Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Episode 70.3: The Phantom Training Plan

Confused and hungry, I stumbled into my kitchen.  My hair was still dripping, and the clothing I had hastily pulled over my still damp skin was sticking in unmentionable places.  Aside from a tablespoon of peanut butter, I hadn't eaten in 7 or so hours, and my focus was on the red in my peripheral vision. Shiny, red... must be an apple.  I grabbed it out of the fruit bowl and sank my teeth into a delightful crunch of sweet-tart melody.

When I opened my eyes a Pink Lady later, I was standing in the middle of my kitchen, an apple core in my hand, and a training plan at the end of my nose.  It appeared I had carefully taped it to the fridge at some time in the recent past.

The training plan had been lovingly made, and promptly forgotten in the chaos of my semester.

Holy wow.  It's Feb 18 today.

I'm supposed to have built to a 2000M swim.
a 60 min bike 2 X a week
3 Runs a week totaling 20+ miles.

I haven't been in the pool since I made it.  I'm only getting on the bike every other week. and let's not talk about the non-running that's been going on.

The plan with 6 well thought out workouts designed to see me to race day is seeing very little action.

It's like a movie script with an all star cast and no director.

I set out on Mondays with good intentions, and by Tuesday at 8pm I'm like, "I can swim next year... I just want to go to bed now."

And as much as I want to get it together and change things ASAP... I just can't find the time/motivation/energy.

So my new thought is that I should write down everything I do, and if I don't actually drop dead on race day, I'll tell you all the bare minimum of what you *can* do and still cross the finish-line of a 70.3...

It's the training plan that isn't.

My actual training the last two weeks went something like this:
Monday Run 2-3 miles as fast as I can in the amount of time that I have.
Tuesday 12 hour shift - about 8-10 of which are standing, walking or lifting. 
(it counts as something, right?)
Wednesday 8 hour shift - about 6 of which are standing, walking or lifting. 
(again - right?)
Thursday 8 hour shift - 7.5 of which are standing, walking or lifting.
(really, I'm being serious, someone measured and it's close to 5 miles of walking)
Friday - Hot Yoga & 6 mile Run
Saturday Ride 30 - 60 min Ride
Sunday Run 10 miles

Also - many of the work days are glycogen depleting 'workouts'... meaning, I do not always get lunch.

2 comments:

Meredith said...

You do that and I'll be sure to document my "training for a marathon with bronchitis" plan. I'm on week 3 of my plan and have totaled zero miles in the last three weeks. I'd say we're doing great :)

Michelle said...

Awww man. Well...all things considered, I'd say things are going smashingly well! Priorities....school/work. Maybe this is an exercise in balance and patience. You'll do the 70.3. We know you are mentally tough enough.