Midway through the new training schedule and I am feeling
great. You always have to make
adjustments as you see fit. The weather
didn't quite cooperate with me this week so my long run on Wednesday had to get
shifted to today but that is OK. I don't
think I would have pushed as hard yesterday on it.
I talked the other day about utilizing a training plan and
sticking to it. This week was the first
time in my training that I arranged a strict routine for the week since
starting and it has made me a lot more accountable for my training. I have an ending mileage and time that I
should hit if I stick to it and seeing that makes it a lot harder to alter
training.
I was looking through my training times and got curious how
well I will start doing once the events start up in July. I figured that if I was to run Maryland
Olympic Du right now, I would finish in roughly 1:58. That makes me feel pretty good as the Elite
guys have to finish in less than 2 hours to compete at that level. I looked at my age group from last year and
the winner came in at 2:02. That was
also a motivating factor to keep to my training as a podium place possibility
makes for a lot better day come race day.
No matter what you are training for, train at the level you
want to achieve, not where you are now.
Figure out where you want to finish a race and strive for that. If it is a possible podium finish...make it
happen. If you want to finish under a
certain time...train to that time. I
give people advice all the time and you shouldn't start out training at the
distance you want to finish but the time you want to finish in. If you want to finish a half marathon in 2
hours, run for 2 hours and see how far you get before just lumbering along for
13.1 miles. If it is an Olympic
triathlon in under 2:45, do all three disciplines and add up the times you come
up with. Once you have all three times
and find a total time, let’s say 3:05, then figure out which event you can
start cutting down and where. About two
months out from race day, do everything you can to do all three events in a row
and see where you are at. This is how I
am training for Nation's this year. I
have a goal time in mind that I want to finish in and I know which events I can
shave time off from to make that happen.
Put the plan to action, follow your plan for training and
nutrition, and rock it on race day!
