Two week Triathlon Training Plan…

Don’t be fooled there really isn’t such a thing as a two week plan. Well, not a recommended one anyhow... I was challenged to enter a triathlon in the not too distant future as part of an exercise I am doing to work on the mental aspect of the sport. The perspective I am changing is not necessarily just applicable to triathlon but it could translate to tennis or really just life in general. Sort of removing the little voices inside your head that make you doubt your abilities and in the end hold you back from everything you are capable of achieving. You can check it out HERE. If anything was possible and there were no barriers what would you choose to do?

Given that my training for Ironman Augusta kicks off on about 3 weeks and I have committed most weekends to my training partner, I knew that I needed to sign up for something in early May if I was going to do it. Ideally, I was looking for a sprint tri but since my dates were so limited, there wasn’t a lot to choose from in the ATL. I eyeballed a couple of triathlons with a pool swim but really wanted to do one that had the entire experience, right down to the kicking, scratching and pushing aspect of an open water swim. I settled on a tri May 7th in south Georgia. It is slightly longer than a sprint tri with a 1000y swim, 18 mile bike and 4.3 mile trail run but had great reviews. From what I can tell, it seems to be a small event that is held in some kind of neighborhood with a “crystal clear” lake (so the benefits of the pool – only missing a black line to follow). All participants are invited to spend the day at their clubhouse and pool after the event. Love that! Now if only I can make sure CR is off work that day…

Normally, I wouldn’t sign up for a race that only gives me 2 weeks to prep but I feel that I have been doing a decent amount of swimming, biking and running leading into it so am going to work on tying up the loose ends together in the next week. Basically it involves incorporating a couple of SPIN classes and a couple of extra short runs into my existing workouts. Tonight, I inserted a 3 mile run before I caoched my swim group. For spin, well, I think the worst part is just getting up 15 minutes earlier to go to SPIN class. You wouldn’t think 15 minutes would make a difference in the scheme of things but I can really tell a difference in my ability to keep my eyes open later in the day.

Overall, I am looking forward to the race. I need to try and find out if it will be a wetsuite race. Being in south GA, it is possible the water is warm enough but you never know. I will probably bring at least one just in case. I have both a full and a sleeveless wetsuit (holdovers from my jetski days). I am thinking the sleeveless might be more comfortable. I will have to check it out this weekend - I would hate for it to crumble into pieces on me after sitting unused for so long. (much like the waterproof boots I wore to the New Year's Resolution Run earlier this year). ;)