4/15 - 4/21 - Professional Triathlete Training Log - Weekly Swim, Bike, and Run Miles

Flowers blooming atop a cactus here in Tucson
Spring is here in Tucson and that has brought about some changes. For seasonal allergy suffers this was no good, but despite a week of none stop nose blowing, it was actually a great week of training for me.

A couple of weeks have passed since Ironman Texas 70.3 Galveston and I have had some time to reflect about how I want to proceed with my development as an athlete. The beauty of triathlon is there are so many moving pieces and part of managing progression is being able to spot the trends from all the single data points that we collect. One thing I have seen from the pro ranks is the progression of  how much faster the swim has suddenly gotten. No doubt, a big part of this is the increasing size of the field which makes a big difference. The bigger the field, the easier it becomes to swim fast because more water is being disturbed. The problem is that if you are not in the disturbed water then your day is actually a lot harder than it has to be.

Although I got some bad luck in Galveston there is no reason I couldn't have come out of the water with the main pack. Last year maybe not so, but after another off-season with a heavy swim focus, I know my swim is better than it has ever been. Unfortunately that wasn't reflected in that particular swim on that particular day. Regardless, I am not just going to sit back and wonder what could have come of that swim had everything gone to plan. Nope, I am going to increase the focus on the swim. I need to be in the main pack. Cluster or not, I need to be there.

So with that being said, this week was all about the swim. I am a creature of habit, and this week I strung together six consecutive swims that were all at a higher level than any single swim completed last year. I don't know when this pool-speed will show up on a race day but I will keep working at it over and over again until it does. I know that moving my swim up to the main pack will make for an easier bike and thus an easier run.

Lastly, Galveston taught me to have confidence in my bike regardless of whether I feel like I am putting in the work. For those that don't know, I do so much commuting to do general errands, grocery shopping, massage/scrapping, Trisports, and the pool/gym, that it leaves me wondering about my bike. Commuting by bike is part of my DNA and that won't change. What needs to change is how I view my bike. Despite biking for 9 hours and 17 minutes, only 50 minutes of that was real work. And to be honest, I am perfectly ok with that. Prior to Galveston it may have left me wondering but not anymore.  Going forward, I am not going to worry about the bike. If it doesn't show up on race day maybe I'll reassess, but for now I have confidence in my strength.

My weekly swimbike, and run totals:

Total: 200 Miles / 20 hours 20 minutes
Swim: 25,000 yards / ~14 miles / 6 hours 44 minutes
Bike: 152 miles / 9 hours 17 minutes
Run: 34 miles / 4 hours 16 minutes
Core:  0 sessions / 0 hours 0 minutes


No comments:

Post a Comment