A Week in the Life

Building strength and building endurance are the keys to my training right now. I have been using The Triathlete's Training Bible to help me organize my workouts and schedule based around the races I would like to peak for. Recently I have read a lot about using longer training periods such as 10, 14, or 20-day training periods instead of the commonly used 7-day training period. I considered adjusting my schedule to a longer format but decided that in the spirit of consistency I would stick with the 1week plan. I have been on a "1 week plan" ever since I started playing college soccer so I have grown quite accustomed to it.

I keep my training log on my computer in an excel document and I am also trying to become comfortable using trainingpeaks.com. The nice thing about the 1 week plan with similar workouts based on the day is that it makes tracking progress and improvements pretty easy. I can also see how much I have added from one week the to next or if my performance is deteriorating. I had some issues inserting the piece of the training log, so it is not the best quality but I'll work on the technique.

What type of training plan do you use? Do you use a base, build, and peak method or do you train spontaneously?

As I have decided to compete in my first 1/2 Ironman this Fall training on the bike will become a much larger part of my weekly training plan as the weather gets nicer. I have never cycled farther than about 32 miles so 56 miles will definitely be a new adventure for me. In the past I have worried most about being able to keep a decent pace on the swim distance, but as the swim distance of a 1/2 IM isn't too much farther than Olympic Distance the focus must switch to the bike and the run as well.

I am also toying with the idea of tackling a new distance on the run this fall - the marathon! I have until mid February to make a decision on this as the marathon I would complete is the Marine Corps Marathon on October 30. Have you completed a marathon? What was your first marathon?