Week 2: Training in the Nation's Capitol

The second week of my 2009 training was a challenge yet ended with taking part in history. I live and train in Washington, DC and this week the city had a few historical milestones. This week DC recorded one of the coldest week's in over 10 years and kicked off the 2009 inauguration weekend/week and the swearing in of Barack Obama. Both of these milestones put a little strain on my training but with 1o more weeks until my first race I'm feeling ok about cheating on my training a little bit this past week.

This week I focused primarily on running again. I'm really focusing hard on developing a steady and solid base leading up to the Shamrock half marathon in March. I spent 3 days inside on the treadmill and battled the elements one night for an outdoor run. That night just happened to be 3rd coldest day of the record cold week at a balmy 17 degrees!

Despite the cold I thought I had a really good run. I strayed a little bit from my plan and ran about 5 miles versus the 3 I was suppose to run. I figure I was already outdoors and freezing that I might as well put in a few extra miles. The cold really brought out some of my weaknesses that I need to address. My right knee has been hurting me from time to time on longer runs and my long run this week made it hurt even more. I'm thinking it's part flexibility and part that I need new running shoes. Hopefully those new running shoes will happen this week!

Outside of running I have been slacking on swimming and biking. I'm not so worried about the biking as that's my strong sport but I need to continue to step it up in the pool. Just last Sunday my roommate (who I referred to as coach since he is a seasoned veteran with triathlon) video taped my swim technique as I swam laps. I'm attaching those video here. My biggest area for improvement is to focus on not bringing my hands across my body through the top part of my stroke. I also need to strengthen my lung capacity so I can keep my head in the water through more strokes.

Ok that is all for this week. I've got training to tend to and history to be a part of. Just yesterday I spent the entire day on the National Mall observing the We Are One concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and thinking about how I can't wait for summer to be running on the Mall again for my workouts. Maybe I'll even run into (soon to be) President Obama on one of my runs!

Here is a quick summary of my volume for Week 2:

Swim: 1800 meters
Bike: 22 miles
Run: 14.2 miles