The Vision: To develop and execute a plan that will reasonably prepare me to complete an Iron distance triathlon and which will not adversely affect my role as a father, husband, and breadwinner.

The Plan: A 20-week, no frills, no fluff, schedule that generally prescribes one training session of one discipline each day. Weekly training volume steadily builds over the 20-weeks with a “step-back” every fourth week and a taper the last 2-weeks. Training sessions vary in length each day - the average session for the 140-day schedule is 90-minutes…

The Rules:
1.) Morning workouts only – Complete daily sessions early and spend the balance of the day focused on family and work.
2.) Involve the family – Try and share this special experience in both words and actions – anyone up for a run?
3.) Document the journey – There is only one first time. Pictures, thoughts, feelings – 20-years from now I am going to want to remember it all.
4.) Monitor weight/energy daily – Listen to my body and respond – More food? More rest? Total stud?
5.) Snack between meals – Eat Santa, eat. More frequent and smaller meals are the key.
6.) Master workout nutrition – Get it figured out during training. Nobody wants another Poopman.
7.) Missed workouts are missed workouts – At some point in the 140-day schedule, a workout will get missed. Let it go. Don’t even try to make it up. Move on.
8.) Maintain strength – Shoulders, chest, and lats… let us not be strangers. My swim will thank me.
9.) Train with heart rate – Dare to slow down. Burn the right energy source. Enduring depends on it.
10.) Train with joy. Race with joy – This is really the whole point. This adventure is supposed to be fun. Don’t get so bogged down in the details that the fun is lost!



Thursday, April 3, 2014

*Base Build - 21*

Today I worked from home and snuck over to the Y at lunch.  Over my Florida vacation I had a lot of time to think (38-hours driving).  A considerable chunk of time was spent thinking about my upcoming Ironman.  In a nutshell, I am fairly scared, and in particular I am afraid of the swim (and the run and a little of the bike).  My response to this fear was the decision to ramp up my swim distances sooner than my current schedule calls for.  I also decided to cut down on the intervals and incorporate more long, straight swims to the mix.  I don't want to just be ramped up to the race distance come race time, I want to have many, comfortable, race distance swims under my belt by then - a pretty reasonable desire I would say.

So... today I swam a straight 2000-yards.  The first 400-yards were swum bilaterally and the last mile was swum breathing only to the right and with a faster turnover rate (less glide).  It went quite well - I felt solid swimming it and although tired when finished, I wasn't exhausted and my form was still decent.  Good boy.

After the swim I ran 5-miles on the dreadmill at an easy pace.  Meh.
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