October Teaching Schedule

Posted on October 1, 2014 by kmichaud87

Hello! It’s been awhile. I’ll have a full update in the very near future about my absence here, but two words sum it up…. hip injury.

I’ve been teaching a lot of fitness classes over the summer and will be picking up a few more this fall. If you’re local in the Greater Portland (Maine) area then come check out one of my classes! I’ve discovered that I really love teaching fitness classes!

Also, if you’re interested in either personal training or endurance sport coaching then contact me! I have a few spots left on my coaching roster for 2015 so contact me if you’re interested in coaching. My prices will be going up in 2015 so lock in now! 🙂

Training Recap: March 3rd – March 9th

Posted on March 12, 2014 by kmichaud87

Base Training Week 10

Training is going well. Last week was a good week, but a little off due to last-minute teaching schedule change and my birthday.

Monday –

I ran an easy 3+ miles at lunch and was packed and ready for a swim after work. I got a call at 4:30 from the Bay Club fitness manager to sub the 6pm class, which I did. So, my swim turned into a spin class.

Tuesday –

I taught my usual spin class at Zone 3 Fitness. I was supposed to do a fartlek run during my lunch break, but I got caught up in meetings at work and thus moved the run to Thursday instead.

Reagan on our walk this weekend

Wednesday –

Wednesday was a busy work day that left me in meetings late in Augusta. I was planning to swim at the Y and then attend a Junior League meeting, but I didn’t get back to Portland until later than expected. I was exhausted and just wasn’t feeling the swim. I opted instead to ride my trainer. I had a solid ride playing with single-leg drills and various power zones. Workout is below. I also finished up with some core/hip work.

WU: 10 min – build to Z2 HR

MS: 3x15min

Isolated leg set – (R: 0:45@60+rpm/0:15@90rpm both legs clipped in, repeat w/L leg) x2 1min relaxed pedaling both legs

4min@ 95-100rpm, aero, mod. pace

3min@ 95-100rpm, tempo pace

1min@ 95-100rpm, hard pace

2min@ easy spin

Repeat entire 15 min set, 2 more times

CD: 5min easy spin

Thursday –

Thursday was a big training day. Lunch was a 45-minute fartlek run. It was fun to add a little speed work into my run workouts again. I’ve been running so slow after returning from injury that it has been frustrating, but I’m beginning to see my pace become speedier and hopefully it will return back to my peak running fitness in 2012. After work was a 2800 yard swim at the Y. The workout was a mix of endurance and speed work. I felt a bit off, but was still able to hit my T-pace. After my swim workout, I had about 20 minutes to grab a quick light dinner before my pilates class that succeed to kick my butt.

Friday –

I woke up super sore from the day before, mainly the pilates class! We didn’t have pilates class for 3 weeks because of vacations and snow storms so it was a bit of a rough transition back. I decided against my 30-minute recovery run at lunch and just hit up my hot yoga class after work.

Saturday –

I taught another class at the Bay Club and got to see one of my friends who just had a baby whom I haven’t seen in a while. It was a fun surprise! It was also my birthday so I kept things easy today. I took Reagan for a walk in the afternoon because it was a beautiful Spring-like day.

Tired furball after our walk

Sunday –

I was supposed to do a 90-minute ride with a short t-run, but I was a little hung over from the two classes of wine I had the night before at my birthday dinner. Yup, I’m such a light weight! I did complete an easy 45-minute spin on the trainer though, which felt good.

This week is already off to a good start, but I might have to adjust a few workouts due to the incoming winter storm dropping snow/ice/sleet/rain, etc. I’m so ready for Spring!

Training Hours:

Swim: 0:50 (2800 yards)

Bike: 4:15

Run: 2:23

Strength/Yoga: 2:25

Total: 9:44

~ Happy Training!

