Exercise vs. Training

With World Championship 70.3 approaching quickly, I think I should dissect a crucial element in my preparation for the event.

I stopped "training" in mid-May. Although I ended receiving daily schedules back in November of last year after Maui, I got into pretty solid shape during the winter and early spring by hanging onto the coattails of those much better than me. By doing Christine's workouts with her and riding the various group rides occasionally along with some long stuff with some V10 powered pros I found myself to be ready for Santa Rosa. I was even pretty ready for Deuceman, as I continued to ride the wave of that fitness.

Once that was over, I got back into a groove of exercising. It's actually incredibly refreshing to work out 10-15 hours a week but completely on my own terms. You should try it sometime!

That being said, "exercising" does NOT make you ready to tackle the best age groupers in the world for 4-5 hours. I have solid run fitness due to my ongoing run streak (10+ weeks), laughable swim fitness, and a 2.5hr power on the bike that's probably dropped 20%. So, instead of trying to go sub 4:20 (or maybe sub 4:30 looking at this course), sub 4:50 is going to be a pretty solid achievement.

Which is all kind of amusing to me, in some ways, looking back on what I used to want out of triathlon. Race finishes and crushing workouts helped me define myself and my self worth. Was that healthy in the long term? Absolutely not. It "worked" for 3 or 4 years. Then my motivation and fitness fell off a cliff. But that's ok, because I know I am a good athlete who has worked hard for a while and has decided that I want different things out of my swimming, biking, and running.

So when Christine beats me next Sunday or when you pass me on the bike looking aero but moving slow don't say I didn't warn you! You get what you prepare for.