I had some free time finally to sit and work on my training plan, it's much tougher than I anticipated. When you're first starting out things are easy - you struggle just to do the bare minimum suggested training. You ignore all the "fine points" and advanced topics, and just focus on getting yourself to the start line prepared to finish the distance. I'm learning that as your expected performance increases, the amount of detailed planning required increases correspondingly.
Tonight I broke down IM St. George prep. Today was the first day of week 30, meaning I have 7 months of time to train, which should be plenty. Here is the rough breakdown of volume for that time:
Preparation:
Preparation: Weeks 30 through 25: 12 hours
Base Phase 1: Weeks 24 through 21: 16 hours
Base Phase 2: Weeks 20 through 17: 17 hours
Base Phase 3: Weeks 16 through 13: 18 hours
Build Phase 1: Weeks 12 through 9: 17 hours
Build Phase 2: Weeks 8 through 5: 16 hours
Peak Phase: Weeks 4 and 3: 12 hours
Race Phase (taper): Weeks 2 and 1: 10 hours
This is a slight increase over my volume from IMAZ in 2008, which is exactly what I want. However, it's a huge increase over the last 5 months - where I've been pretty lethargic. I'm having a hard time imagining how I'm going to fit 12 hours a week into my current schedule. I've started a new job recently, I'm addicted to the NFL (again), Curb Your Enthusiasm is back on the air, and I have an amazing girlfriend whom I'd love to not abandon. It will all work out, I'm just not sure how.
So now I know my overall volume, what's left to do? I need to:
- figure out how each weeks hours will be divided among the three disciplines (plus weights)
- figure out the intensities for each session
- identify the key workouts (Probably will include some races)
- identify my short term goal deadlines
- schedule my monthly test workouts
- somehow fit it all into my calendar
Anyway, today was the first day of my six week Prep phase. My main goal for this period is to get back into a regular routine, and to get my body ready for the wringer I'm about to put it through. This means some long/slow bike rides, working on cadence and some technique drills. It also means starting the process of re-learning to run, and building up some run endurance. I haven't run more than a few miles in months - and I'm just plain out of shape. So tomorrow morning will be a 30 minute jog, focusing on posture and using a metronome to keep my turnover high. How am I going to get 12 hours in this week when I have 0 on Monday and 0.5 on Tuesday? I don't know yet, but that's why it's a "prep" week!
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