Progress

I have noticed that since I finished Insanity right before Christmas and restarted my multi sport training for this season's triathlons, I am faster than I used to be!  This was initially apparent in my running where I run with my Global Trainer and I always have that immediate feedback on my work out.  However, I don't swim with anything and I have my bike on the trainer with no bike computer currently hooked up to it, so running was where I saw my first progress.  I have noticed that across all three sports, they just seem easier than before.  I was slightly worried after taking two months off from any swimming/biking/running that I would notice the lapse in my performance, but it has been quite the opposite!

I have noticed that in my running, I am now consistently a 9:15 m/m pace for the typical weekday run of 3-5 miles.  For my long runs (anything over 7) I am a 9:45.  I feel like I am able to do this with a comfortably hard effort on my part, but nothing terribly taxing.  This is a 1:30-1:45 m/m pace improvement for me from where I was last season!  I would have died at either of those paces before, and now they are like my new natural pace.  I love this!  It is so exciting to see after 3 years of staying about the same pace for the most part!

Then there is my swim which I actually measured this week with times.  Since returning to swimming after Insanity, I felt like I was swimming strong, but swimming has always been my strongest of the three sports.  I also started swimming with my new friends in the mornings and doing their work outs that COMPLETELY take me out of my comfort zone and push me with drills, strokes, and sets that have previously been completely foreign to me.  I have the Icebreaker tri coming up in 3 weeks, and it is a pool swim where you seed yourself by your expected time for a 300 swim.  I haven't taken my times since this time last year, so I thought it would be wise to do that to see where I am at.  This morning I did our typical 600 warm up of 200 free/200 pull/200 kick, then took a slight break before jumping into 2 - 300 timings.  The first one I did in 5:13.  The second I did in 5:06.  Good times, right?  Well, this time last year I was at 6:47 for the same distance!  Amazing progress!

So now I am dying to get my bike on the road and gauge progress there as well.  The weather here in Northen Utah isn't quite cooperating with that just yet, and to be honest, I will probably not get it out on the road prior to the Icebreaker race.    I am most excited to see how all of this comes together across all three sports for that race on March 30!  I am so excited, I can hardly stand it!

So what is different?  Why all of a sudden more progress in 6 months than the previous 3 years?  I think it is a couple of things. I honestly think that Insanity had a HUGE part to play in it.  I think that the High Intensity Interval Training is so good for multi sport.  I think that after taking that kind of beat down for 60 days, your SBR naturally seems easier and you can put forth what seems like the same amount of effort, but get greater results.

I also think that the weight loss has played a part as well.  I am 16 pounds lighter than I used to be, and I know that my core is stronger and more lean, so this just equates to less junk in the trunk to haul around, so you move faster.  I have also been pretty consistent in my training.  I still miss a work out or so a week, but considering there are nine in one week with a ratio of 3/3/3 for the sports, one weekday work out missed per week isn't going to break the bank.

So, I am thrilled to say the least.  Last season I felt was good in many aspects, mainly due to the newness of starting tris, and diving into this head first, but I was really frustrated with what seemed to be a plateau of my performance, especially with my run.  Other than STG 26.2, I really hit a plateau and wasn't seeing great gains in my times.  AND speaking of which, STG registration opens up in three weeks as well, and they are raising their race cap by 500 runners, so I am hoping I get in for a third year in a row, as I am dying to see what kind of gains I can make after last years race (which still makes me smile when I think of it).  In the mean time...

Happy Training All!