Goal: Break 5:00 at Oceanside 70.3

Limiter: Running speed, bike positioning, time available to train in the next two weeks
Objectives: Run comfortably for 2 hours at an 8:30/mile by March 17
Have all workouts scheduled in advance and stick to them
Get bike position analysis completed with Mike K. in early Feb

Clearly, I have many more goals for the year. However, The Triathlete's Training Bible is a voluminous book with a lot of very rich information. You could (and probably should) spend hours just pouring over the information and soaking it all in without writing a single thing. To think about all the different goals I could set for myself, all of the different limiters I have and how to create objectives from those (on TOP OF the training schedule) is a bit overwhelming.

So, I did what I do best when I'm a little overwhelmed: bite off a little at a time. Let's start with the looming task at hand: Oceanside 70.3. Must be really ready for that. I'm just glad I got my act together now (somehow the end of March seems so far away, but when you add it up in training weeks...IT'S ONLY 11 WEEKS AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

Paul's comment saying he looks forward to my goals definitely helped motivate, in addition to the fact that I wrote it down saying I would...so...I had to, right?

I just was reminded as I went through the book again how valuable that information truly is and why doing it for Big Kahuna really did make a difference in my race performance. I've got the kind of personality where if I have something to stick to, I'll stick to it. Otherwise it's far too easy to just 'work out' with no real training element to it.

Week	Date	Race	Period	Hours
1	1/14		Base 3	11
2	1/21		Base 3	13
3	1/28		Base 3	8
4	2/4		Build 1	12.5
5	2/11		Build 1	12.5
6	2/18	Sprint Tri (Davis)	Build 1	8
7	2/25		Build 2	12
8	3/3		Build 2	12
9	3/10		Build 2	10
10	3/17		Peak	9
11	3/24	Half-IM (Oceanside)	Race	8

My first thought would be "What's wrong with this picture?" The answer is that I've only got 2 weeks of aggressive hours followed by one week of less hours as opposed to the usual 3 weeks on/1 week off. However, I don't really have time to follow that model and I actually think that given what my weekly hours have been for the last 2 months (about 5-7 hours), this will work out just fine (i.e. my body is going to be shocked by bumping it up to 11 hours). I also know that I've stayed fairly strong in the last couple months. What I will really need to work on is my long weekend rides and runs, which the move will definitely help with.

In any case, going on that table allowed me to break down this week to the following schedule:

Monday: (0:30) Recovery day
Swim

Tuesday: (1.5 hours) High intensity, Med duration run; Low intensity/duration bike
Bad me!! I overslept this morning! Only got a 40 minute, high intensity med duration run in.

Wednesday: (2 hours): High intensity, Med duration bike (yay for spinning); Med duration/ low intensity run

Thursday: (1.5 hrs): Low intensity/duration swim/bike

Friday: (2 hrs): High intensity/duration swim, Low intensity bike

Weekend: (4 hrs) Long duration/med intensity bike and run

So far, doing okay but no more oversleeping! I must say though...when I have it outlined like this and planned out for WHEN I'm going it, it really helps me to stay on track.

Here's hoping for the rest of the week...;)

This picture was sent to my by my friend Ivy and her husband who were back in Sri Lanka for 5 weeks. It's just the sweetest picture and makes me smile every time I see it. Reminds me to relax and enjoy the good life in the midst of all of this hard work, too.