My coach is fond of saying that he doesn’t really care what days you do his workouts in his schedule, as long as you do them. He has also experimented greatly with varying the order of workouts to see if there is any difference in the results, and he has seen that there isn’t much difference.
Most workout schedules have a series of light workouts during the week, and then on Saturday you do a medium to long swim, a long bike, and then a short run; and on Sunday you do a long run. After the long workouts on Saturday and Sunday, you get a day of rest on Monday. I have looked at many training schedules and all of them say the same thing.
I would think that this is an attempt to maximize training benefit in performing a workout under energy depleted condition and balancing that with reduction in the chance of injury.
My first trial change was to run long the day before swimming/long bike. This didn’t seem to wipe my legs so much that I couldn’t get a decent workout on the day after running. My second change was now to run long mid-week, and whenever the sun comes out. I may attempt my long bike the same way.
Sometimes the weather just doesn’t cooperate. So at least until the rains subside in sunny California, I am now trying to build my endurance by getting outside whenever I can.

Training is back in full force as I ramp for the Honu Half Ironman on June 3 and Ironman Austria on July 16.
But base building in the Bay Area winter can really suck. Today, I first went to swim at Foothill College and cranked out 4600 meters. It is now the beginning of my “energy depletion” method training which I found to be very valuable last year. Basically, you need to train your body to be more efficient and not constantly depend on outside energy sources to replenish its stores. It needs to learn how to burn fat better, its muscles need to be more efficient in producing power, and your body needs to learn to relax so as not waste energy. But, in order to train for this, you need to constantly use up energy stores and put your body into a place where it is out of the energy comfort zone. So I like to swim an overdistance workout before heading out on the bike.
After swimming, I went out riding on a sunny day, which then turned cloudy as rain was forecast. Sunny days in the Bay Area winter can be deceiving. It looks like the sun could warm you up, but sometimes it does not.
I went out with only arm warmers and a poor man’s windbreaker – basically a Target plastic shopping bag stuffed down my shirt – and went out into the chill.
It was definitely an energy sucking moment. It turned out that the sun had no effect whatsoever on the ambient temperature, and couple that with the wind picking up, really made for a chilly ride. I found myself really struggling to maintain power as I pedalled home, and my body burning extra energy to keep warm, and with constant glances at the sky which looked like I was also racing a cold drizzle home.
As soon as I got home, I jumped into a hot shower and let steaming water run all over me in an attempt to warm up.
Let’s face it. Winter training sucks. And yes, I am a fair weather triathlete. I hate doing workouts in the cold or in the rain.

The season has begun and I am getting my bod out of cobwebs and back into shape. The first few workouts are a bit of a fine tuning – some of them I should be doing better at, but as the training season moves on, I should be getting better.
Given that I actually had an off season this year, I hope that the lowered activity has given my bod time to heal and recover, and bounce back stronger this year.
Focus this year:
1. Even out my left and right legs in training.
2. Get better at cycling.
3. Repair my right arm, so that my swimming can come back.
4. Get FASTER overall.
Key races will be Honu Half Ironman on June 3, and Ironman Austria on July 16. I might sign up for more, but right now I don’t want to overload myself.
I am psyched, however. Overall, I feel really good and am eager to start training smart and strong.