Weekly Training Recap: Feb. 24 – March 2

Posted on March 4, 2014 by kmichaud87

Now that my training has begun to pick up in both volume and intensity as my race season gets closer, I’ve decided to do a weekly recap of my training. As I have mentioned a few times before, I made the decision this year to coach myself for two main reasons: a) to save money, and b) to try new training techniques and workouts on myself before having my athletes utilize them in their own training plans. I get several questions a week on what I do during my workouts so this will act as a platform to share some of my favorite workouts.

This past week was a rest week and thus my training hours were lower than normal.

Monday – 2/24

Monday was a 45 minute recovery spin and 15 minutes of hip/core focused exercises. Because of my chronic hip issues I have made it a priority to complete core/hip focused exercises several times a week to hopefully prevent any relapses of my IT-band/knee issues that plagued me last year during Ironman training.

Tuesday – 2/25

Tuesday was a 4 mile run during lunch and I taught my spin & core class at Zone 3 Fitness. My run was initially supposed to be an easy 35-minute run, but I felt good and just wanted to keep running. Thus, my run turned into a 4-mile negative split run. I completed my first sub-10 min/mile since pre-hip injury Fall running! I’ve been very frustrated lately with my running fitness, or lack thereof, but I know with more time on the pavement my fitness and speed will return. It has already begun too, just slowly.

Wednesday – 2/26

On Wednesday I completed my dreaded FTP test. Yuck! However, the results weren’t half bad. I first conducted a FTP in 2012 during Sustainable Athlete’s Friday Night Fights, a series of computrainer races. I was on my road bike at the time and averaged about 180-185watts, which my coach used as my FTP for the 2012 season. We never retested during the season, but I know my threshold increased towards August because I was able to hold a higher HIM race pace than earlier in the season. Last year I conducted my FTP on my tri bike on my trainer in my living room. I had taken the entire previous Fall off with plantar fasciitis and thus had a horrible FTP number. I clocked in at a measly 143watts. Of course, training for an Ironman didn’t help with increasing my FTP over my race season. This year I clocked in at 163watts. It’s still not good, but an improvement over this year. I think if I had done a computrainer race this year, I probably would have checked in at a higher FTP, but I’m going to use this value as my starting point. I’m just happy that I am trending in the right direction – up!

The Y Pool

Thursday – 2/27

Thursday was a 3000 yard swim at the YMCA. February was a good month for swimming and my swimming volume is picking up in the coming weeks. I swam once in November since my Ironman in July and that swim was a complete disaster. I really thought I was going to drown at the time. However, my return to swimming this past month has been nothing but awesome. The workout was focused on muscular endurance and I exceed my t-pace by close to 10seconds. I’ve also finally decided to flipturn my swim workouts. More on that in my monthly recap…

Muscle Endurance Swim Workout:

W/U: 100sw, 300 (100K, 100drill, 100sw), 6×50 build (:15RI)

MS: 8×100 @ T-pace (:15RI)

300 pull

4×100 @ T-pace (:10RI)

300 pull

4×100 @ T-pace (:15RI)

C/D: 100

Friday – 2/28

Friday was an easy 3.5 mile run during lunch and an after-work hot yoga class. My average run pace is slowly returning back towards my normal long run pace, but my heart rate continues to be slightly higher than normal, i.e. fitness isn’t quite there yet. I haven’t been to yoga in a few weeks and this class was just want I needed. A perfect balance of twisting and hip openers.

Saturday – 3/1

On Saturday I taught another spin class at Zone 3 Fitness. I was supposed to hit up the pool for my second swim of the week but due to running errands I missed the open lap swim times. I have since printed off the pool schedule to carry around in my purse for future reference.

Zone 3 Fitness circuit training area

Sunday – 3/2

Sunday was a relaxing rest day.

The first two weeks of my March training plan begins the pickup of more volume, especially with running. I was originally planning on running the Race the Runways Half-marathon in April, but I think I’m going to skip it this year and continue to work on building my base. My first registered race is the PolarBear Sprint Tri in early May.

