Great to see you, where have you been?

Ok, since no one really reads this, there is no one for me to see. But still, it's been a very long time since I've posted anything. Mainly because since my last post in December, my workouts have been anything but exciting, consisting mostly of some kind of base building, with the occasional speed or power session thrown in for variation. That's pretty much all I would have been writing about, so I just let it be for a while. Recently I had my first race of the season... just a 5k, but it certainly got me looking forward to the start of triathlon season. I plan on doing a mini race report for the 5k in a separate post, so I won't divulge any details here. Oh, yeah... you're on the edge or your seat. Training-wise, I'm currently doing eight sessions per week (up from 6 sessions during the winter) -- 2 swim, 3 bike, 3 run. The swims consist of a lot of drill sets and base intervals, with a few sprints in there, too. I'm working on breathing on each side (bilateral breathing? Is that what it's called?), and I stink at it. Not much to add, other than my confidence has increased in the water, but I continue to be a very slow swimmer. It kind of bums me out, actually. Three bike rides a week, all on the trainer so far. I've replaced some base building rides with other stuff... sometimes power intervals, sometimes speed intervals. I'm gradually bringing in some brick workouts, too. Three runs a week -- one speed, one tempo, one long. I try to do all my long runs outside, but with winter refusing to fully go away, sometimes I'm relegated to the treadmill. I don't mind it for speed intervals or tempo runs, but if it's a long run, after an hour on the treadmill I find it very difficult to maintain focus and boredom creeps in. I don't experience the same problem while running outside, thankfully. It seems to be a weakness of mine -- not sure how to fix it, other than with more practice. I've actually decreased the bike intensity just a little. The logic being that it will help with recovery and let me focus a little more on my running workouts... I have my first half marathon coming up and would like to do well. All this stuff is just preliminary, anyway. My "real" training will start at the beginning of May, a 20-week deal with the number of sessions per week being nudged up to 9. My big race this year is the Muskoka 70.3 in September -- my first half ironman -- so I'm looking forward to getting into the structure of the program, with a specific focus and goal instead of "getting fit for some short races this summer." That's it for now... 5k race report coming soon!