sorts of crunches and leg lifts with and without a stability ball -- what fun! Actually this was a fun workout. We had family workout time, where all of us were in the basement doing our various exercises.

12/31: Easy swim workout.

1/1: Bike workout on the trainer; another chance to use a new toy - my new trainer. It's a Kurt Kinetic Pro (www.kurtkinetic.com). The heavy flywheel (18lbs. total) and very quiet fluid drive is quite nice.

1/2: Easy swim workout.

1/3: A rest day.

1/4: A moderate workout on the treadmill ~ about 6 miles total.

36 Weeks to go.