End of Week 1 Training, including the workout from hell

Saturday – Mini Triathlon: Biking, I biked from my house to IM West. It took 30 minutes, but that included a sweet digger when I stopped at an intersection. I unclipped my left food, but for some reason lost my balance and leaned to the right. My right foot was still clipped and that = wipeout. Swimming, Went over TI drills from lesson 1 & 2 and then learned the new drills from lesson 3. Swam for about 45 minutes. I liked the new drills. I have to remember to not rely on kicking so much and use more of my hips and arms. Biking, Biked from IM West to Mark’s. 5 mile run, Most miserable run of my entire life. I was dead tired before the whole thing even got started. I’m chalking it up to not eating any carbs Friday night. I was tracking my nutrition on Gyminee and had already filled my carb quota for the day, however, I forgot to factor in that I was planning on doing a mini tri on Saturday. Needless to say, I had one gel during the run, about a quarter of the way though, and proceeded to actually need to stop running because I physically couldn’t make my legs move or breathe for that matter. I first stopped around mile 2 and stopped on and off til about mile 3 or 3.5. After that Mark suggested that we just run .25 mile segments, then rest and finish up the 5 miles that way. I was relieved at this suggestion since .25 miles was just a couple blocks, I would be able to do that much before needing to rest again. By the time we got to 4.5miles I was not feeling quite as miserable as I had, but I was still ridiculously tired and out of breath. In the end I did finish the 5 mile run and Mark was a trooper for running with me. I contemplated telling him to just go ahead and run on his own because I felt bad that he wasn’t really getting much of a workout jogging along with me while I was dying at an eleven minute pace, but I’m happy he stuck with me. His .25 mile suggestion was also a run-saver. So, lessons learned: 1) eat carbs before big workouts even if gyminee tells you that you’ve had enough. 2) I now know approximately what it feels like to ‘hit the wall’ and it isn’t enjoyable, but it is possible to get through it. I still felt crappy, but better at the end of the run, because the gel gave my muscles some easily accessible fuel, and/or my muscles had finally switched to using fat as a fuel source. 3) My gymbuddy rocks. FACT. More Biking, after the run I refueled with a PB&J sandwich and then Mark and I biked back to my house. Overall it was about 16 miles of biking. Pretty much the most tiring workout I’ve ever had.

Sunday – Since yesterday was so traumatic J I think I’m taking off for the bike ride today. I’ll take Lambeau for a walk later and cut the lawn. That’s enough of a workout for the day!