I'm going to start 2021 off by training for a half-marathon (virtual) and adding in TrainerRoad indoor bike workouts. I'll also try to fit in swimming when I can. I'll update my plan later.
Click here to view training plan statistics.
My 2020 training plan was made pre-social distancing and so required adjustment along the way.
For my weekly reports, I've left my calendar as-is in the blog (with actual activity typed on the bottom).
Starting Point. It started with the following 12-week beginner sprint plan. The basics are as follows: one 20 minute swim and run (the 'long'); one 12 minute run (the 'short'), one 40 minute bike; and one 12 minute swim followed by a 24-minute bike. Two rest days. The time increases by 10% week-over-week for two weeks and then drops 25%. After the drop, the pace resumes. There's a taper at the end.
(The 10% increase is pretty common advice in the training material. Some examples: Runner's World; Active.com.)
Other metrics. Based on the advice in Triathlon Running Foundations, ultimately I want to be consistently running 3-5km (1.8-3.0 miles) on my long runs (since my goal is a sprint triathlon). As the race nears, the book recommends over-running the race distance by 10% for two weeks and then reducing to 60% of the distance in the third. The goal is to overrun the race distance 4-6 times for a sprint triathlon. Thus, a goal of 7-9 km (4.2-5.5 miles).
In Triathlon Bike Foundations, the author recommends building up to an over-distance on your long rides. For a sprint triathlon, 35-40 km (21.75-24.9 miles). For swimming, the same author in Triathlon Swimming Foundations recommends the long swim be 20-35 minutes and the other be 15-25 minutes.
Modifications. My initial modification: (i) replaced the short run with a CKO day and (ii) lengthen the number of weeks. My goal was to be ready for the NJ State Triathalon on July 18 and so had more than 12 weeks. The pools and CKO closed, and so I starting adding sprints and doing a longer bike ride once a week. The sprint was replaced with intervals -- see below. In retrospect, even if swimming were an option, I think I would've changed the swim/run for a bike/run and make further adjustments.
Here is my pre-modification training plan.
Reading My Weekly Training Reports
The activities in the white are my planned activities. The yellow bar at the bottom indicates what I actually did.
Run x / Swim x / Bike x -- Pretty self-explanatory: the activity I will be doing (or have done) followed by the number of minutes. If two activities are listed, I plan to do one followed immediately by the other. When it's a Bike / Run, Triathlon Running Foundations recommends that, for a sprint triathlon, the run be at least 1-3km (0.6-1.8 miles) and a bike/run be completed 6-9 times before race day.
The goal is to do the activity without stopping while being able to breathe relatively normally. (The common refrain is that you should be able to carry on a conversation if your intensity is properly targetted.) [Update: 4/18/20]: I've decided to focus on a target BPM rather than completing the run without stopping.
Most of my training is minutes based.
xM Bike -- A distanced focused activity. x miles on my bike. The goal here is distance not speed. Goal is to do a long run once a week, weather permitting.
MG Sprint x -- MG stands for 'Monroe Greens', my nickname for the 7th and Jackson Resiliency Park. In this activity, I plan to sprint north up the east sidewalk (besides the green area) and walk the other three sides. Do this for x minutes, and done!
MG Intervals x -- [Update: 4/18/20]. Instead of MG Sprints, starting in Week 7, I'm going to try 30/30 intervals. The basics: a 10-minute warm-up jog followed up 12+ sets of 30 seconds sprinting; 30 seconds jogging. The goal is to increase VO2 max. The x indicates the number of sets.
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