Weeks 10 & 11 Triathlon Training: Swim Lessons, Hills, and Hot Yoga Challenges

Monday: off

After a few days of going hard, I decided to take a day off to rest and recover. Through this training period it seems like I keep gravitating toward Mondays as my days off.

Nutrition: tilapia fish tacos for dinner

I had a quick and easy lunch of scrambled eggs with a protein shake. Maddie tried a new tilapia recipe for dinner that was good, but I don’t think she plans to make again.

Tuesday: swim lesson and outdoor run

I decided I needed some help with my swimming after trying a few workouts and not making much progress. Our friend, Grace, is a college swim coach so she came to the pool and gave me some pointers and some drills that I could do as I build my endurance in the pool to make sure I work on my form. That swim lesson was over the lunch hour and I did an outdoor run of 5.75 miles after work. I didn’t feel super fast, but did the run at a 7:46 pace.

Nutrition: Because I did the swim workout over lunch, I grabbed some Subway on my way back to the office. For dinner we had a simple meal of chicken and vegetables.

Wednesday: pickup basketball

As usual, Wednesday was my pickup basketball night. My level of endurance when I’m playing is usually a good barometer for how I’ve been doing lately. 

Nutrition: I had a protein shake with scrambled eggs for lunch with a protein bar in the afternoon. Maddie was hosting her book club at our house so I grabbed dinner at a local Mexican restaurant with a friend whose wife is also in book club to let them have the house.

Thursday: Indoor cycle

I did half of the race distance on the indoor bike to see how my pacing and conditioning level is doing. I did the workout in 1:19:57, which is a place I feel good about a few months away, but my goal is to finish the cycle portion of the race in 2:30, so I’ll need to get a little faster.

Nutrition: I knew we were going to be having a heavy meal for a family celebration, so I had a protein shake for lunch with a greek yogurt in the afternoon. Dinner with Maddie’s family was a buffet of tacos and wings.

Friday: swim workout

We were driving to Iowa to see my family as soon as I got home from work so I got up and did a 40 minute swim workout before work. I did all the drills we had just gone over in my lesson to help work on my form. By the time it was all said and done I ended up swimming about half of the race distance (with lots of breaks and a focus on form)

Nutrition: I had some chicken tacos for lunch with coworkers, Jocko protein milk in the afternoon and then grilled cheese for dinner at my parents’ house.

Saturday: outdoor run

I went for a run in my parents neighborhood and the surrounding area, and man that place has a lot of hills. I did just over 7 miles at a pace of 7:55 and some of those hills just killed me.

Nutrition: We had a mid morning brunch of eggs, bacon, fruit and cinnamon rolls and then summer food on the grill for dinner of burgers and brats.

Sunday: swim workout

We got back from my parents in the early afternoon with enough time to get about an hour long swim workout in, again working on those same drills.

Nutrition: We didn’t eat until we got home around 2pm, so I made a protein shake before we had some shredded beef from the instant pot for dinner.

Week 11

Monday: rest day

I had to drive to Chicago and back for work, which took a lot of time out of my day, so I decided to take a rest day for the first time in several days.

Nutrition: I had a crazy travel day for work driving to Chicago and back so I had Subway on the drive down and grabbed a protein bar when I stopped for gas on the way back. For dinner I had some scrambled eggs.

Tuesday: indoor cycle

It was a nasty weather day so I decided to hop on the indoor bike for an hour workout. My goal was to get a full hour in at faster than race pace.

Nutrition: I had a protein shake for lunch with a Jocko milk protein drink in the early afternoon. For dinner Maddie made some chicken and vegetables.

Wednesday: quick body weight workout

Normally I play basketball on Wednesdays, but I had a 12 hour work day this week, which left me without a ton of energy left to workout when I got home so I opted for a quick 20 minute body weight workout at home.

Nutrition: This was not the best day for my nutrition, but because of our unique work day we had lunch catered in of Culver’s and pizza catered in for dinner. I added a greek yogurt and banana during the day, but also had some cookies (again, blame the work day).

Thursday: swim workout

I wanted to stay consistent with my swimming after my lesson, but had another long work day. I got up early and did a 6am swim workout at the pool, doing my best to keep up with the ladies in their 60’s who are always there in the mornings. My main focus was on the drills to work on my form that I learned in my lesson.

Nutrition: I had some steak tacos for lunch, and more of the cookies that lingered in my office from the day before. But I was also better about getting my protein by having a Jocko milk, some greek yogurt and chicken for dinner.

Friday: Indoor cycle

I’m really getting sick of this nasty spring weather keeping me inside, but I got back on the stationary bike on Friday of this week and did about an hour of interval training.

Nutrition: After 2 days with more sugar than I’m used to I backed off and had some greek yogurt and a protein drink with lunch and then we went out for dinner with friends where I had steak with some vegetables.

Saturday: 90 minute hot yoga

My wife is super into yoga and talked me into going to a 90 minute hot yoga session with her. This wasn’t the meditative relaxing yoga I had done in the past, it didn’t take long for my arms and legs to be burning and to be dripping in sweat.

Nutrition: After yoga we had acai bowls with fruit and granola. Later in the morning I had a protein shake and we had grilled barbecue chicken with vegetables for dinner.

Sunday: Outdoor run

The nice weather has been few and far between and even though this day wasn’t warmer than the mid 40’s, the sun was out and there wasn’t much wind. Because of that, combined with having the time, I did 9.25 miles outside with a pace that was faster than expecting. I did the whole workout at a 7:46 pace.

Nutrition: Unintentionally it was a double steak day. I had grilled flank steak from the night before that I reheated with brussel sprouts for lunch before an early dinner of steak tacos with grilled peppers for dinner. I had some greek yogurt with granola as an after dinner snack.