Looking for Some Outdoor Training Buddies

Another sweat filled week of endurance training. I've lost count but I think we're close to 3 months in. This past Sunday was my biggest day of training on record. A 41 mile bike ride through the hills of Fairfield county immediately followed by a quick paced 9 mile mostly hill run. The fact that I was still upright, coherent and even had a little left in the tank afterwards, tells me I've come a LONG way on this journey...During the bike leg I did have to take a short break as I realized my toes had gone numb on both feet. I thought my velcro shoe straps were too tight, but upon a closer inspection they were red and seemingly frozen. At that point the temps had warmed up so it didn't take long to massage them for a few minutes in the sun which seemed to do the trick. 

Another comment is that when riding in the Pacific Swim Bike Run studio it's still hard work but the social element helps to easily pass the time. On the road I love and enjoy seeing the countryside and breathing in the fresh air. However when you're pushing 3 hours with minimal social interaction one may start to experience some level of loneliness (or insanity LOL), at least I do. For these super long sessions, that will only get longer, I think I'm going to try and find a buddy to tag a long...by the way this is an open invite - please feel free to contact me. Anyone...Bueller... Bueller... ;) 

- Mark

Riding Outside

I had an amazing 40 mile outdoor ride this weekend. The sun was shining and temps were in the upper 50's. It felt so good to finally be off the trainer and out on the road again. After logging hundreds of miles on the trainer all winter, the first part of the ride felt really awkward. It took about 5 miles or so to get used to steering again - kind of an interesting experience. Once past that, the bike and I became 'one' again...shifting, braking, and zooming through the twisties felt awesome! I fell in love with my Cervelo all over again. All of my hard training with Pacific Swim Bike Run is clearly paying off. I was able to peddle through the hills of Weston, Redding and Bethel with confidence. I even met up with a group of serious triathlon riders and was able to comfortably hang with them for a while!

- Mark

Wow the first two months are already over and once again time is just flying by. This week has not been as intense as the week before but we still got over some milestones and there were a few accomplishments from my side. 

Something a bit new was this weeks bike and swim intervals. This was not always easy and I definitely had to push myself but in the end it was so worth it! I was able to finish not only one but two bike courses this week at a new best time and was also able to swim a bit faster. So I am happy to say that I personally can see a bit of change in my swim and bike performance! 

As to my running- this def needs improvement. But I am working on it and I will get there. 

 

Mark and I had another long bike ride this Saturday followed by a 30 min outdoor ( yeah finally ) run. We both agreed how much we have already changed. If you would have told us two months ago to bike for three hours and then run for 30 minutes I would have prob called them crazy. But here we are only two months later and it was not a problem at all. Looking back at the day I could have already seen myself bike even longer! 

Something that def is always on my mind is the fact that others keep telling me that we haven't seen anything about training yet. It somehow scares me as well as excites me to see what else there is to come and how intense I will be able to push my own body! 

Overall we are getting ready for an ironman! And as many say if you put your mind to it then you are able to accomplish everything!!! 

Jeannette