It takes a strong athlete to train hard, but a stronger athlete to accept weaknesses in the body.
Karel has been having a lot of fun (and when I say fun, I mean "oh, I feel it!") with our transition plan as we build a resilient body to prepare ourselves for the upcoming season. I just love Karel's face when I show him a hip/glute/core exercise or circuit and he looks at me like "that's not that hard" and then I get to see his face as he is performing the exercise. I just love seeing Karel suffer with my "fun" hip/core/glute work because there's been plenty of times that he has made me have "fun" and suffer by telling me to "just sit on my wheel."
For our interval runs this morning, we each went out to do our own thing, specific to our own fitness level at this phase in our transition plan. Also, at this time, most of our main sets for running are around 20-30 minutes.
"His" workout:
Main set: 4 x 5 min @ 5K pace (or max sustainable effort for the 5 minute interval) w/ 1 min walk in between.
"Her" workout:
Main set 3x's:4 min @ 90%, 1 min walk
3 min @ 95%, 1 min walk
1 min @ "hard", 3 min jog/walk recovery, then repeat
Karel was holding sub 6 min/mile for his workout and he was really happy with how his HR was dropping between each interval.
For my workout, it felt so good to put some speed into my legs and to see 5:55-6:30 min/miles for my efforts.
We felt the effects of our hip/strength/core workout on Monday but that's all part of the plan. Whereas in the triathlon "season" strength training should only enhance cardio work, now is the time where the strength is part of the run training so strength training dominates over the cardio work.
I've been enjoying the season of pomegranates so here are a few delicious creations that will make for a delicious and beautiful looking meal.
Spinach and mixed greens
Pomegranate seedsMozzarella cheese
Daisy Brand 2% cottage cheese
Quinoa mint pomegranate salad
1/2 cup dry quinoa (cooked in 1 cup water)Pomegranate seeds (about 1 cup, which should be 1 pomegranate or a little less)
Chopped walnuts (small handful)
Fresh mint (about 1/4 cup packed)
1 pear and 1 apple (chopped)
Splash of OJ (2-3 tbsp)
1. Mix together, toss and refrigerate.