A Week In The Life - Sunday

After a rough night of sleep, my alarm went off at 5:30. After getting my running clothes on, I quickly ate a half bagel w/peanut butter and a banana before heading out for a 5 mile run. It was finally a decent morning to run (although still not perfect with the humidity) with temps in the lower 70's instead of the 80's. With a hard workout yesterday, I kept this run at a very easy pace and felt good the entire way. 

Standard 5 mile Grimes loop

After a quick shower, it was off to church. I grilled pork chops and venison steaks for lunch, which were delicious! After lunch I had to hurry out the door to get my open water swim in prior to a birthday party for one of the neighbor's daughters. The Big Creek beach was PACKED, but lucky for me it is a large beach. I swam 2 laps of the beach buoys which made for 1,250 yards at a very good pace. 

Just finished up with my swim and heading home

Open water swimming is not my favorite thing in the world, but honestly, it has little to do with the fear of open water or the often times disgusting water itself. The reason that I don't care for it is because I just can't see anything. The majority of Iowa lakes have very poor water quality and clarity during the summer months. With my face in the water most of the time during my swim, it just tends to get boring after awhile. That being said, I know how important it is to practice in race-like conditions, so I try to include an open water swim each week when the water is warm enough. 

After the birthday party, I changed back into some workout clothes and headed to the basement to finish off my last workout of the week. This strength training session included the following:

• Walking lunges
• Dumbbell shoulder press
• Single leg calf raises
• Triceps kickbacks
• Seated Row
• Push ups

This view into a week of my life may be over, but for me, there is a lot left. My intensity and distance will slowly build over the next 7 weeks leading up to my big race on September 10th in Lawrence, KS. That race is a half Ironman distance that includes a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run. I also have 2 shorter distance triathlons between now and then. Every day is a new chance to grow and improve, and that is exactly what I intend to do. 

For those of you that are still with me, thank you for reading. I truly hope that you were able to get something out of reading my blogs this week. Maybe you are one of those people who thinks you just don't have time. Or maybe you think it is too complicated and you don't know where to start. The truth is, anyone can do what I am doing. All you need is some good planning and a little motivation.