Catching up on the last 6 weeks of training...

I decided to follow this training plan to prepare for South Beach - the only snag was that I didn't have 16 weeks from start date to the race - I only had 3 months. So I decided to start at Week 1 of the 2nd month of training.

Because the run was 33% longer than the sprint that I was officially training for, I also decided to up the minutes that I'd be running, starting the end of the 2nd month. So on the recovery week of month 2, instead of running for 17 minutes, I pushed myself to run for 19. It's only 2 minutes more, and not too awful. (Despite my instinctual aversion to running). Now I'm on week 2 of the 3rd month, and I'm running week 3 times - next week, I'll have to start at 24 minutes and end at 39. There's no other choice if I want to be comfortable on the run. The farthest I've run thus far is 3.2 miles, on last week's long run, whereas I've already done the distances for the swimming at the cycling (the swim, on a medium training day - woot!, and the cycling on the long day, struggling, BUT after an intense leg strength session.

What I've learned so far:

1. The dreading of something is much worse than the doing - there were a couple of snowy, messy, cold days and I thought "there's no way I'm going to get my ass out and run in this!" but I did, and not only was it tolerable, it was friggin' awesome! Completely exhilarating and fun! Since then, running has actually been fun - at least for the first 80% of each run, and I really look forward to running days.

Or, said another way, there are always excuses for not doing something -too busy, tired, cold, hungry, full, etc. All the excuses and procrastination take up so much effort. Almost more effort than the activity. So on the whole, I try to not dawdle, and just get it done. I always feel great afterwards.

2. It's good to push against the edges of your comfort zone. You end up stronger and more confident. (I'm trying to apply this to other areas of my life, but while it's relatively easy to push myself physically, when it comes to the other stuff it's like attempting to climb Kilimanjaro!)

3. The exercise does me good - on the days that I've properly exhausted myself before breakfast, I'm calmer, more patient with the kids. Other days, I tend to feel antsy.

4. I'm not as preoccupied about my weight, or for that matter, what I'm eating, at least for now. I haven't gained or lost any weight since starting the training, and I'm eating like a teenage boy, at least in quantities, but until the kitchen is completed, I don't have total control of what I'm eating, and I'm ok with that.

That's it for now. I didn't have time for the swim following yesterday's cycling, so I need to get that done today - after walking the dog, etc. Good thing it's a kidless Saturday!

Oh, the purpose of today's swim - how long can I go without a rest - aiming for 60 lengths (3000 ft). Let's see how that goes.

Here's how it went - my goal may have been overly ambitious - but in my 32 minutes in the pool, I did a 24, 30 then 24, for a combined total of 3900 ft (almost 3/4 of a mile!!), and I had more in me to give, but alas, no more pool time, as the next person of line was impatiently waiting for me to leave my lane. But it was utterly exhilarating and simultaneously exhausting.