10/28 - 11/10 - Professional Triathlete Training Log and Update - Swim, Bike, and Run Miles

These bike workshop repair units
around Tucson are a big help to bike commuting

As many have noticed, I have fallen off the pace the past few weeks with my normal weekly updates. It has been nearly two years of writing every week and although I believe in consistency, I am re-evaluating how much I want to write in the future. As I wander through the internet, and casually talk to friends, I get this incredible sense of burn-out right now in the pro ranks. I actually can't believe it. Everyone seems just to be shutting it down and I have read so many postmortems that it reminds me of the financial crisis of 2008. Contrasting that, this is the time of the year when so many "young guns" destroyed their fellow age-groupers and have decided to move to the pro ranks. They have unbridled enthusiasm, and want to start their onslaught immediately.

As I turn things back to me I can't help but wonder why I have this calm balance. I'm happy with slow, but steady growth, and I attribute that philosophy for getting me to where I am today. Patience is what I constantly remind myself. Truthfully, despite a long season, longer than probably any other athlete, I really see no reason for it to end. Yes I have my final race at Ironman Arizona in 6 days. And yes, I'll probably take a little bit of time off afterward, but I'm already excited about working on my weaknesses in preparation for the 2014 season. Simply put, I enjoy the process of being a triathlete. I enjoy the lifestyle of a triathlete. I enjoy the simplicity that I have created in my own lifestyle, and I attribute that simplicity to allowing me to train as hard as I do and race as often as I can. 

But getting back to my weekly updates, I didn't want people to think the lack of consistency had anything to do with the rest of the doom-and-gloom from my fellow peers. I had been thinking about changing the frequency of updates, especially in the winter months, but it mostly had to do with a hefty change to my lifestyle. Those changes included a heavy dose of hard swimming, while combining that with more commuting miles, and workouts strung together without the few hours of rest that I am used to. I have been figuring out a way to incorporate strength work back into my schedule and I took some time to do some other interviews, one can be found at the following if you are interested.

I'll post more about Ironman Arizona later this week. I will say that I am feeling really good despite an abundance of volume. I have tapered down the run mostly in an effort to keep the legs fresh. I have gone into almost every race this year on tired legs and I want to see how they can perform with a little rest while keeping the bike and swim volume high. On the one downside, I did pick up a little bit of tendinitis in my knees that most likely was the result of the high-load, low cadence bike work that I have been doing in excess. Although it continues to get better and better, and I have no doubt that I will barely notice it on race day, it is one of those things I will evaluate on race day.

My weekly swim, bike, and run totals for October 28th - November 3rd:

Total: 223 Miles / 22 hours 46 minutes
Swim: 31,700 yards / ~18 miles / 8 hours 22 minutes

Bike: 182 miles / 11 hours 14 minutes

Run: 23 miles / 2 hours 39 minutes

Core: 0 hours 30 minutes

My weekly swim, bike, and run totals for November 4th - November 10th:

Total: 305 Miles / 24 hours 42 minutes
Swim: 21,400 yards / ~12 miles / 5 hours 43 minutes

Bike: 263 miles / 13 hours 46 minutes

Run: 31 miles / 3 hours 42 minutes

Core: 1 hours 30 minutes