Training May 26-June 1 - aka: Readjusting The Plan

Week 14 of 36 (Week 8 of Iron Fit Training Plan). Twenty-three weeks until the race.

What this week's scheduled training looked like (May 26-June 1):

Total hours scheduled: 9:00

Total hours logged: 5:20

Total running miles this week/total: 13.3 /188.4

Total biking miles this week/total: 30.1/ 519.6

Total swimming yards this week: 2500

Level of IM enthusiasm: 6/10.

Nutrition elements: Nothing new to speak of.


Other: Kind of crashed and burned in the training this week. Started out alright -- got a long brick in on Monday (2 hour bike, 30 min run) but then things just fell apart with all I had to do.

I don't want to always make excuses for why I don't get my training hours in. But more importantly I don't want my family to suffer because I become an unbearable shrew when I feel like I'm not getting everything done. My family suffered this week. :(

After a little bit of soul searching, I started looking at my training plan and the other training plans in Fink's Be Iron Fit. I've been using the Competitive Program (the hardest one). We're still in the Base Training Phase for a couple more weeks until we move into the Build Phase (on June 15).  The Base Phase is the same for the Competitive and Intermediate programs.

This week I started look at Fink's Just Finish Program. That Program averages about 7 hours a week, and maxes at 10 hours. As opposed to the Competitive Program that averages 12 hours a week and maxes at 20 hours. Over the course of 30 weeks of training, that's 150+ hours. That's a pretty huge difference for a one-day event.

And here's the thing: I am a IM bucket-lister. I'm not ashamed of that. I'm one-and-done. This race is not what defines me and it's not going to change the person I am.

Now this does not mean I'm dropping down to the Just Finish Program. I feel like that's too light, and I would like to put in more effort than that if I'm going to do this. BUT, I have decided to change my training hours for the month of June.

New plan: 3 hours running, 3 hours biking, 2 hours swimming each week for a total of 8 hours. I feel like this is do-able, will cause me to maintain the fitness levels I've progressed to thus far. I probably won't be making any gains in fitness, but won't be losing any fitness either.

On July 1, once all my books and proposal are in, we are back from our 2-week family vacation and things have settled down a little, I will re-evaluate and move from there.

Believe me, my family is already thankful. And honestly, with this weight off my shoulders, so am I.