Two weeks down, 34 to go!

What an awesome couple of weeks it has been. Two weeks into training and I am feeling really good! The team is great, a lot of nice people, and the Coach is fantastic. I already think I did a really good thing by going this route on finding a team and a Coach that'll help me reach my goal.

I'm having a blast training everyday. Coach has a good point that if you take two complete rest days a week, you are missing out on 3+ months of training that year. I'll take all the advantages I can get this year, so training everyday has become my new norm. Rest days for me are basically the days I swim. Swimming is so relaxing for me, even if I'm doing some harder sets; it's still so nice to have a no impact workout. I hope I can transform my body some too by training everyday. First to get the Christmas cookie weight off, then to get it more toned prior to the race in September. :)

The first week came out to total about 12.5 hours. Tri training was about 11.5, then that Sunday I decided to meet a friend for some cross country skiing so that added another hour that I'll consider 'training'. Little did I know skiing wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I was so tired! I didn't feel that tired really, it was just that my legs didn't want to ski. I am not a very good skier to begin with, so that was probably most of the problem.

This last week was 12.5 hours of training. 3 hours swimming, 6 hours biking, and 3.5 hours running. Every Sunday we do a triathlon, all three sports. 4 out of the 7 days we are doing at least two sports or 'brick' workouts. I am really impressed with Coach's training schedule and I am very excited to see what this kind of training will mean to my racing this year.

Even though it's only been two weeks I am feeling so much better on my bike. Last year was my first year with a tri bike and I managed fine for the few races I raced with it, but I didn't train on the bike last year nearly as much as I should have. Biking now 5-6 days out of the week is getting me so much more comfortable on it and I am enjoying biking more than I ever have before. The only negative about biking this much is that it hurts! The only thing that gets your sensitive 'butt area' used to biking is T.I.T.S. ("Time In The Saddle" you sickos!) so after a couple of weeks, it has gotten better. I did also find a miracle cream, 'Udderly Smooth Chamois Cream', that has been just great. I would recommend it to any female riders out there. And no, they aren't paying me to say this. :) It has really helped save my a**, literally, these last couple of weeks.

So overall, so far, so good... but we are still so far from the big day. I know there will be lots of hills and valleys between now and then, but in the meantime, I am just trying to go with the flow and stay consistent in my training. I am already aware work is going to throw a few wrenches into my schedule this next month; being on call for a week, and a trip to Philadelphia. All I can do it take it all in stride. What more can you do?

Right now, I can thank my lucky stars I am not a resident of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. My heart and prayers go out to everyone involved in the rescue efforts and the rescuees and those who have lost loved ones. What a horribly devastating and sad event.

In more fun/uplifting news... I am so proud of our MN Vikings for pulling off a HUGE victory over the Cowboys on Sunday, which now brings us to the NFC Championship game in New Orleans!!! I cannot wait!
PURPLE PRIDE BABY!