4 Weeks Down, 20 to Go

Yesterday marked the end of week 4. Key workouts included an 8 mile run, a 2,300 yard swim, and a 33 mile bike ride. I got all my workouts in despite the holidays and crazy travel schedule, but I had way too many Christmas cookies. I also did not stay in my planned heartrate zones for my long run, which means I only accomplished one out of three goals for the week. Fail.

We had quite a bit of chilly, windy weather this week, so the run and the ride were both mentally challenging. The bike ride saw wind speeds of 20+mph, and gusts over 31mph. (Major warm fuzzies for Elizabeth for riding with me and never once complaining. Balls of steel and a heart of gold, that woman has.) At one point, I was heading straight into the wind on a flat stretch of road, pedaling as hard as I could, and going 9mph. Brutal.

I've begun to notice that workouts can be categorized as either "earning results" or "showing results." Most, if not all, workouts are for earning results (doing the work to be faster/stronger/fitter in the future). Every once in a while, you get a glimpse of your hard work paying off when a workout shows you results (with faster times, less effort, lower heartrate, etc). Friday's swim was one of those "showing results" workouts.  I posted my fastest 100 times since the Augusta Half Ironman. (I wore a new swimsuit that fit well, making me more hydrodynamic; I also found a better head position, and some techniques I've been working on are starting to stick.) However, Saturday's windy bike ride was all about earning results. It was tough, and my pace was slow. I look forward to the day when that one pays off.

I've been playing with the settings on C-3P0, and found a way to do my slow runs slowly enough: I programmed the screen to only show me heartrate data (current HR, average HR, and current HR zone). It doesn't display anything about pace or time. So for my Zone 1 run on Sunday, I didn't know my pace while I ran; I just stayed in the right zone. Taking the ego out of the equation made the run SPECTACULAR. I didn't have to feel mad or frustrated by my slow pace. It was so freeing to not care about pace!

Tomorrow is the first day of 2013. I have my resolutions ready, but that post will have to wait until tomorrow. Right now, I need to address these damn Christmas cards.