Week 15 in the Books ... How'd I do?

Here are my training totals for Week 15 of my HIM Training Program:

Planned Volume:
Swim - 2hrs 45 mins
Bike - 3hrs 15 mins

Run - 3hrs 35 mins
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Total Planned -  9hrs 35 mins

Actual Volume:
Swim - 1hr 45 mins (4200M)
Bike -  5hrs 5 mins (87 Mi)
Run - 2hrs 53 mins (17.95 Mi)
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Total Actual - 9hrs 43 mins


This week called for 9 1/2 hours of volume and I ended up a 8 minutes over that.  My swim was down because my Sunday OWS got canceled due to poor weather.  The bike is, once again, higher than planned because I am seeing very strong gains on the bike and this is where I can get faster.

When I began this blog it was done primarily as a way to motivate myself into following through with my P90X workouts.  One of the side benefits is that this blog has become a journal of my progress starting with P90X and then venturing into the world of endurance sports.  Every now and again I like to assess how certain aspects of my  workouts are progressing by going back and reading over some older posts and then doing an honest assessment of my current abilities.  I like to do this in my professional life as well - keeps me sharp - yes, I am that guy.

This being only my 2nd Tri season I have a much better understanding of my abilities than when I began last year.  My year was over in October and to honestly assess myself at the time my abilities were as followed -  an extremely poor swimmer, a poor cyclist, and an average runner.

After 6 months of increased volume and focused workouts here is how I break down my abilities today:

Run:
I spent most of the winter months focused on increasing volume and entering a bunch of races to learn how to pace myself and how I responded to the stress of increased pace and distance.  I completed a marathon training plan and ran slow as molasses to build my base for 20 weeks. I put in a few 100 mile months and learned how to run.  The results have actually been even better than I expected.  I ran in a 50K, a 5k, a 5mi, two 10k's, and two half mary's.  I got faster and stronger in each event.  When I first began to run last year I could barely run 3 miles without walking.  Now I run 3 miles and barely break a sweat.  The running focused training has paid off and I plan on doing more run focused training again this winter to get even faster.  I have gone from an average runner to a pretty good runner.

Bike:
Once December rolled around I purchased an Indoor Trainer and began really focusing on my cycling endurance.  When I was on the trainer I did a lot of intervals and hard spins (and watched a ton of movies).  Since the middle of December I have put close to 1000 miles cycling on my legs and lungs.  Last year I had trouble riding in the aero position and really focused on that this off-season as well.  During my last outdoor ride of the season in October I averages 16.8 MPH over a 25 mile ride.  A couple of weeks ago over that same ride I averaged over 20 MPH.  My bike base and fitness have improved but I still have a lot of work to do. The hardest part for me is my inexperience at knowing how hard to push or not push on the bike and still leave something for the run.  I have gone from a poor cyclist to an average cyclist.

Swim:
Last year I did my first swim in June and I could do one 25 yard lap consecutively.  After each lap a recovery of a couple of minutes was required.  I have always been athletic and pretty decent at any sport I have ever tried.  Not so with swimming, it has been humbling to say the least!  Swimming is still my Achilles Heal but since I have been working on drills and intervals it has been becoming increasingly more enjoyable.  I took a couple of lessons and they have helped.  I am still not good but am slowly seeing improvement and plan on joining a Master's program in May.  I have gone from an extremely poor swimmer to just a poor swimmer.

To recap where I am today: Poor Swimmer, Average Cyclist, and Good Runner.  The positives are that 2 out of 3 sports have seen decent improvement and this improvement has been noticed over a relatively short period of time.  The negative is that my swimming still sucks.  That was fun!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff