I’m about 9.5 weeks out from Rocketman Florida, and I’m really digging training on feel in lieu of having a strict plan. It’s especially helpful during times like last week when we had family visiting and I missed 3 days of training completely. Not having a schedule meant I could see that coming and load up on some bigger workouts on the days leading up and just consider those off days as rest. Well, walking around Disney parks with 3 kids for a couple of days isn’t exactly like watching a Scrubs marathon, but it still counts as rest for me. But then I got to do some big training right after too.
I’m getting a little better at letting the speed and distance obsessions go as well. For my last few runs and rides, I’ve had absolutely no idea how far I’d be going. All I’ve been focusing on is time spent in Zone 2 and making sure I get the hours in. Speed (at least training speeds) have definitely suffered, but I really am just letting that go. It’s easier when I listen to things like Coach Brett’s podcast on Polarized Training and learn that even pros spend the majority of their time at ridiculously easy paces.
The weird thing is that my volume is actually up compared to last year. I think that’s because I’m actually more enthused about training. I mean…it’s up to me. I train when I feel like it, and I rest when I feel like I need it. It sort of like unschooling for triathletes. Well…except that I have to make sure I stay away from that Zone 3 “fun hard” pace. That sucks, because Zone 3 feels soooooo good. But hopefully I’ll get to race the last 5k of the run there?
But now the intervals have started. I hate intervals. They supposedly make you faster, which makes me like them at little. But I only like them after I’m finished.
Wait…I take that back. I like the first 25 percent of an interval. I like it when I look down at my computer and see I’m moving at a relatively high velocity, then glance at my HRM and notice that I’m barely into Zone 3. Of course, that doesn’t last very long…then the agony of holding high Zone 4 rears its head.
I’ve almost neglected to talk about the swim. I’ve come to realize that I really need to be swimming about 10k a week to get faster. That means it will have to go down in the off-season, which means my hopes of making any really big swim gains probably aren’t going to happen this calendar year. Still, I’m so slow that even small gains are going to be substantial.