Triathlon Training : Week 1

Ok everyone- it's official..I'm training for my first triathlon!  Not going to lie- I'm kind of terrified and very intimidated.  I'm still not a great swimmer, and I'm learning to be comfortable on my bike.  But, I know how to run, so I'm already 1/3 of the way there, right??

I decided on a local sprint triathlon in August, so training starts now.  There are a few good things about this race- the swim is in a pool, and the course is right by my house so I can practice the bike and run as much as I want.  I have about 11 weeks until race day, so it's time to get myself in gear!

I'm following a beginner triathlon plan, and will also be training for a half marathon in the middle of July.  Should be interesting to mix the two, and I'll be sure to talk more about my plans for both sometime soon.  For now, here's how week one of tri training went!

Monday

1 hour SUP

Honestly, my plan for the day was to go for an easy swim.  But, the weather was beautiful and Dan wanted to go out to the lake with Selma, so I changed up my plan and we did some paddleboarding and kayaking!

Tuesday

3 mile bike

For this ride, I stuck around my neighborhood and did a nice loop around.  I'm working on getting comfortable with going faster, so today my goal was to not brake going down hills.  It was definitely scary for me and I got up to 25 MPH (super fast for me) but it's a work in progress!

Barre/Yoga class

I went to one of my favorite classes via ClassPass for my second workout of the day.  Sadly, the studio is closing so this will be my last class with them.  It was a great one to end on- the barre portion was really challenging and worked every muscle, and the yoga flow had lots of balance and good stretches (my favorite).

Wednesday

Rest Day!

Thursday

4.75 mile run

This was the first time in a LONG time that I ran before work, and it was so great.  The weather was perfect (mid 50s and all sun) and I even remembered to bring water along!  I kept the pace nice and easy which ended up at around a 9:30 pace.  This was definitely one of those runs where everything clicked.

Friday

20 minute swim

I headed to the gym by my work to swim during lunch, and sadly it's the final day it'll be open!  Unfortunately the gym has to shut down, so I have to find a new place to go in the next few weeks (as you can tell I'm not having good luck with my favorite workout spots staying open).  On a positive note, I had a great swim and pushed myself to go non-stop for the entire 20 minutes.  I managed to get in about 900 yards, so I'm pretty happy with that!

1 hour SUP

I got out of work a little early thanks to the holiday weekend, so I grabbed Selma and headed to North Park for some paddling.  She was doing great for the first half, but quickly became bored and decided we should both go for a swim.  Fun times :)

Saturday

2.5 hour kayak

Dan and I headed up north to Moraine State Park for a nice kayak ride.  I've actually never been to the park before even though it's only about a 45 minute drive.  The lake is huge, so we barely got anywhere in 2.5 hours!  It was such a beautiful day and we had a great time though.  Definitely want to go back again soon.

5.25 mile bike

The weather was perfect when we got home, so I decided to go out for a quick neighborhood bike ride.  I kept it nice and easy and just enjoyed the great weather and all the pretty flowers and trees in bloom.

Sunday

7 mile run

Dan and I got up pretty early to get in a run before it got too hot out.  We did about 2 miles together then I did 5 by myself.  It was really humid out, and kept raining off and on.  I love to run in the rain, and it helped pick up my pace a lot.  My final two miles were both under 9:00- loved feeling some speed coming back.

Have you ever done a triathlon?? I need advice!

What's your favorite way to cross train?