Sunday, April 15, 2018

Keeping my Training Compass Focused on the Journey

It’s April - my June Sprint tri (my second tri -- ever) is 2 months away from tomorrow. Tri training just got real. For whatever reason, even after doing one sprint triathlon, or any distance of triathlon still seems overwhelming - not the run, not the bike, but that swim, and the combination of the three sports?

My goal for the 2018 Callaway Sprint Tri is to match or beat last year’s time for each part of the tri. Here are my splits from the 2017 Callaway Sprint Tri:

Swim (400m)
11:29
Bike (9 miles)
37:32
Run (2 miles)
24:31
Total Time
1:20:37

Week 1 Triathlon Training:

My first week plan featured one bike ride of 65 minutes and one 30 minute swim. The workouts for Week 1 did not go as planned:


Plan (Time)
Actual (Time)
Distance
Bike
65 minutes
34:12
6.68 miles plus 35 minute walk
Swim
30 minutes
29:20
600 yards
Run
3 X OTF
5 days X OTF


For the week 1 bike ride, my friend and I had decided to do our bike ride right after our OrangeTheory Fitness (OTF) class.  I stack workouts like this often and not had an issue.  About 15 minutes into the Week 1 ride, my allergies and breathing got the best of me. In Georgia, in April, pollen counts for trees and grass are somewhere in the 3,000 - 5,000 range. I had to turn around 5K into the ride and finished the week 1 bike ride with 10K and 35 minutes  I had hoped, and planned for double that time and distance, at least.

As for the Week 1 swim, I tried to focus on just getting comfortable in the water once again -- swimming is not, nor ever been something I feel confident. 600 yards is the distance I ended with - not great but it is what it is.



Week 2 Triathlon Training

The plan for week 2 only increased the bike workout time by 5 minutes and only had 1 swim workout planned.


Plan (Time)
Actual (Time)
Distance
Bike
70 minutes
1:15:33
17.8 miles
Swim
30 minutes
29:29
700 yards
Run
3 X OTF
6 days X OTF

I just finished week #2 and happy to say training did not make me feel overwhelmed like week #1 did. The bike ride felt great and happy to report I came out at 14.1 mph -- so much better than last week.  We also did a 10 minute run immediately after this ride to complete our first brick workout -- this part was pretty horrible but it got done. Week #3 will increase the duration of the bike to 80 minutes and follow with a 10 minute run.

The swim for week #2 was so much better than the week before - I believe I am starting to relax in the pool and was able to increase my distance to 700 yards this week - in the same amount of time as last week.  Week #3 will see an increase of 1 swim this week for a total of 2. I have a lot of work to do with the swim.

Running this week went well - I am doing my running workouts at OrangeTheory Fitness as part of my 60 minute class.  I am also completing the OrangeTheory UltraMarathon challenge to complete 31.1 miles of running distance in the month of April - this is helping keep me accountable to get the distance in.  Week #3 will have a decrease in the number of running days from 6 to 4 but I have a 5K race next Saturday.  I am hoping to finish the 5K in under 30 minutes!

I have been amazed though at how hungry I have been with these increased workouts - definitely going to have to keep a handle on the food monster waiting to tempt me at every turn.

The highlight of this training week though was getting to run a couple of miles at a group run and then hear Scott Jurek, a runner who broke the record for the fastest through hike on the Appalachian Trail in 2015, talk about his experiences and his new novel, North.  Scott is an inspiration, gave lots of great insights, and reminded me to take on new adventures when I am feeling burnt out or lacking passion for what I am doing.  Jurek motivated me to keep my tri training compass focused on the journey 



Stay tuned for week #3 and 5K race updates.  Thanks for joining me as I grow and learn through my tri training.