The little engine that could!

My second workout of the day today was a 10k run up 4th Avenue hill towards UBC hill. My usual flat route out along Spanish Banks was a no-go because it had started to rain pretty hard and the wind was picking up - the path along Spanish Banks is really exposed and would have been pretty miserable. So instead, I chose a more sheltered, but hillier route that included the 1k climb up along 4th Avenue...bear in mind this was supposed to be a relatively "easy" run. :)

Whilst running up the hill, for some particular reason, I recalled the children's book "The Little Engine That Could" and its motivational mantra "I think I can, I think I can". I couldn't get it out of my head! By the time I reached the crest of the hill, I was actually giggling as I pictured myself as the little blue steam engine bravely puffing up the hill. "I thought I could, I thought I could!"

Not a bad mantra at all....for a single training run, a cumulative goal to finish Ironman and even life in general!

Recovery week over. Sigh.

Exactly a month away from January's half marathon, I've now completed a full four week training cycle - three weeks of build, followed by a "recovery" week of volume decrease. Best of all, I'm happy to report that I survived this first cycle of periodization with no major training hiccups and no significant deviations from my planned schedule.

My peak week of the cycle, starting Feb 1, was 12 hours of training and was still about building base and volume. Remarkably, by the end of it, I felt tired but in that *good* tired way. :)

Forcing myself to log workouts makes me diligent and less apt to skip out. I also really like how each workout is focused on a particular skill or goal - drills, tempo, cadence, etc. It is not about logging the time or just dialing it in - each workout is an accomplishment in and of itself, and I feel so motivated to put the effort in.

Lessons learned and observations this month:

• Cinnamon hearts do not make good pre-run fuel.
• For every hour riding in the rain, you will spend an hour cleaning and maintaining your ride...this pain of this maintenance time is roughly equivalent to the suffering of enduring an indoor workout on the bike trainer. I'm not sure which is the lesser of the two evils.
• I am the only person capable of getting bike grease all over her face while changing a flat. Could be a new spa trend.
• Fenders are attached to your frame. :)
• Wide tracks reduce stroke count.
• Running up SFU hill is bloody painful. I will never, ever complain again about UBC hill....comparatively it is a bunny slope.
• My new yellow lenses for my Oakleys ROCK. There will always be sunshine in my world with those things on!!
• HATE how workout log starts its training weeks on Mondays and has no functionality to change the start day. I know this is just a mental block...but hate it.

I have roughly 10 hours ahead of me this week.....looking forward to it!

R.