IMLP Training Week 1-And We Are Off!

Well vacation came to an end and the first week of training is complete. Coach Scott has been engaged and the training plans are flowing. It is always a bit of a adjustment the first week or so with a good training plan since it is usually a little less volume than what I had previously been doing. But this is exactly the reason I have a coach because I would obviously overtrain and end burning out before my A race. There is still a long road ahead and consistent, gradual progress will get me there.

The TrainerRoad Setup

I am starting to get used to the 5-5:30AM swims which should help give me adequate time to get a good swim workout in in time without affecting my work schedule. The TrainerRoad Workout Creator app(included in the Beta version) has been great for creating trainer workouts to match up with my coaches training workouts. Using TrainerRoad and listening to some Ben Greenfield podcasts surely makes time go by. I only had to run on the treadmill once this week which was one too many. That is just torture.

On Saturday night we received a few inches of snow which blanketed the area. We were supposed meet up with some friends in Bethlehem, but ended up having to cancel and head back home due to the accidents and backed up traffic. I feared having to do my long Sunday run on the treadmill. I figured that the roads would be plowed which actually makes running worse since it leaves some ice, but not enough that I can wear my YakTrax. I decided to head over to Rodale Fitness Park, figuring that they would not have plowed it.

Snowy Run at Rodale

I pulled into the empty parking lot at Rodale Fitness Park and strapped on the YakTrax. I had the place to myself and it was perfect. The sun popped out and made the snow glisten as I made my way around the snow-covered lanes. I was even able to make some fresh tracks in the bike lanes which also enabled me to check my foot landing. Running in the snow is great for allowing to focus on your form. The harder your footfall, the worse it is. Not the fastest of runs, but that is a good thing.

Minimalist Snow Run Gear-YakTrax

I ended up with a little over 7.5 hours of training this week, which was a good initial week after vacation. Everything is feeling good, but I would like to get back to some strength training again. I think I could squeeze it in on lunches on my bike days. We shall see how that goes. 25 more weeks to go!