The 5am Alarm is Back

Du-du-duuu-dudududu...the 5am alarm is back in action! My three week off-season was great and included lots of wine and chocolate, but I'm so ready to be back training. I hate not having direction. Plus, the restriction of only one activity per day results in me sleeping in (until 6:30am) and falling off of stairs in the mountain bike park (whoops!).

Training for 2017 began yesterday morning. The focus for the next month is on improving my swim, which is admittedly awful, relatively at least. The alarm went off Monday morning as I quickly hopped out of bed and into the pool. With my one activity per day off-season restriction, naturally I chose to do every group ride possible, ride the mountain bike trails on a CX bike, and sprint a short run to see how fast I could still go.

Soooo......swimming. After three weeks of not swimming I jumped into the pool Monday for a 6km set. After 100 meters my arms were about to fall off. And I still had 5,900 meters to go. But, I made it through the set and felt much better as it went on.

This morning I was excited to get back in the pool. I expected that my arms would feel even better than yesterday morning now that they had 6km in them. I woke up early, started my run workout at 5:22am, was back home at exactly 6:33am, then efficiently changed and speedwalked from my car to the pool by 6:44am. I was in the pool by 6:52am with the hopes of being back home by 9:00am.

In terms of efficiency, I nailed it this morning. I was back home AND showered by 9:00am. In terms of swimming workouts, I was the nail this morning. I made it through 4km of what I'm sure looked like flailing and slapping the water. My scheduling efficiency was great for making it to work but not so great for the workouts today. Perhaps I should consider apportioning some time to eating in between workouts...

My arms hurt, yet I can't wait to get back in the pool again tomorrow. It will pay off, I'm sure of it. Even though the training feels hard, I focus on making it through each day and giving it my best effort in every training session. This is just the beginning!

Unofficial, yet highly competitive, group ride (race) for prize money and Wolfpack cycling club glory. The best off-season group ride by far!