Looking Back

Looking back on the training that I did over the summer getting ready for IMFL, I was trying to find ways to improve the way that I trained for the race. My goals were to finish the race with a time that was acceptable to me, it didn't have to be really fast, just fast enough. At this time I haven't found too many training mistakes other than trying to put 3 breakthrough runs in consecutive weeks.



The first thing that I will change is the intensity of my swimming. Slow days will be slow and fast days will be fast. Too many times I swam in zone 3 for long distance and did very little speed training in the water. Swimming with FAST 7 weeks out from the race really helped with the speed but it was really a little bit late. I also want to keep my volume over 30000 yds a month during the racing season. I gave up some yardage this year in favor of the run.



The bike changes will be to ride a little bit harder on my long rides and get the ave HR near 140. Speed days will be faster and technique days will be done like they should. I am going to try to ride with a local club once a week this year and am going to try to organize a club ride for my tri-club once a week. I am thinking of going to get a refit on the bike in the spring to get setup for fast racing instead of long distance racing.



Run changes will be impacted the most. This year I worked on volume cuz I had to be able to run 26 miles. Next year I will put a lot of speed work into the program to bring up my efficiency. I know that I have the capacity to do it, I just have to practice it now. This will probably take a bit of help from friends and the club. 13.1 miles is no problem to run at all. Stand alone I want to be able to run a 1:40:00, in a triathlon I would like to be near 1:45:00. My current best time for 13.1 miles is 1:58:21 with a lot left in the tank. My best time for a 10k is 48:04 (last february), I would like to drop that down near 40:00 for a stand alone run, low 40's for a triathlon. I could probably run a 45:00 right now.



Thinking of adding strength training too. The program I have right now has it but I don't know if I will keep it all the way through the season.