As an engineer and a triathlete I definitely fall into the type A category of personalities. I love to plan!! When I first started training for endurance races I had an Excel spreadsheet that mapped out my entire training plan for the year. Workouts were colour coded and I had every workout planned..to the day. Since I hired Angie and joined Team Tri Life I’ve given up that control. I actually now really like that I only know what is happening within a 4 week block. When my new training plan arrives there is so much excitement. What’s next? What does Angie think I’m capable of? Invariably there are little changes here and there too. It feels a little like Christmas when I get that e-mail in my inbox.
With my new training block I’m now running on Tuesday’s over lunch, then spinning at Bow Cycle in the evenings. My runs are specifically 30 minute runs with 0:30 strides every 5 minutes. We’ve had some ice frost in town these last few days (check out Keith’s blog for pictures) that has left our city looking like a winter wonderland. All of the frost on the trees looks so beautiful! Finally the sun was set to come out today though…and just as lunch hour approached the temperature started approaching 0C. I went with capris, a short sleeve tech and a long sleeve tech top. It was a bit windy out but I still found it really comfortable to be dressed like this out in the sun. I wasn’t the only crazy person out there dressed like that either! Granted, most folks were really bundled up but there were a few people out in shorts too. There was still some ice and snow on the pathway which made the strides fairly interesting…but the run went well.
I stopped in at Bow a bit early to get my squeaky bike looked at. All I needed was to have a bit of lube on the derailleur and it was good to go! Class was a good one tonight as we really focussed on power a lot. Angie explained that she really likes to use our indoor training over the winter to work on our power. We can work on endurance when we get outside, but this is a perfect opportunity to improve our power. Trying to work on both endurance and power is tiring and it is easy to burn out quickly. I love these sessions because every week I wonder how it can get harder and how could Angie possibly push us further…but then she finds a way!
All in all it was 1:40 on the bike, followed by stretching and core. Wednesday is only a swim out in Cochrane so it is going to be a bit of an easier day!
19 comments:
Leana I LOVE that you used to have a spreadsheet. How awesome. I think that's why I don't have a major yen for triathlon. I know I'd rock up to a race and be missing half my kit... Glad you're able to give up a bit of the control though. Hope you're well! :)
That is wonderful when you can find someone you trust and have faith in who you can relinquish control to! Isn't it great to be able to run in shorts or capris in February! It makes winter seem that much more shorter and bearable, not that I want to rush winter though!
My coach only gives me the plan once a week. I guess he figures that I would quickly get out of control (I also have an engineering background) with data analysis. It is good to turn off my thinking and trying to do just what needs to be done. He also hits me with an email almost daily on how it went so he can adjust if necessary.
That doesn't prevent me from trying to get every report out of training peaks for analysis afterwards though...
i'd love to hear more about the types of things that go into a "power" focused trainer workout. i am looking for ways of taking advantage of my time indoors before i can ride outside...
I'm having trouble putting a training plan together right now. I'd love to have someone just tell me what to do for now :)
I think I would love to work with a coach some day, have someone tell me what to do and when and why. I also like the idea of only getting a small chunk at a time.
A coach sort of scares me because I think you are right, they would push me harder believing that I can do more than i think I can
I love it!!!! I saw that you weren't liking Garmin TC for tracking. Did you find a new program?
Wow, those ice photos are awesome! I think your training is going really well! Keep it up!
Glad to hear the bike had nothing wrong with it -- bonus!!
Teh ELF always kept our training plans two weeks out. No chance to freak out that way! That's some serious bike time. Power and speed are good things to work at on the trainer, with proper volume of course.
Good stuff!!
Sounds like you've found a really great coach.
I'm an engineer too so I get wanting to have everything planned out and such! I dont have a spreadsheet...but maybe thats cause i really dont have a training plan right now!
pretty sure i've already mentioned this but i looove my spreadsheets :) it would be nice to just have workouts handed to you though!
i've been reading about a few people running during lunch lately... i need to figure out how i can make that happen (out in the boonies, by a construction site, hmm)
I also would love to know what you did for a power workout!! Sounds awesome!
Hey, thanks for the shout out and link to blog and photos.
Gee, engineer, AND triathlete - Type A personality. Yuh figure, eh?
I was getting all sorts of weird noises and behaviour out of my bike last year, till I took part of an afternoon to clean the chain, gears, everything, then lightly relube. The silence and shifting was wonderful.
I really need to sit down and come up with a training plan on a spreadsheet. triathlon season is approaching.
Nice job with the workouts!
I am so a Type A person in that I love to plan plan plan and I used to have an excel spreadsheet as well as a word document... call me crazy!
I'm a control freak. I don't have a spreadsheet but I do have a color coded calendar =). I think having a tri group to do workouts with will help me be less of a control freak but I'm sure it'll still be there.
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