Ok all, we've decided hijack Thursdays and make them all about TRAINING!!! For the next few weeks (at least) I will be focusing on my triathlon training. In case you missed my post, I'm doing a Sprint Triathlon on July 28th. I'm a much stronger cyclist than I was when I competed in my first triathlon, so I'm not worried about that part of it. Swimming, doesn't concern me too bad, but running might be my demise. All that being said, most sprint training schedules are 8 weeks. Since I only have 4 weeks to train, I've taken an 8 week schedule and modified it to what I need... I'm still going to train in all 3 events and we will see what happens.
You might notice that on my training plan, Tuesdays are strength training days, and Fridays are my "rest" days. Let me just stop right here and point out how important it is to have both of those days in your training.
Strength Training
Strength training days help you focus on muscles and areas of your body that aren't being worked out in bike rides, runs or swims... It can help increase your speed and endurance while decreasing the risk of injury! I know you all probably think that running, swimming and biking works all of your muscles, but the reality is, those specific sports only target the large muscles and maybe some smaller muscle groups, but strength training, you can focus on those smaller muscle groups, thus helping to have much better overall health. Now, there is much more to strength training than just weights, but I'll cover that in another post. :)
Rest
Um... you've been working your body out really hard, it's time to REST!!!! Your muscles (and mind) need a little time to recover! If you work and work and work, with no rest, you will burn out mentally and physically, and you also increase your risk for injury! I'm a huge fan of rest days... not because I don't have to work out, but because I know that if I rest, then my workouts will actually be much stronger!!
Brick workouts
Another thing you will notice about my training plan is that many days it says "Swim 45 Run 30" or something like that. Since triathlons are multisport, we must train with that mentality. Some days you only train in one area of endurance, but ultimately you will want to train in multiple areas so you build your endurance! Again, I'll probably write an entire post on this as well, at a later point in time.
All that said, here is my training schedule. I don't recommed doing this one if you aren't already somewhat fit. If you are training for your first tri, I highly reccommend doing an 8 week training program. My favorite is Hal Higdeon, and you can find his training schedule here. He has a whole bunch of training schedules for different events (click here to see an entire list of training programs)
Enjoy this and happy training! I'll "see ya on the road"
Well, on this first day of summer, I did something that now I'm going to be held accountable for... I signed up for my 2nd Triathlon!!! I did my first triathlon in 2010, i had never really ridden a road bike, I couldn't run to save my life, and I hadn't swam really since high school. Now, 3 years later, I am a cyclist, still can't run to save my life, and I can swim so much better! Training for my first triathlon is what got me started in cycling. I LOVE IT!!!
So, I signed up for the Music City Triathlon on July 28th. It's a 400 yard swim, 12 mile bike and 5K. I'm currently dealing with a quad injury, but I know I'll be able train for this (even though it's 5 weeks away)... really, the only part that worries me is the 5K... I know that my partner in crime Annie, will give me tips and tricks for running, now that she's a half-marathon runner!
My first triathlon, I didn't have a goal for time.... I just wanted to finish! and I finished in 2:16... This time, I do have a timeframe I'd like to finish in, and I think I can do it... of course I'll blog about it after the fact.
So, some of my posts over the next few weeks will be focused on training for this triathlon..
Never done one before? you should TRI!!!! (see what I did there?)
It's been a few months since my last full post and during that time I have gone through a huuuge transformation not only physically but mentally.
In recent posts (Part 1 & Part 2) I've shared a lot about how I have physically transformed myself into becoming a better me. I've worked hard to lose weight and I've worked hard to gain endurance and mileage in my Half Marathon training. BOTH of those are a huge part of who I am today, what I know about my "limits" and what can happen when I push them. (I'll be doing a future post about my last Half Marathon and how I killed it!)
This 3rd section of my journey, which brings us to where I am today, actually started waaaaay back in November of 2012. Like many of us, I was feeling the effects of too much holiday grub and being at Grandma's house! (treats everywhere!) I was feeling mushy and hadn't really been working out hard since the Half Marathon at the beginning of the month. Granted, I was involved with a Christmas show, Beauty and the Beast, so I was active and working but not taking the time to build and train new muscle.
