Road to Arizona 2017 – Monday Recap 1

I mentioned that I was going to make some changes to how I blog this year.  One of those things is combing workout Wednesday and Selfie Sunday into the Monday Recap.

We have moved into a block of strength building and swimming before we jump back into full three discipline training.

11/21/16 – Short Swim

Back in the pool!  My focus for this swim was my form. Swimming is my best of the three disciplines (and the only one where I’m meeting my time goals, hence this additional year of training) but I definitely want to squeeze every drop of speed that I can out of it so that I can give that time to the bike and especially the run.

11/22/16 – Strength

We are doing a body weight strength program which means endless squats, walking squats, forward and reverse lunges, explosive step-ups, and then arm work using resistance bands, and planking.  I prefer lifting weights but I’m assured that this will is better for triathlon.

11/23/16 – Hard Swim

This swim starts with a warmup and some drills, then a series of short distances swum “hard” and “very hard” with short rest intervals in between. It takes the longest of the three swims but it goes by the fastest.

11/24/16 – Day off!

11/25/16 – Strength

So. Many. Squats.

11/26/16 – Unsanctioned Dance Class

My friend Jessica invited me and our friend Yolanda to join her at the U-Jam class that she takes. It was super fun!  This isn’t a style of dance at which I’m particularly good (I kept looking in the mirror and realizing that I had some seriously out of place port de bras, and while I typically have trouble with keeping too much tension in my fingers, this time they were perfect- if I was doing ballet. ) but the good news is I’m still way better at this than running.  It was a lovely, if momentary, return to the days when people would say “You’re a good dancer” instead of “Ma’am, are you ok?” Just don’t tell Steve 🙂

11/27/16 – Long steady swim

Another name for “long steady swim” is: laps.  I’ve been swimming at a club near my house that has an 18 meter pool.  That’s not ideal – it means turning around more often which means more extended breaths (which makes the swimming easier.)  There is a gym with a larger pool but when I researched it, I found that it was a little over an hour away from my house – I decided it wasn’t worth two+ hours of driving (or more in traffic) What I didn’t realize was that when I swim (very late at night) there is virtually no traffic so it’s only 20 minutes each way.  Doh! The club is SO MUCH NICER than the club that I have been going to (and the spin room is not locked down after hours which may come in handy later)

Enjoy this week’s selfies:

New swim cap, same old goggles

Tried one of those tank tops with a “built in sports bra.” Not even enough support to do squats, what was I thinking?

New swim cap is working better than previous versions. I’m a bit worried that I’m wearing it backwards, but this seems to be correct.

My best friend got me this shirt!

Dance class! Shhhh – don’t tell my coach.

Now old swim cap, old goggles, new gym!