Training log review of 2007 - so far.

This year is completely different than last year in many ways. This year I am focused on Ironman Wisconsin in September, last year I was trying to go sub 3 hours for the marathon in the spring before returning to triathlon after a 2 year break.

I found out after completing the Runovia Triathlon (several posts at that link) that trying to split a year up, focusing on two major goals wasn't going to lead to the success that I wanted to obtain in Ironman. There was also an understanding that I gained that lead me to believe that keeping the training up year-round (with a little rest time) was going to be essential to succeeding at Ironman. (Read my post, "How to pass the suck threshold in triathlon" for more.)

One reinforcement that I've had recently related to the idea that I needed to be more "focused" came from the book I just started reading, "How Lance Does It" by Brad Kearns (who also wrote Breakthrough Triathlon Training, my review here). In the book Kearns breaks down four critical success factors that made Armstrong great. The second factor was "Clarity of Purpose". I'll share more about this later, but it is interesting to see areas of my life that are impinging upon my ability to focus on training and doing well in Ironman. That needs to be fixed soon as we are now 27 weeks away from IMMOO (critical success time here on out!).

The review.

January 2006 Training Hours: 9:43 - cross training, swimming, biking, etc.
Feburary 2006 Training Hours: 17:24 - all running

January 2007 Training Hours: 47:05
Bike - 17:41
Run - 16:58
Swim - 11:56
Weights - :30

Feburary 2007 Training Hours: 46:13
Bike - 20:54
Run - 22:55
Swim - 1:49
Weights - :35

Thoughts: Notice any difference? It is pretty obvious that I've increased my overall training. The interesting thing for me is that I actually ran more in Feb '07 than I did in Feb of '06, even though I was focusing on a marathon in '06.

I am a little dissappointed with my swim and bike numbers in Feburary of '07, but there were things that hindered my ability to do both. The SEC Championships were at UK this year which shut down the pool for 2 weeks and I was back in Nebraska for 1 week, so I missed some time there. The cycling stats will be better in March! That is a promise I have made to myself.

If interested here's my workoutlog: Gary's Workout Log.