Training Plan

I've learned a lot about training in the past five years since my 'friends' coaxed me into my first marathon. I've studied the "Triathlete's training Bible" and refer to it regularly to further refine my approach. I also read Runnersworld and Triathlete Magazine each month, looking for better approaches. Active.com sends me e-mail with even more information.

In the end, I try to keep it simple and flexible. I have way too many committments to lock myself into a rigid plan. So, I start out with a base, add to it for three weeks, and take it easy on the fourth week. Sometimes, if i feel really worn out, I take my rest week a week early.

I have a few races before Hawaii. My next race is a 'sprint' adventure race in April, then Philly Broadstreet 10 mile run in May, an Olympic distance Philly race in June, Musselman 1/2 Ironman in NY in July. I try to train through most of these races with little taper and limited rest afterward (except for Musselman). I hope to jump into a few other races throughout the year, but have not made commitments to them yet.

So next week I expect to get in 3 bike rides, 3-4 runs, 3 swims, and some weight training.

Bike plan for the week:
Given that my adventure race is coming up, at least one of my bike rides will have to be somewhat technical Mountain Bike (MTB) or I risk injury or delays durin the race. My other 2 bike rides will be endurance (60 miles) and strength (15x90secs with 1min rest) on the trainer. While I was hoping to begin riding into work this week, I'm going to hold off because of my cold and the weather sucks.

Run plan for the week:
I need to do speedwork because I have a 5K coming up (I almost forgot about that) and then Broadstreet next month, so I'll either do a ladder starting with 200 and incrementing 200 until I reach a mile, or I'll do lots of 400s (no more than 20). Last week when visiting Uof Oregon, I ran 8x800 on Hayward field at about 2:50pace for each. Not great, but not bad for this early in the season. I'll run trails at lunch a couple of days, hitting the hills hard one day for strength, then I'll do a longish run of 13-15 miles on the weekend. This will be tough if I ride 60 on Saturday.

Swim plan for the week:
I'm not ready to swim with the Masters yet, since I haven't swum much at all this year. But I need to get started, so I'll get out at least twice this week after work and once on the weekend. I need to focus on Technique for most of each session, but will start with 4x25, followed by 4x50 as the main set on the first day. On the next swim day, I'll jump to 4x50 free, and 4x75 free/stroke/free. On the weekend, I'll do a main set of a ladder of 25/50/100/200/200/100/50/25 - focus will not be on speed, but on holding technique as long as I can.

Weight training / Isometrics:
I'll train in the basement up to 4 nights, focusing on a different muscle group each evening.

Eliptical:
I will do an eliptical / jump rope session one night to replace a run strenght workout.

Sleep:
This is the most important part of my training plan since this is where I actually build strength. I will get at least 8 hours of sleep each day. On weekends after a long run or ride, I will take a short nap as well. Believe it or not, sleep is my most challenging workout in terms of finding time, falling asleep and staying asleep!

Bricks:
I'll start of slowly on my Brick workouts. After my indoor bike workout, I'll jump on treadmill and run 1-2 miles. I'll schedule my Saturday swim so that I can bike afterward. This will be difficult as the Masters meet first thing on Saturday - hopefully there will be an open lane.

So that's it for this week. The following weeks will be like this one. I expect to train 10 hours this week, 12 hours the next week and 13.5 hours after that. I stopped my training log after the flood, and have kept a mental journal of ours, so I should be ok.

One caveat is that I will be going to SC for Erika's Parents weekend which will make that week very difficult to get the training in. They do have a world class gym, but I won't be able to bike much that weekend and will have to be flexible.