Week One is Done

Completed the week with a good 2 1/2 hour ride. Did eight hill repeats with the gang and felt pretty tired at the end. Also worked up my scoring table on excel. I gave today's ride a nine (3 for showing up, 3 for completing the workout and another 3 for good focus). I went back and graded the other workouts (big zero for missing Friday) and averaged a 6.875 for the week. The number alone doesn't really mean anything but I'm going to try and use it as a benchmark.

Week in Review

Made five of six workouts this week. Not bad. Just missed the swim on Friday.

I'm trying to come up with a tracking tool that quantifies three things: (1) Did I show up for the workout or not? Yes equals three points, no equals zero, (2) Did I complete the entire workout? Yes equals three, two thirds equals two etc, and (3) Was I focused during the entire workout? Completely equals three, just went throught the motions equals zero.

Once I get this worked out, I'll start grading my results.

The Beginning of The Beginning

This is not the end. It is not the beginning of the end. It's not even the freakin end of the beginning. But it is...the beginning of the (official) beginning. Apologies Mr. Churchill.

Game on though. I officially start training tomorrow. Had a decent weekend (lift, bike and transition run) but I suspect that things will feel quite different now that Sergio (sandiegoxtraining.com) has given me a plan. Now when I skip a day, I'll know that I have formally and officially decided that I know more than him and that I should sit on my tail instead of train. I'll also know that I have paid for a plan and decided to flush the dollars I paid down the can rather than follow directions.

I hope I go back and read this post before I hit snooze in the morning and make an excuse about needing a recovery day.

In all seriousness though, I'm excited about getting started. Ironman Coeur d' Alene is roughly 230 days away and I hope to make each day count.

Oh...and as for the ride today, Kebby, Brit, Stephanie and I went out to a nice flat stretch of land on Coronado Island called the Strand and did time trial intervals. We rode out five miles then got on the shoulder of the highway and sprinted for 2.4 miles back (times three). I felt good and averaged between 21.5 and 22 mph for all three sprints. The story of the day though was Brit. He was absolutely on fire and dropped all of us on each of the three. He's got some real speed (or real epo) and should take advantage of it (or sell it to me).

The final kick in the groin was the one mile transition run that Stephanie and I did after we got back to the car. We started out and I wasn't sure who was setting the pace since we were side by side. When I checked my heart rate and saw 180, I was pretty sure she was in charge. When she got tired of my complaining and labored breathing, she decided to drop the hammer (and drop me) for the last quarter mile. Even so, I finished the mile at a 7:30 pace and felt like I had gotten in a good workout.