Week 4: July 11-17

Week 4: July 11 – July 17

Monday:

Strength:
I was excited to get going with the week. This week and next week I don’t have anything specific planned so I’m hoping to buckle down and stick with my plan for the next two weeks. I’m also hoping to really focus on my nutrition and avoid the sugar!!! We’ll see how it goes.

I met for a workout with Moira. We did a number of different strengthening type activities. The toughest by far was three different stages of a hip strengthening activity using the TRX. We also did some different activities using the swiss balls and dumbbells in the free weight rooms. Outside of the actual workout we continued to discuss nutrition. One of the things we agreed to do was to do a weigh-in and body fat check every week.

Flexibility:
I attended the weekly body flow class. Another great class, although it seems harder for me this week for some reason. One of the most relaxing times of the week is the last 8 minutes of the class.

Swimming:
I had my 3rd class with Derek, Harbor’s swim coach. First off I have say how nice it is to learn the proper swimming technique from a coach who definitely knows what they are doing but is also patience. Derek does a great job of teaching while still allowing me to discuss mistakes on my own. We worked on kicks, breathing, and body position for the majority of the lesson. These are also the three aspects of swimming that I need to continue to work on throughout the week. A suggestion for a practice workout that Derek gave me was:
-Kicking with the kickboard on my back for 50 m.
-Kicking with the kickboard on stomach for 50 m.
-Spear drill 50 m on both sides.
-Kickboard comeback

Tuesday:

AM Boot camp:
I attended the AM boot camp led by Moira. We did four rounds of 5 activities per rounds. It really kicked butt! I left dripping with sweat.

Track Work:
I met the Fleet Feet group at the Madison Memorial Track to work on some speed work. We did a build set of 100’s and 200’s and then a speed set of 800’s. Very, very challenging but good!

Wednesday:
I ended up doing some different things on Tuesday night that kept me up to late to attend hot yoga in the morning. At night I met up with the Fleet Feet running group and ran a solid 5 mile loop on the far west side.

Thursday:
I completed a strength workout with Moira today. The workout again focused on doing a circuit of 4-5 different exercises for 3-4 different rounds. During the breaks in between we talked a lot about nutrition. This continues to be a struggle for me. My addition to sugar and balancing out carbs and protein are the two biggest obstacles that I need to overcome. The biggest success I have had over the past two weeks or so is that I’ve given up eating all that laffy taffy.

Friday:
I completed my first solo tempo run through the pheasant branch conservancy. This was a challenge but it was one that I was ready to handle. The weather was still ridiculously hot and humid. My goal pace was to average 7:36 miles. I think my average was a bit closer to 7:40 when it was all said and done. Overall, I felt better about doing it by myself and have the energy and the ability to push on.
Saturday:
My scheduled workout today was an easy 5-mile run but I took advantage of another group run opportunity. I ended up running around 7 miles with some trail runners. The North Face store sponsored a trail run with one of their professional athletes leading the charge. It was something different and it was really cool. We spent time going through the trails around the Picnic Point area of the UW-Madison campus.


Sunday:
The hot weather continued throughout the area. My training plan had me running 13 miles. I was able to connect in with a couple other runners and we decided to meet at 6:30 run for 30 minutes and then meet up with the group that would be running at 7. Well, even at that early hour the air was thick and hot. After meeting up with the group run at 7 am and completing 9 of the 11 scheduled miles I had to stop. I was out of water and my feet felt as if I had stepped into a puddle of water. My clothes were sopping wet!