Spring fever hit this week with the 50 and 60 degree temperatures, but as can be expected in February in the northeast, its going back to being cold again pretty quick. I can feel myself starting to get tired from all the training time this week, but I do feel much stronger with every workout that I do. I’m just 7 weeks from the Doylestown Duathlon and 13 weeks from the Get the Nerve triathlon, so the clock is ticking.

So my total training time this week was 520 minutes, or just over 8.5 hours, which was significantly higher than I had planned for according to my schedule. I was planning to train just over 407 minutes for the week, but with the nice weather and other reasons, I ended up doing more than I should have. The breakdown was 115 minutes of swim, 126 minutes running and 179 minutes cycling, and then 100 minutes of circuit work. I’m feeling the effects of the added training time though, its possible that i’ve got some shin splints going on my right leg, but I don’t understand exactly why I would have them. I just came off of completing 6 marathons last year, but yet a cutback in miles over 3 months is causing me shin splints?? Hopefully its just some sore muscles and I can overcome it .. basically I don’t expect it to slow me down at all since I only have one more day of running scheduled until the end of the week, hopefully it will feel better by then. I guess we’ll see what happens.

So why did I overdo the training this week? Well, the weather in the late part of the week was great as I mentioned, and I took advantage of it and got out for a 5 mile run since I got out of work early on Thursday. The issue in that is that I was supposed to be off from training on Thursday (you know, a recovery day) .. but in addition to the 5 miles I ran, I actually pulled out the bike and worked on using the clipless pedals to make sure I know how to use them… so add in another 2-3 miles on the bike. The good part is that it felt good and the pedals were not as bad to use as I thought they would be when I posted last week, I didn’t wipe out at all. As far as how I felt actually riding the bike, I really think all the time spent conditioning this off season is going to make me an animal on the bike this year… it felt great.

Anyway, another contributor to my overdoing it was that I also decided to hit a third spin class on Friday morning since Stacey was teaching the class instead of Bryan… I didn’t get the full class in because my swim workout ran late (because I overslept), but still got like 40 minutes in on the bike. Friday is generally just a swim day for me …and i’m hoping to keep it just a swim day, I have to stop the urge to do more (my gym friends push me sometimes). The only other thing that could have contributed to my shin pain is that I got new running shoes this week as well and used them the first time on Thursday .. I upgraded a shoe model to the Mizuno Wave Alchemy 10’s (up from the Wave Alchemy 9’s). I don’t really see a difference in the models (except the price difference), but that may have contributed too.

So I hope to struggle through the training schedule this week because next week is finally my first recovery week of the training period, i’m about ready for it. Even though I’ve been sleeping better these days, which I think is helping me, it will be nice to cut the training time back a bit and enjoy normal life again and truly rest up, thats the only issue when I train.. I tend to get disconnected from what is going on in life once the fatigue starts to set in.

In summary for this week, there were a bunch of “firsts” .. the first bike ride, the first warm day, the first “good” outside run and more importantly, I pushed my single session swim distance above what i’ve ever done before, I reached 1.25 miles total with a 1K continuous swim, which if anyone would have told me 4 months ago that i’d be going that far now, I would have called them crazy. It just seems to get easier every time I get in the pool, which is not a bad thing as I have to continue to push the distance if I want to do a longer triathlon in the fall..

Finally, I’ve come to realize that what I read in the Triathletes Training Bible really is true, I mean specifically the part about having courage and confidence. Every hurdle i’ve overcome this training season so far is because I told myself that I could do it, and then had the courage to step up to the line and try it. Using this type of motivation has allowed me to push myself beyond the limits that I thought I had and has continued to make me better. I tweeted this morning that I inspired yet another person this morning at the gym. After my 6 mile run on the indoor track, I started a circuit workout and I tired out quickly.. despite the energy gels and the good nights sleep, etc. I started to struggle. But I forced myself through and it must have shown because a woman stopped me once I started my cool down and told me that she “admired my tenacity” for training the way I do and that by watching me push myself through each step of the circuit, it got her to start jogging for the first time. She said she always wanted to start jogging so that she could start running but up until this morning, she only ever walked around the track at a fast pace, well, this morning she started jogging after watching me. I wasn’t sure what to say except to reinforce the fact that she could do it, if she had to confidence to know that she could and the courage to step up to the line and try…. thats really all it takes..

Anyway, I suggest that everyone try to inspire somebody at some point in your life to do something, its a good feeling to know the positive effect you can have on others.

I’m trying to post more often now that i’m hitting the training pretty hard, but we’ll see what happens …