Here we (/I) go!

Well according to Iron Dad I have been noticeably absent from Blogger-land lately, and by association, from IronTraining.  The former I certainly admit to. I cannot plead guilty to the latter however, as I have been slowly reacquainting myself with the IronLifestyle over the past number of weeks.

I am finding the endurance athlete way-of-life takes some practice, and requires some easing into. 

Acknowledging my clear weakness, I set my running goals early this season, and am already staring down a 1/2 Marathon for May 1st. I need all the running confidence I can get this year (the 7.5 hour nightmare of the IronMarathon still haunts me to this day), and I am happy to report that I worked through 18km on Sunday with limited strain.

In addition to the 2-3 runs per week with my run clinic (well, 3 might be a stretch), I have really been getting into indoor spinning again. It’s a workout I actually look forward to, and I find is also fantastic mental training in the early season – requiring me to push through seemingly ‘impossible’ sets (mostly because I don’t want to reveal my lack of fitness in front of the rest of the class). I have only been hitting these classes about once per week, however they have often been followed by an ice hockey game which happens to be on the same night, so I feel like I’m already a step ahead with my ‘brick’ workouts, albeit unconventional ones!

Swimming is less advanced, although I have been to the pool about 3-4 times now – mostly to ‘practice’ the routine of going to and from the pool to fit around my work schedule. Luckily swimming has always been pretty comfortable for me, although my technique is pretty dire at the moment.

So in summary – it’s been a slow, but steady start. In about 7 hours my alarm goes off to get me to the pool before work; officially beginning Day 1 of (1/2) Ironman Training 2011!  IronDad asked me recently how I’m feeling about my training outlook  and I can honestly say I am excited. I am nowhere near as prepared, or as calculated as him – but I am optimistic that this year – this season – this Ironman – I know what I’m in for, and I’m up for it.

That is, until the alarm goes off in a few hours and I will eat those words!

Night!

Lisa