2005 comes to an exciting but mixed year for me in triathlon. First I look upon my 2005 goals:
CYCLING:
To see how close I can get my fitness/strength/abilities to Lance Armstrong.
Well my cycling got better, but I’m still pretty far away from Lance.
ETA to Goal: Never (probably).
More Realistic: Do the 112 mile bike leg of an Ironman at average speed of 20 MPH.
ETA to Goal: ~2 years.
2005 Result: 16.5 MPH at Ironman NZ. Only 3.5 MPH to go (ha!)… Harder than you think!
More Realistic: Generate 250 watts continuous power on 2-2.5 min intervals by end of 2005.
ETA to Goal: Let’s see by end of this year.
2005 Result: Wow. Slow going here. I made it to about 200 watts for 2-2.5 min intervals.
RUNNING:
To run the NYC Marathon in 4 hours.
ETA to Goal: Potentially this year, more likely the next.
2005 Result: Whoo hoo! 3.51 hours at NYC this year!
To run the marathon leg of an Ironman in under 4 hours.
ETA to Goal: 2-3 years.
2005 Result: 4:50 hours for my first Ironman in New Zealand. Only 50 minutes to shave off. Next stop: Ironman Austria!
To be able to sustain 1:35 400s, 3:30 800s, and 8 minute mile repeats.
ETA to Goal: End of 2005, potentially 2006.
2005 Result: With the application of ART for performance enhancement, I was able to hit 800s at 3:14-3:30. My 200s speed was about :45. I didn’t do mile repeats, but I ran 4K at 7:35/mile, then a 2K at 7:15/mile, and then finished with a 1K at 6:55/mile. Definitely my long distance intervals are getting much better.
SWIMMING:
To swim and maintain a tempo pace of 1:45/100 meters.
ETA to Goal: End of 2005, perhaps 2006.
2005 Result: At Ironman NZ, I managed a pace of 1:55/100. But a nerve problem atrophied by right tricep and caused weakness to occur in my right hand. My pace has suffered since and I’m building it back up now.
To move another lane over in my Master’s swim group.
ETA to Goal: By mid 2006.
2005 Result: I was able to jump a lane, but building up my right tricep meant I needed to drop a lane until it recovers.
TRIATHLON:
To race my first Ironman in 13 hours or less.
ETA to Goal: This year….maybe?
2005 Result: Ironman NZ at 13:06! Pretty darn close.
To race Pacific Grove Triathlon in 2:30.
ETA to Goal: Pac Grove Tri 2006.
2005 Results: 2:43 at Pac Grove this year. 2:30 proved to be too great a jump from last year to this year.
To race Half Vineman in 5:45.
ETA to Goal: Most likely Half Vineman 2006.
2005 Results: 5:52, with a disappointing cramping right quad again!
OTHER 2005 RESULTS
1:46 at Long Beach Half Marathon 2005!

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Now for 2006….My goals:
CYCLING:
Work out with 220 watts on continuous 2-2.5 min intervals.
ETA to Goal: End of 2006 Hopefully.
Do the 112 mile bike leg of an Ironman at average speed of 20 MPH.
ETA to Goal: ~2 years.
RUNNING:
To run the NYC Marathon in 3:40 hours.
ETA to Goal: Potentially in 2006. Not sure if I’m going to run it again this year, but if I do, 3:40 will be my target.
To run the marathon leg of an Ironman in under 4 hours.
ETA to Goal: 2-3 years.
To run a half marathon in 1:40.
ETA to Goal: 2 years.
SWIMMING:
To swim and maintain a tempo pace of 1:45/100 meters.
ETA to Goal: End of 2006, perhaps 2007.
To move another lane over in my Master’s swim group.
ETA to Goal: By mid 2007.
TRIATHLON:
To race Ironman Austria in 12:30 or less.
ETA to Goal: This year….maybe?
To race Honu in 5:45.
ETA to Goal: If all goes well and my right leg cramping problem is fixed, it could be in 2006.

As I near the end of 2005, I calculate the cost of my training over this last year:
M2 Coaching: $200/month x 12 months = $2400
Team Clinic/ART/Chiropractic: $4817.50
Dr. Rikke/Healthlogic/Graston/Chiropractic: $730
This doesn’t count all the clothes, powdered sports drinks, energy bars, bike equipment, sneakers, etc. I bought this year.
So coaching+medical = $7947.50
This coming year, I’ll try to keep better track of costs.
But definitely the medical stuff has worked wonders. The performance enhancing treatment of ART and Graston has improved my racing performance greatly.