Hours Completed

Total: 7:07

Swim: 1:00

Bike: 3:19

Run: 1:21

Strength/Core/Yoga: 1:35

~ Happy Training!

Monthly Training Recap: January

Posted on February 6, 2014 by kmichaud87

Hello bike trainer!

The first month of 2014 is already done! Whew… time does fly. January 1at marked the official beginning on my Annual Training Plan (ATP), although I really began base training in December. As I mentioned in a few of my posts, I decided to coach myself this year. I decided this for two main reasons: 1) I want to save some money, and 2) I wanted to try new training methods on myself before I “prescribe” them for my athletes. One of the biggest rules of personal training… never have a client do an exercise that you have not tried yourself.

So far things are going well. I had a decent start, but have missed some workouts due to weather and making changes to my schedule because of my teaching schedule. Let’s recap each sport:

SWIM

I only swam once in January. Not a good start in this department! I get a corporate discount to my local YMCA through work and thus decided to wait to begin swimming until my membership at the Y began. My application got held up a bit in the office and thus my membership began two weeks later than I had hoped for. Yes, I could have swum at other pools but I didn’t want to pay the $3-$5 pool fee each time I went. My first swim went well though! I swam once in November since IMLP and that swim was a complete disaster. I really thought I was going to drown; it was that bad. However, I was completely fine and was hitting about 5 seconds slower than my normal 100 yard pace.

BIKE

I spent A LOT of time on my bike and also a spin bike. I taught four spin classes in January and will be teaching at least 7 in February. I include these workouts in my training plan because I am participating in class on a bike. However, I do prioritize my own bike workouts outside of spin class. I generally aim for 3 rides a week, but sometimes only get 2 in depending on Junior League meeting schedules. My main triathlon goal this year is to rebuild my power on the bike and I believe that I am on the right path to do so. I was supposed to complete my first Functional Threshold Power (FTP) test this past Wednesday, but I wasn’t feeling well and thus have decided to postpone it until next week. I have been training on the bike based on HR and feel for the past two months while I regained some cardiovascular fitness and now I plan to transition to power-based training.

RUN

This winter has plain sucked for running! I’ve discussed this numerous times with my Chiropractor as she is training for the Boston Marathon in April. Since I am recovering from yet another hip issue, I decided to be smart about my run training. If the roads are icy and it’s super cold out, then I hit my bike trainer instead. I have gotten in a few quality short runs. I haven’t been cleared for running more than 5 miles at a time, so I’ve been focusing on taking it easy and just running in my endurance zone. My pace is extremely slow! Like 11-12 minute miles! Back in my peak running shape in 2012, I was running in my endurance zone at a 8:45-9:20/mile pace. Urgh! Patience my dear!

STRENGTH TRAINING

I’ve been strength training like a boss! This is the area that I have really excelled in lately, which is good for me because I miss strength training and my hip needs the strength gains. Since I began teaching at Zone 3 Fitness, I have access to all their classes, which are awesome! If you live in the Greater Portland (Maine) region then I highly recommend you check them out. There is a free Seven Day pass on their website HERE!

The Base Training phase is a perfect time to focus on one’s weaknesses within the sport of triathlon.

Goals for February:

Swim 2-3x a week – My goal is to swim at least once or twice a week during my lunch break if my schedule allows and once or twice a week in the evenings or the weekend. If I can swim a 4^th day that would be awesome. My focus is mainly to get comfortable again in the water.
Run at least 3x a week and build up my mileage – My main goal here is to do it injury free and thus I need to be careful with building my miles up slowly. My body has already built some leg strength again running, so I know it will come with time. I want to build a solid base here and thus must embrace the idea of slow and steady!
Continue with strength training – My body adapts quickly and well to strength training. I find that my body loses weight more quickly when I strength train on a regular schedule and therefore I will include it in my schedule at least twice a week with added specific hip and core focused work as well.
Train with power on the bike – After my FTP test I will train using my power zones on the bike to increase my FTP and my bike fitness.