3 Essentials of Every Training Plan

After six years of fighting thyroid disease, I am finally healthy enough to begin training for another race. I have signed up for the Wildflower Triathlon in May. My training plan began the 2nd and I thought I'd share my three-fold approach to training plans.

1. MULTIPLE MEASURES OF SUCCESS

I always have three goals in mind when I race. With multiple measures of success I am more likely to walk away from a race with at least one goal met. Each goal has a different dimension.

My first goal is to run the entire run without walking. Running is my weakest sport and I am usually a run/walker. Because Wildflower is such a short run course, I may be able to complete it without any walk breaks.

My second goal is to beat my fastest swim time ever for this distance. Wildflower 1997 was my second triathlon and my fastest swim ever. I was seventh out of the water. I would love to beat that.

My third goal is to beat my friend, Michelle, who I convinced to join us on the Wildflower Triathlon weekend. She is always faster than me, but I fully intend on running her down come May.

Find what makes you push harder in training. Is it just to finish, to beat a time, to swim without freaking out? What is it that you can look forward to achieving?

2. SPECIFIC TRAINING PLAN

Since I live with a type-A, well-researched Ironman triathlete, training pans abound in our home. I chose the Sprint Level 4 plan developed by Matt Fitzgerald. It is the most intense plan that doesn't have any two-a-days. Years ago the two-a-days were a staple of my training plan, but lately I can hardly find the time for one workout a day, let alone two.

Along with the plan comes a planner. I get a new one every tri season. It's where my schedule goes and where all my notes for each workout go.

Find a plan that will work for you. One that is not too difficult, but that will still push you. Don't set yourself up for failure by choosing a training plan that won't realistically blend with your current responsibilities.

Look at your current fitness to make this decision. not what you could do five years ago, or last year, or even when you were in high school. And find a place to write it all down. Maybe that's the old fashioned paper way like me. Or maybe it's an app on your phone or uploading your Garmin info online. Find a way to record every success in training.

3. MOTIVATION

For me, motivation comes in the form of movies. One every few weeks is enough to keep the motivational fires stoked.

First up is always Blue Crush. I am a surfer at heart. Done it for over twenty years. Thought I might actually make a career out of it at one point. Too bad I had no natural talent for the sport. So this movie, however cheesy, brings back that stoke from when I was twelve and absolutely obsessed with spending every minute of the day getting better at surfing.

Next up is Without Limits. It's the story of Steve Prefontaine. A great runner. reminds me that running is supposed to hurt. Once I knew that, I finally could push myself.

Lastly is Chasing Mavericks, a new favorite. Another surfing movie with all the cross training. And a little Gerard Butler certainly doesn't hurt.

What are the things that will keep you excited? Could be a reward system or focusing on your goals. maybe it's thinking about how you will feel when you finish. Maybe it's talking with a really encouraging friend. find what makes you look forward to your next training session and will give you the strength to push when you think you have nothing left to give.

RACE DAY

I have been reminding myself to train hard so that race day I can have a fun day. My mantra while training has been, "Hurt now, Fly later." the only thing that can make race day better is to spend it with some amazing people (Tony and Michelle) and to do it at one of my all time favorite races, Wildflower.

It's been called the Woodstock of triathlon and it is one amazing weekend. Remember to enjoy race day whether or not you meet your goals. There is nothing more exciting than putting yourself into a situation where anything could happen. You'll find out just what you are made of when you respond to the inevitable race-day problems with a smile.

Old Reliables

After spending the last 14 years as a runner, I have easily run over 2000 times. I have run different routes, in different cities, in different weather and in different clothes, but there are those runs that I will run over and over again. Routes that have cemented themselves in my mind, ones that I look forward to running every time.

There is the 2.75 mile route from my mother-in-law's house in the inland hills of San Diego. This one I run every Christmas morning after the early morning present rush and before the afternoon extended family dinner.

The first mile starts out easy. The first time I ran it I was convinced that I was having the run of a lifetime, where every thing falls into place and every step feel like pure joy. After the first mile, I looked at my watch and noticed it was the fastest mile I had ever run.

And then I turned the corner at the bottom of Alpine Boulevard and realized that I had been running downhill the whole time and that the incline could not last forever. Those first steps around the corner taught me quickly that it would be a long uphill journey home. I finally felt the elevation kick in and start to burn my lungs.

