February 2015: Training Ramblings........Motivation

With a gradual build in the run miles from December through January, February was finally the time to start laying down some serious miles and incorporating specific workouts into the schedule. Aside from the occasional outside weekend run the vast majority of my running is on the treadmill at work, which I have certainly come to embrace again this winter. The treadmill really enables you to do some fantastic workouts without the obstructions, breaks and at this time of year snow, ice and cold. My staple treadmill workouts this month have been:

1 - Speed Workout: 10 minute warm-up followed by 12 x 2mins at 5km pace with 2mins rest interval.

2 -  Hill Intervals: 10 minute warm-up followed by 7 x 6mins (2mins at 2%, 2mins at 4%, 2mins at 0%).

3 - Tempo: 10 minute warm-up with 35mins at 10km pace

The glamorous view of the work gym treadmill

Throw in a longer weekend run and a recovery run and it's a solid week of running.  Feeling the gains this month has been great and has certainly fueled the motivation for the 2015 season.

Speaking of motivation, I also got wet a few more times this month and will continue to build the pool time in March.  The thing I find about swimming is really that my pace doesn't really drop off with the lack of pool time but the endurance really does. Over the past month the endurance has come back and now it's time to work actually improving the pace. I have been the same pace for way too long....time to make some gains!

Biking this month was pretty much maintenance, the Winter finally hit so there was a couple of weeks without the longer weekend rides due to snow/ice and therefore lower volume.  The power numbers have still been there though and with the next power test coming shortly, it will be good to see some marginal gains.

One of the few outdoor rides this month with a stop at Sweet Sues!

The 2015 schedule is beginning to fill up a little bit more and here are the confirmed or anticipated triathlons so far:

April 26th: Xterra Jersey Devil
May 9th: Kinetic Half-Ironman
June 14th: Xterra East Championships
July 12th: Xterra Ex2 Rocky Gap
Aug 2nd: Fort Ritchie Olympic/Xterra Appalachia
Aug 16th: Challenge Pocono Mountains
Sept 20th: Xterra Nationals Utah (Pending Qualification)

A good mix of off-road and regular triathlons and I'm still looking for a couple of races in June and July.

Overall a good solid month of training with motivation still high as the Spring begins to poke it's head out from under the covers.


What I am drinking this month:
Intelligentsia Coffee: Zirikana, Rwanda - A testament to the skill and commitment by the team at the Nyarusiza washing station, this year's release is remarkably lush, and brims with flavors of lime zest, black tea and crisp grape in the finish

February Total: 485miles/39hrs 31mins/2778 TSS
Swim: 10.73m/5hrs 51mins/ 422 TSS
Bike: 354m/18hrs 51mins/ 1184 TSS
Run: 121m/14hrs 50mins/ 1172 TSS