Life with children, jobs and schedules that do not conform to a training schedule is probably the biggest challenge any amateur athletes faces. I am no different, and for me, there was a very hard lesson in that, dealing with a training plan while being flexible to an ever changing life schedule. There are times when sticking to the plan is a near impossibility, and worse, any deviation from ‘the plan’ just created more stress and friction, which made the problems cascade.

Somewhere along the way, someone reminded me of the most important tidbit that I was letting slip; this is supposed to be fun too. It is hard, sometimes it hurts, but at the end of the day, I am doing it because I want to, not because I have to. Remembering that, I found a need to reengineer how I train and workout, and more specifically, how I build my training plans. Once I hit the end of the season last year, I started with a new philosophy, and I am finding that I am so much better mentally and physically.

10-15 Workouts a Week

In the past, I set up rigid schedules.
* Monday was Swim/Bike ( recovery pacing )
* Tuesday was Core/Run ( tempo )
* Wednesday was Swim/Lift/Bike ( fast twitch )
* Thursday was Core/Run ( fast twitch )
* Friday was Rest Day
* Saturday was Bike/Run/Cross ( endurance )
* Sunday was Swim/Run/Cross ( endurance )

Missed workouts made me stressed about not hitting goals, and honestly, going into the later portions of the season, I was in grind mode. It wasn’t much fun.

This season, I decided to change it, and build in some fun along with some adaptability. Instead of such a rigid schedule, I set up my workout plan and adjust as life dictates. A missed workout isn’t a crisis, and I am switching to a regimen that emphasizes volume in Z2-Z3 over more traditional Z4 high intensity workouts. The intent is that I should spend 85% of my training time in low Z3 or lower, but I will probably accumulate more miles and hours than I did in the past.

What does this look like in practice though?

Let’s look at last week for example. Last week was a baseline week, so it was about measurements.

1. Swim ( easy pace 2000 meters )
2. Bike ( FTP test, 60 minutes )
3. Core ( body weight only core, 30 minutes )
4. Run ( easy pace shortest of 30 minutes or 3 miles )
5. Swim ( Speed test, warmup, 1000 meters at threshold timed, cool down )
6. Pilates ( abs/core focus, 30 minutes )
7. Bike ( 60 minutes, athletes choice )
8. Yoga Stretching ( whole body, breathing focus for 30 minutes )
9. Run ( Lactate Threshold Test, crying is allowed )
10. Life-Style Exercise ( Golf, Walk, Hike, Swim, Bike, athletes choice, 60 minutes )
11. Bike/Run Brick ( endurance pace, 90 minutes bike, 30 run )
12. Swim ( endurance pace, 60 minutes )
13. Life-Style Exercise ( minimum 60 minutes )

There are not rigid days for getting these done, so last week, 1,2 & 3 all got done on Monday. Tuesday was just 4. Wednesday got 5,6 & 7 done. Thursday saw 8 & 9. Friday, got 11 done, and Saturday saw 10 get done, and due to some schedule conflicts, a 60 minute bike was subbed in for 12. Sunday? it was a treated as a Rest Day with cleaning house as the Life-Style exercise. Trust me, that’s a workout, we have kids in the house.

The key is to look at the body of work, and be fine with missing a workout here or there, and being willing to adapt. Missing a swim isn’t going to break a race, but getting bent out of shape because it got missed, or because Saturday is overbooked and getting angry (or missing out on important life events) because of a workout might ruin a race. In addition, each week I flag 5 workouts as key workouts that are the ‘important’ ones, and if something has to be cut, these are the last to go.

In full disclosure, my weight is up about 10 lbs from my race weight of 185 lbs. I do not consider this a crisis, as it will come off over the coming months. My LTR is right where it was at the end of last season. I was hoping it would have come down a little, and since I did the test indoors on a treadmill, it may well have. I do not cool as well indoors. The bike FTP number is actually a little higher than I expected. For the test this session, I used the numbers from the TACX Bushido trainer instead of off the crank based 4iiii Precision power meter. The Bushido has been consistently about 8% lower than the Precision, and it was again for this test, but the output number is 1 watt greater than my end of season FTP test using the Precision..

So what does this first build week look like?

1. Swim ( Z3 intervals 4×100 meters )
2. Bike ( Z2-Z3 intervals 6×6 minutes / 2 minute recovery )
3. Core ( body weight only core, 30 minutes )
4. Run ( easy pace shortest of 30 minutes or 3 miles )
5. Swim ( tempo, 2000 metere )
6. Pilates ( abs/core focus, 30 minutes )
7. Bike ( 60 minutes, recreational pace )
8. Yoga Stretching ( whole body, breathing focus for 30 minutes )
9. Run ( cadence drill, 10 minute warmup, 30 minutes at 175 spm cadence w/ metronome, 5 minute cooldown )
10. Life-Style Exercise ( Golf, Walk, Hike, Swim, Bike, athletes choice, 60 minutes )
11. Bike/Run Brick ( endurance pace w/ hills, 90+ minutes bike, 30 run )
12. Swim ( endurance pace, 60 minutes )
13. Life-Style Exercise ( minimum 60 minutes )

When the week forces adjustments, they’ll be made, and I know going into each week exactly what can be adjusted. I also know that if Friday’s schedule sets up to make those workouts exceptionally difficult to fit in, then I can adjust my ‘rest’ to Friday, or pick it up somewhere in the middle if needed.