My Training Philosophy

I decided to do a triathlon last year so that I would keep working out. I knew that without a goal of some kind, whenever things got hairy at work or at home (which is pretty much always), my commitment to my physical health would disappear, or if not disappear, take a back seat to all the more immediately urgent things I constantly have to deal with.  So I committed. But that also meant a shift in the way I worked out. It was no longer just going for a run, it was training. Training is different because everything has a purpose, and that means having a plan. I am good at planning (less good at execution, but that’s a topic for a different day). Very good at planning. I went about devising my own training plan and accompanying schedule based on the book Triathlons for Women (by Sally Edwards) and various websites. I kept to my plan as much as I could, and loved my first tri. Then, I decided to do another one, and that meant more training, and so more planning. And my training quickly took over my life. I thought about triathlon and training all the time. That’s fine if triathlon is your life, but it’s not mine. Or it shouldn’t be. I tri to live, I don’t live to tri. I got stressed out when I had to adjust my plan, and quickly got burnt out. I realized that I can’t work out hard for 3 days in a row, and doing more than 1 2 a day a week is too much for me. I got frustrated and discouraged. And then I remembered why I was doing training in the first place – I wanted to be healthier and this was just a route to that for me.

Plans to race again this summer kept me in the gym over the winter, mostly doing strength training to improve my running, swimming, and biking. But now that the weather is nicer, and the races have started, I’ve moved back outdoors and am training again. But this summer, I am way more relaxed. I forget to record everything in my spreadsheet, and am constantly changing things around. I make sure I get some time at all three sports each week, and what I do in each has a purpose, (although I'm sure I don't get the maximum benefit out of everything I do). I don’t just go out for runs, I do hills or track work, or fartleks if I’m in the trails. And on the bike I do hills or distance (I need to increase my distance for my goal race in July), and have just started adding in some intervals on the bike. I do bricks when I can. And will start joining an open water swim group next week (as long as the beach reopens – there was an oil spill this week). But I am much more relaxed. When we have sudden company, I don’t freak out about not getting in the right workout, I adjust to something that is still going to be useful if shorter, and enjoy the visit. Or when my migraines strike (as they have been doing again with increased frequency), I just accept that my races this year aren’t going to be great. But I will still finish them. And my son will be excited watching me race and cheering me on. And will give me a big hug at the finish line. And it’s all worth it. I need to be healthy to stay alive for him. I don’t need to win any races. I’d love to podium, but my life just isn’t one that will allow me to commit the time to do that without sacrificing things I’m not willing to sacrifice. And getting to the point where I’m OK with not being the best I can be at something is hard. It is not in my personality to do something at less than 100%. I am intense. I will just have to be the best I can be given the effort I am willing to give.