Triathon Training Week One: Gotta Start Somewhere

I'm starting to wrap my mind around actually doing the Chicago Triathlon this year. For the past two years, I spectated. I think this might be the year to do it. This was my first week of training with the possibility of an Olympic Distance triathlon in my near future. How did I do? Well, you gotta start somewhere.....


As I mentioned last week, I'm following the "Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide" put out by Triathlete Magazine and Matt Fitzgerald. I started with the Level 1 Half Ironman program. As you can see below I wasn't entirely successful: 


Plan/Completed
Running: 30 min run w/ fartleks (done), 35 min run (done), 40 min run (done)  3 for 3
Biking: 45 min w/ intervals (done), 60 min (done), 60 min (NOT done)  2 of 3
Swimming: 1200 yd swim (300 yd done), 1200 yard (NOT done), 1500 yard (NOT done) 1/4 of 3


Hmm...not really surprising. I'm a runner, so I got those runs in no problem. Biking is not hard for me to do (slowly), but I don't find it nearly as fun or rewarding as running. Swimming is my weakest area by far, I've never been a regular swimmer, it involves entirely different clothing than biking and running and it's HARD. But I completed only 300 yd out of a goal of 3900 yd? Clearly I was set up to fail.


So, I've re-assed my training plan and decided that I need to upgrade the runs because I really think 3 short runs a week is not enough for my runner spirit, and downgrade the swimming to something more realistic. I'm shooting for an Olympic distance race in August so there's really no need to unrealistically attempt Half Ironman swimming distances. So going forward, I'll use a hybrid of 3 plans: Level 1 Ironman for running, Level 1 Half-Iron man for biking, and Level 1 Olympic for swimming. Keeping the slightly more challenging/time consuming biking plan makes sense- since a disproportionate amount of Ironman is on the bike, I might as well starting getting used to it. 


Now next week is actually taper week for the Med City Marathon on Sunday so I'm making modifications with that in mind....


Plan:
Monday: 800 yd swim, 45 min spin w/ intervals
Tuesday: 45 minute run
Wednesday: 800 yd swim, 60 minute spin
Thursday: 30 min run w/ strides (2 x 20 sec w/ 40s RI) or 60 minute spin
Friday: 30 min run w/ strides (2 x 20 sec w 40s RI) or relaxed mile 
Saturday: 1 mile run
Sunday: Med Ctiy Marathon


Happy Weekend to all!