What a difference a week makes!

So I decided to wait until the end of week 1 to blog.  Mainly because I wanted to see how I'd feel after one full week of training.  I've realized something during this past week.  I've been working out mindlessly & without purpose for the past few years.  Don't get me wrong, I always had a "purpose"...training for a race of some kind.  But typically I would just swim.  Or bike.  Or run.  With no direction, no plan, nothing to accomplish but move my body for a few hours.  With the exception of my Masters swim or when I was following Hal Higdon's 1/2 marathon training 2 years ago, I never had a plan.  So now, for an entire week, I've had something to follow during my workouts each day.  What a difference!  Not only did it feel good to have a plan, it actually made the time go by faster.  I actually started liking my bike trainer again :)  And I ran outside in the snow.  I've NEVER done that!  And I feel good.  Ok, well, I was sore from Jen's core workout for at least 2 days, if not more.  THAT surprised me as the strength training I typically do is more functional and not traditional weights.  And it wasn't until today that I realized I did NOT have a rest day (yes, Jen, I caught that!) 

This week I also had my swim, bike & run tests.  I'm not giving times or paces, I'm just going to say I dreaded the swim test.  I'm NOT a fast swimmer.  In fact, I rarely swim fast at all.  Actually, prior to me starting Masters swim in Jan, I was rarely swimming.  So I knew this would prove to be a challenge.  I seriously thought I might die :)  End result wasn't as bad as I expected, however, definately room for improvement.  The bike test went ok.  Jen thinks I had too much tension on the tire as my legs pooped out well before my HR did.  OK, maybe cadence on a bike computer isn't such a bad thing.  (Making a mental note for when I get my new bike computer that I lost).  And today was the run test.  I didn't make good choices for dessert last night & woke up with a tummy not feeling all that well.  And I haven't been running fast, at all, for god knows how long.  Pretty sure the only speed work I've done in the past 6 months or so was a 5k I ran at the end of October!  And I'm a terrible pacer.  So today my plan was to pace myself such that I could finish very strong (all the while knowing my pace needed to be much faster than I've been running, but not that fast that I crap out before the time was up).  Again, I was fairly happy with the run test considering what I've been doing (or not doing is more like it) recently.  Again, definately room for improvement.

So tomorrow starts week 2.  Looking forward to it!  Oh yeah, and woo hoo...the dog finally ignores the trainer & isn't biting the tires while I'm riding anymore.  Success!!