Feb 1st - Feb 7th: Training Ramblings.....Do Less, Achieve More

After feeling like death warmed up for the last week in January and the first week at the new job, this week was a bit more back to reality and a more like a typical week will be from now on.  As I said in the last post, the goals of 2014 have changed a bit in the last few week and here's how:

New Job = Longer Hours = Longer Commute = Less Training Time = New Goals

The goal ending 2013 was to hit the Winter hard with the aim of racing at IM St George 70.3m and trying to get a spot to the 70.3m Worlds in Mont Tremblant in Sept.  With the reduction in training time, the goals are still the same but are somewhat tempered in that they are a best case scenario.  The ability to get the needed volume is somewhat limited so I would need to have a perfect day to have shot at anywhere near the pointy end of the field.  Yes, I am still going to go race St George on May 3rd but the new goals for the season are:

1.  Enjoy triathlon without the stress of training for long distance.

• Still racing St George and Eagleman 70.3m but it will be what it will be - no pressure
• Aim to race more Olympic Distance races, where speed trumps volume. 

2. Focus more on the bike and race more with ABRT

• Basically because it's fun to race with the team.
• Can achieve more without the need for huge amounts of training.

3. Get ready for Cyclocross in the Fall

• I had so much fun racing cross in 2013 that the 2014 season is already on my mind.
• Can achieve more with quality focused training.
• Aim for Nationals in January 2015.

All the above involve riding my bike and training without the constant need to "get it all done". The last couple of years have been tough training for long-distance triathlon and it creates stress and brings down the motivation.  Since the New Year training has been fun with more quality and high motivation, partly because a weekly total of 7-9hrs is totally doable. Yes it took a few weeks to be happy with that, but if I get caught at work or just want to spend time with Sarah then it doesn't matter that training takes a back seat. If I was still figuring out how to get a 2hr run and a 100 mile bike ride done, I would be stressing about it all.  It's a good feeling right now and hopefully I can be competitive at the shorter distance triathlons, road racing and then cross later in the year.

Next post I'll go into what should be a typical training week.

Total: 117.83 Miles / 7 hours 12 minutes

Swim: 0 yards / ~0 miles / 0 hours 0 minutes

Bike: 106.75 miles / 5 hours 52 minutes

Run: 11.08miles / 1 hour 20 minutes