My basic schedule will include two sessions every day of the week. That’s normal for me. But if you are new to the sport, you should consider starting with one session a day and at least one full rest day a week.
In every session, there is an element of form and/or speed. I don't do junk miles in the pool, on the bike or running.
Let me run through my basic schedule, the details of which will vary from month to month, and which I'll explain in greater detail in the days/weeks ahead. There's a normal rate of progression in part because I need the time to find the words to explain it and I also believe that it takes time for you to understand it.
The objective of preparation is to put into place a consistent training approach. This allows me to get into a rhythm with my training and also to lessen the need for me to think too much about each session. I want to be focused within each session but not overwhelmed by it. It's a concept that has taken me years to appreciate.
On Mondays, I have a bike set that develops power and a swim set focused on speed. The bike is an hour in length and the swim set about 45 minutes.
On Tuesday, I swim long, aiming to build strength and in the last year I’ve used both paddles (extra small) and a pull buoy. I use these tools to keep my stroke in check.
The paddles help guide my hands in the water and help remind me to pull all the way back. My swim has been my weakness and not for lack of effort. I seemed stuck in first gear for years and years. It's because I swim alone and also because swimming is so technical that I rely on these two tools to help.
The pull buoy, well it helps keep my body level and mimics the benefit of wearing a wetsuit, which I most often do in races.
Also on Tuesday I run for an hour. As with all my runs, there is a warm up and cool down period. I admit that I may shorten the start or finish depending on how time pressed I am or also depending on whether I have swum first or plan to swim second. I often do the swim/run sessions back to back because that's how they best fit into my work/life/train schedule. It's not ideal from a training perspective because the second effort is always somewhat compromised by the energy tapped to complete the first. But that's how it is for me.
In between the warm up and cool down for the run, there is some tempo with a focus all the time on my stride rate. It has taken me about a year of conscious effort to reach a steady stride rate of about 96 – that is one foot striking the ground 96 times each minute.
I am a counter by nature. I count all the time while I run. I’m not sure why I began to count but because I do I’ve found it easy to count my stride rate. The one mistake I sometimes make is to keep counting past the minute mark. When I reach 100 I know that I've gone more than a minute.
Tomorrow I’ll look at the next two days in my week.
The preparation that I’m doing this week is for a new program that I’ll begin on Monday.
As you’ll note, a huge part of what I do is repetitious. In some ways, it is boring. But I’ve found that it also is very relaxing. I don’t need to go to the pool, for example, with anything other than a glance at my program before heading out the front door. My training sessions, for the vast majority, are straightforward.
I do monitor my times but I don't write everything down. I know when I've put in an average effort, or below and better. In that sense, I'm far less reliant on numbers to measure my effort and performance - though I still like numbers.
Whatever training that I do, I try to focus on being in the moment and making that as efficient and effective as I can. It takes time to attain this perspective. It's hard to be objective when you need to be subjective too.
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