Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The importance of planning your race season

I first got the notion of trying a triathlon around Christmas time this last year. The notion blossomed into an interest, an interest into a need, and finally an obsession.  It's practically all I think about now.  Almost every athlete plans their day around Multisport, varying between getting workouts in, eating the right things at the right times, recovery, research, racing, and trying to fit in the "secondary" things like work, family, sanity, etc.

With this post, I originally was going to explain my early transition to my "running" season, which I will, but I also wanted to touch on the importance of planning for your year during the early winter months.

Since I started training on a whim, I really never planned on a "season" of sorts this year.  I really never followed a training plan till March, and never thought I'd be doing anymore races after my first "real" triathlon in May (the Indoor Tri in Feb. didn't count...). I had zero knowledge of the racing season, building base over the winter, or any formal "sequence of the year" for racers.  As I mentioned a WAY long time ago, I got Joe Friel's Triathlete's Training Bible, and have been SLOWLY working my way through it (again, thanks clinical!).  I purchased the book to fill in the blanks of information I felt I was missing, like planning for a complete racing season, scheduling a taper for a specific race, and basically being a "smart" athlete.  It has been very helpful, and would fully recommend it to any new Triathlete.  If you are interested in doing your first race, don't worry about planning a season.  Just do it!  Then plan ahead when you want to do another!

Unfortunately now, due to my lack of foresight and planning, I get to sort through races that have higher race fees than the temperature outside (aka not cheap).  Thanks to the limited budget of student loans, I can't afford anymore race fees, let alone some needed tires for the ol' bike (tires+shifters+aero bars+group set+ TT bike).  I also have a vacation scheduled in August, which I know is going to hinder my training for the 10 days I'm out of town.

As of today (or 2 weeks ago), my last triathlon of 2011 was the Shawnee Mission Triathlon.  This is pretty disappointing, since it is mid July, the heart of the triathlon season.  Although it is pretty cool ending on a AG placement at the race, I thought my overall performance could have been better. On the other hand, I had a good bike, but left some room for improvement on the run.  The need and want for improvement has led to a BIG surge of motivation for running now.

I have 3 races lined up till my first half marathon in October, and am now in the midst of my Half- Marathon training plan, courtesy of the Runner's Edge here in KC.  I am setting the bar pretty high for my half mary goal, which I may unveil at a later date.  I am running further and more often than I ever have before. It's pretty crazy how each week I have my farthest run ever.  Last week it was 10 miles, this week it was 12!

I really can't wait for this fall and winter, mainly because I am already figuring out my racing and training schedule for next year.  I have a lot to build and improve on, and am just excited to get the work going.  I will also have a bit more time to train, once my clinical ends (or so I think).

If anyone has any races they'd recommend, around KC or abroad, let me know so I can check it out or add it to my wish list!

And if you are starting out, have some questions, or want to give me some pointers, let me know!

1 comment:

Mark said...

Good luck with that half training. I remember battling the summer heat when I trained for my first one a few years ago. It was soooo hard. Bummer that the race funds have dried up, but I guess you'll just be that much better by the time you compete again.