Week One in Review

As a new blogger I've been thinking a lot about what I want to give and get out of this endeavor. Also, after following and getting to know the From Fat to Finish Line bloggers over the last year I've learned a lot about blogging (mostly from Katie) so I'm going to take a few tricks from their handbooks.

Every Sunday night I'll post my week in review; what my goals were and how I lived up to them. I'm generally a goofball but I'm going to try to keep these posts serious (the key word here is try).

I learned the hard way in November at the Turkey Tri in Bonelli Park that you can't really bullshit your way through a triathlon like you can a foot race. When you get tired running you can always stop and walk a bit. But, when you get tired swimming... Well, you get the picture. My coach, Jen, pointed out to me that Knoxville (my intended first real race) is a challenging one.

WTF!?! Part of the swim is UP river!

Bike Course

Run Course

I signed up because Jen will be doing the half Rev and Scott the Olympic. Also, we're filming a TV pilot for the DIY Network about an amazing family run business that has a store in nearby Pigeon Forge and I wanted to put the juju out there that we'll be spending a lot of time in the area. I took all these things into consideration when signing up. Everything except for checking the course. Good thing I have 97 days to train and even better that the folks at Rev3 really do put on a party for the one who crosses the finish line last. Hopefully it won't be me. 

Okay, enough back story. Let's get to the week. Jen emailed me very specific workouts for the week. I did what I was supposed to do on Monday but it went downhill from there. I finished the week with a bang and an ouch. 

	What I was supposed to do:		What I did:
	Monday Bike (on my trainer) Single Leg Cycling Drills		Yay! I did what I was supposed to do.
	Tuesday Endurance Based Swim		My friend Sara wanted to go biking so I went with her to Griffith Park and we did the 9 mile zoo loop. It has one very long and gnarly hill and took about 50 minutes.
	Wednesday Run - Zone 2 easy run		I drove 3 1/2 hours in traffic to San Diego to see one of the kids from a film I produced play at a coffee shop. John lives there so he met me then proceeded to take me to his local watering hole with another friend where we closed the place down. I crashed on a futon at his place for 4 hours and drove back home delirious.
	Thursday Bike Hills 60-90 minutes		Remember what I did yesterday? Yeah, me neither. Since I biked hills on Tuesday I figured I'd do my Zone 2 easy run but first I had to figure out this blogging thing and that took a LONG time.
	Friday Rest Day!		Guilt Day! The LA TriClub has AMAZING perks and one was an organized swim workout at a near(ish)by pool. I figured I'd give it a try. HOLY COW! This will get its own post but let's just say I did Tuesday's swim and then some. Also, it was Katie's birthday and she'd organized a virtual 5k that I didn't want to flake on. So, after getting my ass handed to me in the pool I went into my garage at 9:00pm to run on the treadmill.
	Saturday Long Run		It had been raining all week and the sun came out today. We're leaving for KY next week to shoot part of that TV pilot and I'll probably only be able to run so I decided to bike. I went back to Griffith Park.
	Sunday Bike - 45 minutes all easy		So far I've cleaned my closet and run errands all day but I PROMISE I'll get on my trainer when The Good Wife comes on at 9:00.

So, basically I think I got the general level of training I was supposed to in. I was short a run but (kind of) made up for it with a harder swim session and 2 bike rides. I know I'm going to have to do better sticking to the program. Also, I need to learn about recovery. I woke at 3:00 am with my shoulders throbbing after the swim clinic so I took a couple of Advil and finally went back to sleep. But hey, it's week one of my triathlon training. If I had been perfect then this would be one boring blog. Well, it may be already. Speaking of boring, I'll leave you with my helmet cam video from my Saturday bike ride. I've sped it up so it doesn't bore you to death but I slowed it down to normal speed a couple of times on the hill so you can get a laugh. It's amazing I can stay upright considering how slow I'm going near the top.