My Current Olympic Triathlon Training

Yeah, it's not great overall. Here's where I'm at:


SWIM: Not great.

I'm just over 10,000 yards FOR THE YEAR!! In 2010 (the year of my 2:15 Oly PR, I'd swam over 50,000 yards at this point in the year (which still ISN'T a lot for many people). And I still haven't had an OWS this year yet. Dang.


BIKE: Also not great. But still half-way decent (for me).

I hit the trainer a decent amount last year, and I didn't do well with that over this past winter. In 2011, I'd biked about 200 miles outside at this point. This year, I'm at 208 miles, so that's comparable. (I had a good March this year.)

Sunday, after Pharmie's triathlon, she watched Henry for a few hours and I went for a long ride. I did a big loop that I knew would be about 32 miles. I threw in three 10 minute intervals (with about 10 minutes of moderate riding between) near the middle of the ride. I picked some challenging areas to do my intervals, so I knew my interval splits wouldn't be the best. My 10:00 intervals averaged 18.7 mph, 21.0 mph, and 19.3 mph. So not super. I finished the ride with an 18.5 mph average.

I'm worried about my speed over a 24.8 mile Oly ride. (Especially one that starts with such a crazy climb!) We'll see what happens in 3 weeks. I'm afraid it won't be pretty.


RUN: Pretty damn stellar. I'm running pretty injury-free, and the MDRA Grand Prix series is treating me well.

I've ran 430 miles so far in 2012 whereas last year I had only ran about 240 miles at this point. (I had a nasty injury in February of last year.) I was really happy that I did the smart thing and DIDN'T race last weekend. My heel was sore for a day or 2 after the New Prague Half Marathon, and I expected that. But it was a little sore for a couple MORE days. So I wore the "night splint" for the majority of last week:

I sleep in this. It's not quite as bad as it seems.

And as I noted last week in this post, I give a lot of credit to Henry for my higher mileage AND my current lack of injury. Our morning "nap time" runs have been great for both of us!


BRICK WORKOUTS: Huh?

I've only done one SHORT duathlon (2 mile, 10 mile, 2 mile), and I only did one SUPER SHORT brick workout before that (16 mile ride with the last 7 at race pace with a 1 mile run-off). I'd like to fit in one longer brick workout before my Oly in 2.5 weeks - maybe a 25-30 mile ride with the last 15 at race pace, followed by about a 4 mile run-off.


STRENGTH / CORE: Surprisingly OK.

Erika made some comment on some post of mine a few months ago, and her thoughts have been spot on. I was noting that I knew my "long burn" workouts at the Y were over. But Erika's comment was something like "Yeah, but you'll be doing shorter, more high-intensity workouts, and that's good for you too. Kinda like 'Crossfit' workouts." (That's not a direct quote, but it's the gist of what she said [or that's at least how I remember it].) And that's been about right. I sometimes do my "PT prescribed" leg exercises while Henry and I are playing with his toys on the floor. I've been known to bust out a quick core workout in my office when my office-mates are away. The workouts have been different, but I really can't say they've been much worse.


FINAL THOUGHTS:

I (of course) wish I had time to do EVERYTHING more - especially swimming and biking - but I can't really complain. I'm pretty happy with the actual amount of training that I'm getting in, but I know I won't be PRing in either of my Olys this summer. And I'm just fine with that. Mainly because of this guy:

Heading out for a quick walk.
(Henry loves to play with / chew on chives from our garden.)

p.s. I'm racing a 5K on Memorial Day! It's part of the MDRA "Grand Prix" series, and I'll be back on Tuesday with a full report.