I have some random musings about my training. It'll likely bore the hell out of you, but at least I feel better about writing it down....because it shows that I CAN LEARN from past mistakes or....even not mistakes but just areas where I can be better.
As you might recall, I'm training for a half iron PR in Sept and a half mary PR in Oct.
Here's what I've learned:
1.) As much as I like to believe I can swim 3 times per week and improve, it doesn't work for me. I've worked with many plans over the years and typically make the adjustments that I need for them to work for me. One adjustment that I've never made until this year is 4x per week swim with one of those being muscle memory 15 minutes easy swimming after my long ride. I've found that this has had a huge positive impact on my swimming overall.
2.) The next change has to do with cycling. What have I done this year? EVERYTHING possible. And yea, this is a change for me. I know I've been a slacker on the bike in previous years. This year I've found that if I focus less on how fast I'm going and more on each individual workout, I have greater success. A 4 or 5 hour ride IS a 4 or 5 hour ride. A 1:30 tempo IS a 1:30 tempo. An easy ride focusing on cadence is exactly that. The pressure to "go fast" is "out". The importance of doing it "right" is the new black.
3.) Running....oh boy....here it is.....after running for as long as I have, you'd think this would be a slam dunk. But Noooooooooo. Like swimming, 3 days a week of running isn't good for me. Even 3 good QUALITY running days. Four days however, on some weeks, can be too much. Instead of doing one long run on weekends and two 3 milers during the week, I've added in a mid-week mid length longish run with accelerations or tempo running. Without adding an extra day of running but adding a harder workout has made me feel alot better and stronger.
So there ya have it!
I'm sure you were all wondering exactly how I was doing.....I mean, that IS how you spend your free time, right?
