Off Season Training Plan

Here are my thoughts for my swimming, biking, running, and strength work for the next few months:

• SWIM:

After just a few short swims in September, I'm trying to start to swim more. Again. This is like my mantra every fall. "This fall/winter, I'm going to swim more." I actually did it this past winter, so lets see if I can keep it up this winter.

I posed a question in a BeginnerTriathlete forum a few days ago as to what the "best" swim workouts would be for someone just swimming once or twice a week. I got some interesting responses (I'll share some of their thoughts in a week or 2), and I tried one this past week. Someone suggested 6x400 doing the first 100 of each interval at 85%, the next 100 at 90%, the 3rd 100 at 95%, and the final 100 at "puke pace." I tried a shorter version of just 4x400. They felt good, but nasty. (Like a good swim should.) I swam 6:15, 6:15, 6:15, and 6:13.

And just last week, I did a 1500 tempo as my "baseline" check-in for the start of winter. I was hoping to keep it under 25:00 - my last few 1500s were just under or just over 25. I was pretty happy with my 24:48 (1:39.2/100)..... until I looked farther back in my training calendar. Sure, it WAS my fastest 1500 since June, but I swam a 23:27 (1:33.8/100) in early April before I sprained my ankle! That's almost 90 seconds faster, and 5.4 seconds faster / 100. Yikes. I've lost a lot.

GOAL: I'd like to work on a lot of fast, hard swims this winter, and I'll see if I can get that 1500 time down to around 24 flat. I'd love to drop back into the 23s. We'll see.


• BIKE:

I haven't even looked at my bike since the Treadman Duathlon on September 20th. I'm OK with that.

GOAL: I didn't hit my bike trainer at ALL last year, and I'd like to get in a few trainer rides this winter. Lets shoot for the moon and say 2 rides / month. I know, I know... CRAZY! Right? Me and my over-the-top dreams.


• RUN:

I was ready to go out for a "harder" mid-distance run on this past Wednesday morning. (My hip/sacrum has been feeling a little better since the TC Loony Challenge and then the ALS Superhero Dash 5K the next weekend.) Then I realized I'm not really training for anything right now. And I also remembered how I didn't do ANY hard runs between September of 2013 and my first tri of this summer (the 2014 Waseca Tri), and I finished that run as my slowest of 4 attempts at that tri, but within 20 seconds of 2 of my races there. So if that hard training aggravates my hip/sacrum right now, is it really worth it? Especially when I'm not training for anything in particular? So I'm sort of going into "base" mode - easy to moderate runs, nothing too crazy long.

GOAL: I hope to put in some miles, but no real intense training until I have an event on the horizon. I need to be smart here. No injuries.


• STRENGTH:

After a year of solid physical therapy exercises, I slowly started doing less as I was able to start running more. But after the "Loony Challenge" nearly a month ago, I've started doing more again. I need to keep that up to stay healthy!

GOAL: "Blast that ass." Don't give up on your old physical therapy leg exercises.


p.s. Here's my brave knight and my plump monkey from last night:

Have a good weekend!