Triathlon Training Day 1: 5K Run and Chest & Back

I hope everyone is enjoying the new blog layout and big ass Google Calendar!

Today was my first day of the hybrid P90X/Triathlon training and so far so good!

I woke up this morning and went for a 5K run with my wife Annie. My plan is to gradually increase my distance over the 15 weeks of training as my pacing becomes stronger. I am not focusing as much on my time as I am keeping my heart rate with in the aerobic zone. I have read a lot about running over the last couple of weeks and have come to the conclusion that this is the best way to increase your performance as a runner. My aerobic zone is between 145 -155 BPM. If I start to get higher I back off on my pace and vise verse if I got to low.

So, now that I just went over all that and being the type-A personality that most of my regular readers expect I was looking at my time the entire run! I was a little disappointed that it took me 9:33 to complete the first mile. I was too busy fiddling with my iPod and looking at blown over trees from yesterday's awful storm to focus on what I was doing. When I passed the 1-mile mark my heart rate was at 138 BPM. I then got into the zone and finished out the next 2.1 miles. I had about 3/10ths of a mile to go and looked at my HRM again. I was at 27:50 and my HR was at 149 BPM. So, naturally I sprinted the rest of the way home. I was hoping to get in under 28 minutes but when I hit the finish line and simultaneously hit stop on my HRM my time was 29:01. I missed it by 1 second! Oh well, I goal to shoot for when I run on Thursday!

The good news was that I felt great and probably could have went another mile or two!

I spent the rest of my Sunday working around the house and yard and took about a 30 minute nap which was glorious! Then an hour before dinner I decided to go upstairs and do Chest & Back. This is always a good workout and my arms are always pretty whipped afterwards and today was no exception. I didn't really max-out today on any of the exercises. My second time through the workouts I stopped about a rep or two short of failure because I don't want to overdo it since my shoulder has been feeling so great lately.

Another reason I am not going to crush myself during the weight training this round is because of what fellow P90Xer and soon to be Triathlete Boomer said on one of his recent posts. Basically he said that P90X is secondary to the Triathlon training. And this really struck a cord with me because if I am going to be successful with the Triathlon - swimming, running, and cycling need to be my primary focus and where most of my energy needs to be exerted. The main reason to do P90X now is to maintain the muscle and core strength that I have gained. Now once the Tri is done I more than likely will start another full round of P90X.

Thanks for Reading and let me know what you think of the new layout and if the calendar is easy to use!

Jeff