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September 28, 2007
SC HIM Training - By the Numbers
This is quite possibly the last time I'll write prior to racing in the South Carolina Half Ironman. It's an exciting time for me. This time last year I was only swimming 400 yard repeats and getting geeked up for a sprint - the Emerald Point Triathlon that I recapped here. Many people are hitting my race recap now preparing for the 2nd running of that event this October, so I re-read it just to see what kind of bad advice I was giving people :). I've often wondered why I post this blog and share my pictures. If nothing else, it gives me an easy way to look back on where I was and help my appreciate where I am.
But enough of this memory lane crap. At the end of that race recap, I posted two things that I wanted to take forward into the off season - 1) was more swimming and 2) was more bricks. It is with a smile on my face that I say I accomplished that. Those fruits were actually beared back in June when I ran the Rock & Roll Man 1/2 iron distance event in Macon (race recap). Since that time, I have focused more intently on all 3 sports and am excited to see what Sunday will bring.
OK, now for the numbers.
The following compares the 17 weeks leading up to each event. It's measured simply in yards for the swim and miles for the run and bike (I was not confident in some of the time data entered in February and March since I didn't start using Training Peaks until April and had to manually fill in the previous months' data). The first set of data is the most recent, starting the day after the Macon race. The second set of data begins 17 weeks before Macon, and does not (at least I think it does not) include the Macon race itself.
Week Swim Bike Run Week Swim Bike Run 6/4/2007 2700 0 4.3 2/5/2007 3500 0 16.75 6/11/2007 8350 0 15.44 2/12/2007 4650 0 30.2 6/18/2007 6600 17.12 22.8 2/19/2007 5000 0 0 6/25/2007 7700 12 15.3 2/26/2007 0 0 0 7/2/2007 2500 22 16.71 3/5/2007 4900 12 2.6 7/9/2007 7000 75.5 14.5 3/12/2007 3000 11 15 7/16/2007 6450 35 16 3/19/2007 3200 11.4 26.2 7/23/2007 7500 61 23.25 3/26/2007 1800 60.9 4 7/30/2007 5908 57 8.35 4/2/2007 5500 0 23.33 8/6/2007 4500 75 24.7 4/9/2007 5900 23.05 10.2 8/13/2007 0 116.2 26.63 4/16/2007 3500 0 18.35 8/20/2007 3950 54 8.5 4/23/2007 6625 45 4.35 8/27/2007 6750 87.11 22.2 4/30/2007 4490 50.1 15.18 9/3/2007 3500 115 20 5/7/2007 5200 47.3 13.15 9/10/2007 7100 86.82 21.66 5/14/2007 4750 67.7 25.8 9/17/2007 2600 132 16.95 5/21/2007 5900 47.05 8.2 9/24/2007 3750 28 2.12 5/28/2007 3740 0 7.91 86858 973.75 279.41 71655 375.5 221.22 % Change 21.2% 159.3% 26.3%
My bike mileage went up signifcantly following Macon. At least 1 session a week was a brick. A signifcant number of miles were accomplished on an indoor trainer, but an equally signifcant amount was experienced on the road. The week with the 0 pool yards in February was following my knee injury at the Austin Marathon when I decided to take a week and a half off of everything. The goose egg in August was the week (plus 1 day) that thepool was closed. I missed 4 swims because of that, but the timing was ok. Otherwise my swim volume would have increased roughly 25% as well.
All in all I am very pleased. It's the journey that defines you as a triathlete, not a single event (although we'll see what tune I'm singing after I do an Ironman). This reminds me of a Sun Tzu quote:
Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
My training will assure me victory. This Sunday is the battle. Thanks to all that have supported and participated in my journey. The next post you see should be details of my 2nd half iron distance finish! Good luck to everyone doing this race with me and my buddies doing the Two Bridges Triathlon in Cumming this weekend!
Posted by Mike on September 28, 2007 3:00 PM