I finished off my last hard week of training last week before a step-back week with the St Lukes Hospice 25-mile bike ride on Saturday 4/2, which I had written about being nervous about competing in. It turned out to be a piece of cake, I felt like a pro out there with the other riders and if I calculated it right, I was actually one of the first 25 milers to return to Rodale park. There were no formal timings or places or anything since it was for charity, but I was able to get a feel for what it is like to ride with other people on a course, and got to meet a lot of great people along the way. I’m definitely going to find more rides to do because I really did enjoy it.

After completing the ride and a hard workout last Sunday, I kicked off my step-back week by heading to Madison, WI on a business trip. Even though I wasn’t home, I still managed to get some training in, mostly running, but it was better than nothing. They had a fitness center and a pool at the hotel I was staying at (a small one, but still a pool).. so on Wednesday I managed to ride the bike for 45 minutes and then got in the pool and swam short laps for about 20 minutes .. I hadn’t realized how hard it was to swim in a smaller pool than I’m used to because it felt like all I was doing was constantly turning.. On Tuesday, I then was able to get a very short circuit workout in using the weights and equipment in the fitness center.People were looking at me funny as I did lunges, planks, mountain climbers, etc and it was rough in such a small fitness room, but I still got it in … the good part is that I still got my long swim in on Friday when I returned home and finished up this past weekend strong with 2 brick workouts. I feel quite rested and ready to head down the final stretch to the triathlon…

So with just 6 weeks until to the triathlon, I decided to change up my training a little bit since I’ve been doing the same schedule for just over 10 weeks now. I’ve hit the max amount of time I need to swim for the first triathlon, so my Mondays will be my long run outside starting next week and my medium swim moves from Monday to Sunday along with my medium outside run. Tuesday becomes my short swim before I do the circuit workout so that I can head outside on the bike on Wednesday instead of taking a spin class.. the rest is about the same except for i’m adding some circuit work on Fridays after my long swim and resistance training.. One of the big drivers for the change was that I’m trying to get outside more. I’m kind of sick of running and cycling inside and since the sun is coming up earlier each day and the weather is getting warmer, I can now do it. We’ll see how the week works out with the new schedule and adjust as needed… so here is my new schedule:

Monday – long run, maybe bike?
Tuesday – short swim (speed) and circuit
Wednesday – medium bike, maybe run?
Thursday – OFF
Friday – long swim, weights and circuit
Saturday – long bike and short run
Sunday – medium run and medium swim (endurance)

So I accomplished some other things this past weekend that I needed to do in prep for the triathlon, one of them being that I ordered a wetsuit .. yeah, I know, I could have rented one and saved some money, but I want to do the open water swims at Wenonah Lake starting on May 5th and the price to rent it that long before the triathlon almost exceeded the price to buy it .. so I just went and did it. It should be here this week and i’ll have to practice getting in and getting out of it.. I also finally made a hotel reservation for May 20th because I realized that Lebanon, PA is an hour and a half drive, too much for me to drive on race morning. There was another thing I finally got that I have needed for awhile, my RoadID .. I hate to think that I would ever need it, but accidents happen, so i’d rather be prepared just in case.

One last crazy thing I continue to do for motivational purposes is to watch the Hawaii Ironman triathlon from last year. I have it on my DVR from when it was on TV back in December and have watched it several times. Its just what I need to keep the motivation to get through the last few weeks … there were some great stories last year, I love watching it.

So as I head into the final weeks before the triathlon, I continue to believe in myself .. I know I can do this. Its really all about being confident, it really does go a long way.