Tuesday, November 14, 2006

What next?

So- my tri on Saturday was a disaster. But it's only a disaster if I live by numbers. If I throw my embarrassing time and awful placing out the window, I can remember that I achieved one of my 3 time goals. That I rode faster than I have before. That I rode the downhills (almost) without fear. That I passed lots of people going uphill. That I had one of the funnest hour and forty minutes EVER.

I'm taking this opportunity to revisit and refocus my goals for the season. I've been doing a lot of thinking about what is best for me to do this season and next, and I haven't actually made up my mind yet, but here are some thoughts...

Short(er) term goals:

I have two events coming up that I will be focussing on for the next 2 1/2 months. (I also have a sprint tri and a there are a couple of quick mid-week races I might do- after work 5ks, Wednesday night splash n dash, but I will not be training "for" these) The big events are the Round the Mountain ride on 2 January 2007 and the Lighthouse Classic swim on 27 January. This means that my programme will be about cycling and swimming for the next 10 weeks. I am feeling a little sad about the running, but I am also feeling very excited about the swimming and riding! I will also be keeping up with lifting and core work. I loved my gym workout this morning, and was so happy to feel the muscles again!

Swimming:
I have taken a swim training plan from the event website and have tinkered with it- I will be doing two sea swims a week, and will cut volume down every few weeks. Basically, I will do one session of endurance, one of speed and drill training and two sea swims each week (sometimes one sea swim will be part of a splash and dash). Over the summer holidays, I will just do what feels right- we'll be by the beach, there's a swimming pool nearby...

Cycling:
3 or 4 sessions per week. One will be dedicated to technical work/confidence building- including hill-climbs and descents, standing in my shoes, cornering, etc. P will help me with some of this. One midweek ride- either outside (top preference), on the trainer or a spin class. To build volume, we may do a spin double some weeks. One or two weekend rides- either one biggie or 2 smallies. We'll see!

Long(er) term:
I am still deciding whether to do an Oly. A marathon next season? A half-IM in the 2007/8 season? On Saturday, I felt like I would have been far better suited to an Oly than a sprint! I was just finding myself at the end of every stage! But, my goals for ME are all about sticking with things I don't like or that I'm not good at. Especially things I want to be good at! So, maybe it would be better for me to stick to short distances- work on the sprint this season, and the 10k next season? But then I look at posters for the Rotorua marathon, and all these great endurance events. Should I just accept that I'm more inclined to endurance? There are actually much bigger life decisions I need to be making at the moment, so those may have some bearing on my decisions!

One of my challenges, as always, will be avoiding overtraining. I had a free consultation with a physiologist who read me like a book. I have tinkered with my programme to accommodate for things like Xmas, summer holidays, etc etc. I am also ensuring regular rest days and low volume weeks. I have also bought a cheap temporary fix HRM to make sure I take care of myself. This schedule will require more organisation than what I have been used to for the last couple of months, but I have been THAT person before, and since P will be doing the weights and cycling with me (and maybe even some of the swimming!!!), we will be able to support each other.


Sorry for the random post. I'm just trying to get all these things thought out!

Oh and two random things:

1- Thanks for the advice re: trisuit. P's been looking for one for me for ages (we can only buy Orca and Zoot here, but one of his nerdy hobbies is finding bargain sportswear online..) but I was loathe to have either of us invest any more in my tri until I knew what I wanted to do with it. But now I know I want to do it, and that I never want to waste that much time in transition again! Do you think it's safe to buy online? Does anyone have any suggestions re fit?

2- I've found in my races that my feet go numb while I'm riding, and take awhile to warm up on the run. I'm guessing this is something in my cycling technique, but I'm not sure what. Any comments/advice? Thanks :-)

4 comments:

Jodi said...

About the feet- Try evening out your stroke. Utilize the upstroke and downstroke. You might be relying too much on the downstroke and keeping the pressure on one part of the foot through your entire pedal stroke.

I learned right away that I'm not a sprint person. I've only done one and don't have big plans to return to the distance. (Too anaerobic for my taste) So jumping to olympic isn't necessarily a bad move- you just have to adjust your training a bit to longer, slightly less intense sessions. It's all up to you!

Sounds like you have your goals set right- work on your limiters. It's so hard for people to ignore their strengths, since that what they like doing the most. Good luck with your training! Open water swimming is soooo much fun!

Jodi

Wes said...

Plan, plan plan! But most of all, have fun and be flexible. Sounds like you got it going on, girl! Sorry, I'm no help with advice, you are so far ahead of me :-) What do you do when your legs go numb when you are running? LOL.

Anonymous said...

My feet were going numb on the bike and I discovered my shoes were too small. Got bigger ones and problem is gone!

I buy all my stuff on line, there is no where to shop close by here. I got one pair of tri shorts and a few tops.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for dropping by my blog! I need all the motivation I can get right now. Reading your post was some motivation in itself. You are focused - that's so awesome. I need to get my focus back, so it helps to see what others are doing. Good luck with your training and stay injury-free!