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Focus - Base. Aerobic Endurance, Strength and Technique
Welcome to the Team!
I'm sure you're going to have a ton of questions and things that need to be changed. That's okay I expect it! My only issue in the first week you are getting going it that I'm not going to be around because I'm on a ski holiday. This probably means you'll blunder you way through a bit, but please send me emails with questions as I can easily email from the ski hill!
The zones I've put in are completely estimated. If you do a threshold test, I'll change them. Pay attention to the Rate of Perceived Exertion chart I've given you and make reference to the zones. If you identify what feels like the correct heart rate numbers for any of the zones based on RPE let me know and I'll make the adjustment.
Communication is the most important aspect of this process. Please contact me frequently. If you don't already keep a training log, I'd like you to start and send them to me each week with your weekly volume totals.
On days you have a swim/bike/run and do a strength workout, please do strength last. Core and flexibility training are important and should be thought of as a workout. Finally, you have a rest week the last week of the block. Please rest as much as you feel is necessary during that week. It's okay to miss structured activities too. The goal of the rest week is to give your body a chance for a deep recovery that will enhance training adaptations from the hard work just completed.
Regards, Abby.
DECEMBER 31
Completed my first official workout today. I'm excited I finally have something to accomplish for the day that isn't child or house related. It was an indoor bike to "...improve pedal stroke coordination and allow smooth spin at high RPMs". Abby expected I would blunder through it, and she was right. The workout was 38 minutes, but it took me an hour and a half to decipher the instructions. I don't have a bike computer, so I had to guesstimate RPMs.
I sucked.
I only managed 20 seconds before I was unable to hold a smooth pedal stroke and started "clunking" over the top of the pedal stroke during single leg drills. Once clunking started, I was supposed to stop drill and move onto the next step, so I didn't get to finish the entire interval sets.
Not impressed with the way my bike shorts fit. Spandex doesn't lie. A 25 lb weight loss is needed. I might as well throw in the extra five accumulated since high school and make it thirty.
Went for a six-kilometre cross-country ski.
JANUARY 1
Happy New Year! Steve is still home on holidays so I'm able to complete a 30-minute run on my own. I do it right after Ruth's feeding so I'm not full of milk, but I still have to wear two sports bras. I finish the run with a strength session comprised of a series of timed exercises working arm, leg, and core muscles.