I had been following 2 girls on twitter for a while but hadn't really looked into what they did until one week right after Thanksgiving. All of a sudden, Twitter "blew up" with tweets about a special Black Friday offer they had released. Curiosity got the better of me and I checked it out. It was an offer to join a team of women across the world and have life time access to a Nutrition plan that genuinely looked great! It was geared towards fueling your body to not only burn fat but also how to gain lean strong muscle. With the deal came their own workout DVD, a water bottle (we all need more of those!), stickers, a hat, a journal, and a sample packet of a protein powder they had developed themselves. These girls looked legit! But priced at $150, it was out of my range. I sat on the offer for a couple days but as the deadline loomed near, I got anxious I was missing out on something incredible. That night I went to the parents....
"Mom... Dad... there's these two girls who have this nutrition plan and they're having a special deal with extra goodies.... Can I have this be my one Christmas present?"
After showing them some videos and more information, I got my wish. Santa came early!
I joined Karena & Katrina and the rest of the Tone it Up! family!!
I officially started the Nutrition plan on Jan 1st 2013 and there was a lot of trial and error on which recipes worked for me, exactly what things were, and when you were supposed to eat them. Slowly but surely I started feeling better about what I was eating and my body was showing results through how it was feeling. I had more energy and I felt better all around.
One of the things I really appreciate about the TIU program, is they are constantly bringing new things to the table. It's just, buy the plan, here are some workouts, GO! They have challenges throughout the year to keep you motivated. The first challenge I was a part of was the Love Your Body Challenge gearing up towards Valentine's Day. It was a great way to "up" my workouts and really start building muscle with a set workout schedule and help along the way. I did have to sway away from it towards the end, as my next Half Marathon loomed closer and I needed to bring up my mileage. But that race was a turning point in my own personal race goals because I had been doing so much strength training with the girls.
Fast forward to Spring of 2013.
Karena and Katrina announced the start of their 3rd annual Bikini Series Challenge! Who doesn't want to look amazing in a bikini??
I signed up the first day and was so excited for the next 8 weeks of workouts and challenges. Lemme tell you.. it flew by fast!! It was tough, for sure. There were a lot of days I could barely move my arms or pick up my legs to get me to work, but it was so worth it. There were also days, I didn't make good choices on food and the last week of school was killer with all the parties happening in the classes and break rooms. BUT I do know that I have made an incredible difference in my body since finding TIU. I have muscles in my arms that have NEVER been visible before! There are also times during a workout where I'll glance down at my legs and be utterly amazed at the muscle tone I've built up. I've leaned my legs out with running but as far as muscle building, TIU has improved my strength by leaps and bounds.
I still have work to do as far as becoming confident in wearing a bikini but I know that I am literally a stronger person since signing up with these ladies. The Bikini Series has officially come to an end today but I intend to continue the workouts and keep my goals in place. I owe it to myself and to my body to treat it the best I can and I've gained confidence in knowing my good choices are affecting the rest of my life. I'm incredibly thankful to Karena and Katrina for starting the Tone it Up program and bringing it to all of us. Through it, I've met so many amazing women from around the world and am now lucky enough to call them friends.
If you want to know more about the Tone it Up program and the Nutrition plan check them out at Toneitup.com They also have a community site where you can check in, blog your progress, share recipes, and meet new people. Both of these are FREE to sign up with! The $150 price I talked about was for lifetime access to the Nutrition plan which is updated and added to very often. I think I have about 6 additional bundles plus the newest version of the entire plan. It's worth every penny!
I hope that you guys all have an excellent rest of your week. Get out and do something active!
Long time, no see! I've been gearing up to wind down the school year and have officially finished my 2nd year teaching 4th, 5th, and 6th graders! (I teach music, art, and sometimes drama) It's flown by and this year held many new opportunities that wouldn't have been available had I not been living an active lifestyle. Not only was I able to be the main event coach for one of my schools (had some of the kids advance pretty far in the district meets!), but I was also able to pick up a PE position for next year! I'll be doing double duty teaching Music/Art and then I get to run out to the field to switch gears and teach outdoor activities. It's going to busy but it should also be really fun :)
Now that I'm on summer vacation I have many, many posts I want to share with you guys on what I've been doing since my intro. Not a whole lot has changed per say but it has definitely been charged up!! It's been great, especially the last 8 weeks! But you have to wait for that haha
I hope everyone is enjoying their last week of spring, Summer is almost here!!
I'll leave you with a shot I took of my morning run today. Gorgeous view of Morro Rock about halfway through our 3 miles, of course the running was in between stopping to dig up huge sand dollars that were EVERYWHERE! Haha it was a great way to wake up.
