Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Never enough training?

Here's my tally (such as it is) for the entire 6 months prior to Eagleman on June 12th - including everything - holidays, tapers, race recoveries, prep races (but not including Eagleman itself), so-called "heavy" weeks, etc. These sums, of course, may tell the tale to my (probably horrified) readers:

  • Swimming: 23 workouts in 26 weeks, averaging 1170 yards/workout (max 2133 yards)
  • Cycling: 41 workouts in 26 weeks, averaging 7.8 miles/workout (max 30 miles)
  • Running: 62 workouts in 26 weeks, average 4.4 miles/workout (max 16 miles)
My average week: 4.8 workouts total
Swim 0.9 times for 1035 yards per week
Bike 1.6 times for 12.4 miles per week
Run 2.4 times for 10.5 miles per week

Of course now, sitting in front of my computer and not actually exercising, I think I can do better than that with a more structured approach. I'm not certain that I'll actually do more workout days per week, but I can see about doing more bricks and longer workouts per session. And oh yeah: I need consistency, consistency, consistency. I haven't kept track of actual workout durations; perhaps I should start logging that. This retrospective look serves as a benchmark and helps me to figure out what will be realistic to expect in the next step.

Does anyone have any similar totals to compare over 6 months or more, leading up to their last big event? I know these are a lot lower than they should be, and only a small fraction of optimal triathlon training, but like everyone, I need to be realistic about balancing the training time with some other demands and priorities in my life when I set my competition goals and plan the next few months.

3 comments:

Dr. Iron TriFeist :) said...

You've said the magic word. Not Abracadabra. Consistency. It's like the Holy Grail or something. Why is that? :-) Given that I've pared down a couple of training plans to make my half IM program, I can't say anything about training volume. However, your race report is reflected in your totals: very tough swim, adequate bike, solid (if tough) run.

Does that help?

tri-mama said...

I think what you did in your 1/2 iron rocked! Here's my question; in retrospect do you think you bit off more than you could chew? I'm asking because I'm having a difficult time setting my mid term goals for this season-I'm all sprints this year, with an olympic as the last one and my first Marathon in Oct. Do you like that you pushed yourself for that long a distance at this point in training?

Nancy Toby said...

Tri-mama, that's a really good question, and probably merits a post all to itself. Maybe now I've recovered enough to reflect on the experience I can think about that.