rules of thumb and good habits

As I showered at work today after my ride in, I was contemplating how many hours I'll have in by the weekend, how many run miles, how many bike miles, etc.

When I got to my desk, I drank my recoverite and made my bowl of oatmeal and started my day.

These are among the many things that help me get through the Ironman training and I thought it would be a good blog. I'll try to update this one as I think of things, but here are a few things to get started...

Rules of thumb
- Get 60% of your hours of training in before the weekend (ex. if you're scheduled to do 20 hours that week, you should try to have 12 hours in before the weekend hits)
- Get at least half of your bike and run miles in before the weekend
- Home by 6 for family dinner
- Build volume and strength for at least 6 weeks before adding speed and intensity
- Sleep 10 minutes extra each night for each 2 hours of training each day (I fail at this one miserably)
- Don't use the same muscle group more than 3 days in a row (2 days is better) - for me, I have a hard time biking three days in a row, but no problem running three days in a row - I still don't know what my limits are for swimming
- Work opposing muscles at least 2-3 times a week - especially hamstrings
- Weight train at least once a week - or more often, rotating muscle groups

Good Habits
- Alternate between water only and a sports drink during early morning training (water only teaches the body to efficiently use stores - too much of water only training will wear you down)
- I bring in 2 bananas to work everyday and I have instant oatmeal , raisins and walnuts sitting on a shelf at work. I eat this almost everyday for breakfast.
- I have a big container of recoverite at work and take it after every run or bike.