Training Tuesday: Race Week + Marathon Training Plan

You might remember that last summer this time I was an anxious mess 1 week out from completing my first triathlon.  I shouldn't have been nervous, though--I trained like a crazy person for that race, and I was super prepared when I showed up on race day.  The race was awesome, and I had a blast.

Fast forward to this year...I am again less than 1 week out from race day, and while I have definitely not been the nervous wreck I was during training last year, my concerns are definitely building.  Here's the truth: I am under trained.  I almost NEVER end up under trained  before a race--I am vigilant about making and following training plans to make sure I'm race-ready.  How did this happen??  Well, two reasons:

1. Poor planning of my race calendar:  I ran the Chicago Spring Half on May 19th.  When I was planning my races for 2013, I didn't see a problem at all with a half so close to a tri.  I figured the tri training would keep me cross training, and that I'd do my long runs on Saturdays and bricks on Sundays.  It seemed like such a great plan at a time...until I was waking up Sunday mornings sore and achy from pushing hard in a long run, and the thought of a 2 or 3 sport brick was just too awful to bear...Whoops.

#seemedlikeagoodideaatthetime...

2. WEATHER:  This is the bigger offender.  There is a reason triathlon is a summer sport--not only does no one want to get in a lake in the middle of spring, but no one wants to bike and run around with wet hair for the remaining two thirds of the race or workout!  I kept up with my swimming and running all winter and spring, but my bike totally took a backseat.  Spring was late to arrive in Chicago this year, and summer even later.  In fact, I am still wondering where summer is...Anyways, I kept my bike on an indoor trainer this winter, but I hate biking on it with a passion.  It is so. boring.

Sooo as you can imagine, I did not enter spring bike-ready.  Plus, having spring come sooo late this year, I wasn't able to get my bike outside until pretty much May.  AWFUL!  The first ride I got out for was 12 miles, and I thought I was going to fall over and die during it.  This did not bode well for tri training.

Since then, I've become way more comfortable on my bike--it comes back like riding a bike, right ;)  However, I have seriously slacked on the 3-sport bricks.  I've done plenty of swim-runs, and a few swim-bikes and bike-runs, but I have only done ONE 3-sport brick which was lacking in bike miles simply because the weather sucked so bad.  Case in point my FROZEN ride the other day..

Great weather for running, Not so great for running with wet clothes and hair

IT IS JUNE!  Why is it not beautiful and sunny and a perfect day to run in damp clothes with dripping wet hair???  If you have ever tried to run or bike in damp clothes and dripping hair on a cool day, you will know that it is not a joyous activity.  Anyways, I'm hoping with a little luck I will make it through Sunday's tri without drowning, dying, or falling off my bike.

In other news, I am just a week or so away from starting marathon training!

I will be training with a group and following a plan based off of Hal Higdon's Novice Marathon plan with a few adjustments.  Here's what my weeks will look like:

I am looking forward to doing lots of yoga this summer--I find it is an excellent compliment to running for me.  I totally suck at doing strength training at home or at the gym, but yoga, especially fast paced and hot classes, have tons of core and leg strengthening exercises built in.  Plus, it is way more fun and way less boring in my humble opinion.  We'll see how training goes!  I'm excited to get started, but terrified of getting injured this summer.  I have had such a rocky history with injury in the past that I get totally paranoid before taking on any new racing endeavor.  Don't worry, I will be training smart this summer and listening to my body!

What are you training for this summer?