Now, Alpine is not all that high up, but for a girl who has, with the exception of four weekend spent at the bottom of the rockies in Colorado, never lived above thirty feet of elevation, it feels like Everest. The next mile is spent in a gradual incline and then another corner. Then I am running straight up.

At the top of the hill on the right of the road is a graveyard, and by the time I have reached it I feel like finding one of those empty holes, lying down, and just waiting for someone to come along and throw a little dirt on me. The rest of the run is a gentle downhill that lulls me into believing it wasn't such a bad run and that I will probably do it again next Christmas.

There is the run from my parents house that is flat and fast and gives me a chance to see how much speed I have earned from my training. Nine-tenths of a mile as hard as I can before I reach the turnaround at the end of the boat docks in the Seal Beach Marina, stop for a moment to breathe in the salty air, admire the 50 foot cruisers and racers, dream for a moment of taking to the sea for a year long voyage, turn around and sprint the nine-tenths of a mile home faster than I ran there.

There was the five mile loop I ran every Tuesday in college. The one with someone singing cadence alongside me and yelling, "Run! Walking is for wussies." (I think that may be the edited version).

There's the Torrey Pines loop that starts with a hike straight up the mountain chatting with Tony, only to be followed by a great dirt road gently sloping to the sea with enough stairs to descend and turns to make and tourists to dodge that you have not a moment to think of how tired you are, and the views that lull you into the false belief that you could do another loop, no problem.

The great thing about these runs is that you I them so well. I know exactly how hard they will be, and the exact spot where the run will give me a great view, and when I know that it is all downhill form here. I usually seek one of these runs out when I am faltering in my training, or when life is spinning out of control and I want something to turn out like I planned it.

They never disappoint. For me they are a lot like my faithful meals. The ones that I am so familiar with that I know, without fail, exactly what they will do to my blood sugars, and precisely how much insulin to give to cover them. They are the old reliables.

After a day like today, where I am eating on another person's schedule, and the dinner that was planned for two-o'clock is served at three, and I have no idea what ingredients were used in the dishes served to me (did they use canola oil or butter? Or maybe just plain LARD!), when I have been chasing my blood sugars all day and testing every two hours, and checking Johnny every twenty minutes, it is nice to go back to the old reliables and be sure that my blood suagrs will turn out just like I planned.

I think tomorrow will be a day filled with them. A Met-RX shake for breakfast, an apple and string cheese for snack, a Met-RX shake for lunch, and a two egg omelet with a little veggie sausage and some bell peppers topped with a quarter-cup of shredded cheese next to a piece of wheat toast to wrap up the day and plenty of water all day to replace what all the highs took from me today.

And hopefully balance will be restored and I will have one of those flat-line days that we all love to boast about and post pictures of on Facebook. You got to love the old reliables.

Signs You're a Triathlete

1. The water bottles in your house out number the cups.

2. Your concept of a date night with your husband is to get a babysitter, go on a 25 mile bike ride, and then stop in for some recovery nutrition.

3. To get ready for a night out, you don’t spend 2 hours getting showered and dressed, you spend 2 hours on a run to burn off the calories you plan to consume at dinner later that night.

4. You coordinate your wedding site with the site of your race later that week.

5. You mistake your Body Glide for deodorant.

6. Watching a movie is no longer killing time, but is an essential part of your recovery plan.

7. Your three year old recognizes Andy Potts on a magazine cover and your six year old can rattle off the names of over 10 pros including who won the first Ironman at Kona.

8. The walls of your home are no longer covered with fine works of art, but are plastered with your race numbers. 9. When dressing your kid, you tell him he’s practicing for transitions so that in three years, when he’s finally old enough to race, he will be ready.

10. When your work wardrobe is entirely comprised of quick dry clothing.

11. When even your dress shoes have Yankz on them.

12. Your kids ask if they can have aerobars on their bikes even before you take off the training wheels, and you actually start to draw the schematics to make it happen.

13. You consider a guy hot simply because he has a double water bottle cage off his seat post.

14. When the only mail you receive in a day is race related; your next race confirmation, a RoadRunner shoe sale flyer, a Hammer nutrition newsletter