Anyway, the past month or so has been very different in regards to my triathlon training. My training group, FTP Coaching, has two different programs for athletes: group training and private training. I was in the group program, but have switched to private for IMCHOO, so now I have workouts designed specifically for me and my ability. And...while awesome, is making me a little nuts.
Surprisingly, there hasn't been a huge difference in the amount of time I'm training - yet. I'm actually working out less actual time-wise, than I was a month ago. This is mainly because of my obsessive need to join in every run / race / ride my friends are doing. Before switching over to private training, pretty much anytime one of my friends was looking for a workout partner, I'd volunteer. But no more. I'm sticking to the IM schedule and only the IM schedule. One would think this would help my obsessive behavior of signing up for everything, right?
Not so much, because now I'm obsessing about what I'm missing. It's so frustrating to see my friends sign up for a race and not being about to join them...because I want to do EVERYTHING. Example - I REALLY want to run the Hope & Possibility 5 miler this weekend, but am I? Nope. I'm going to be doing a Run/Bike/Run brick somewhere on the Natchez Trace. I also really want to do the Running with the Goats Trail Run in July - because who DOESN'T want to run with goats, right? But will I? Probably not. I don't exactly know what I'll be doing that weekend, but I'm pretty sure running with goats isn't something my coach will have on my training schedule.
Surprisingly, there hasn't been a huge difference in the amount of time I'm training - yet. I'm actually working out less actual time-wise, than I was a month ago. This is mainly because of my obsessive need to join in every run / race / ride my friends are doing. Before switching over to private training, pretty much anytime one of my friends was looking for a workout partner, I'd volunteer. But no more. I'm sticking to the IM schedule and only the IM schedule. One would think this would help my obsessive behavior of signing up for everything, right?
Not so much, because now I'm obsessing about what I'm missing. It's so frustrating to see my friends sign up for a race and not being about to join them...because I want to do EVERYTHING. Example - I REALLY want to run the Hope & Possibility 5 miler this weekend, but am I? Nope. I'm going to be doing a Run/Bike/Run brick somewhere on the Natchez Trace. I also really want to do the Running with the Goats Trail Run in July - because who DOESN'T want to run with goats, right? But will I? Probably not. I don't exactly know what I'll be doing that weekend, but I'm pretty sure running with goats isn't something my coach will have on my training schedule.
However, it's the more detailed training has really taken my obsessiveness to a new level. I've always been one of those people who would run extra because my Garmin HAD to register the exact distance I was planning on doing. Can't stop my run at 4.97 miles - nope! Have to take it all the way to an even 5 miles. Now that I have actual paces that I'm supposed to hit in every workout, as well as distances, my OCD is off the charts. It's a good and bad thing. Good because I'm working hard and I think it'll pay off when I get down to Chattanooga. Bad because I really beat myself up if I don't hit every workout exactly. While I know there might be other factors contributing to why I'm not nailing a specific workout (diet, weather), it doesn't really matter at the time. If I don't hit the workout - I suck.
To make it even worse, Training Peaks (TP), which is the system that my coach uses to schedule my workouts, has a color-coded system on their mobile app that tells you if you hit your workout or not. After you upload your data for the day, your workout will be highlighted in one of three colors. Red means (in my mind, not officially) "Nope - you suck." Yellow mean "You showed up and made the attempt." And, of course, green means "Rock Star!" I really, really hate seeing red after I upload my workout.
You want to know how crazy I am with this stupid color-coded system that only I can see? This past week, my coach had written a swim workout that was 2,200 meters, but had posted in TP that the swim was 2,500 meters. Guess who swam an extra 300 meters so their TP app would show green for that workout? This girl! Not that the extra time in the pool hurt me any, but the point is that I'm a little nutty. I know this and am working on it.
What's funny is that after reading this, you're probably thinking that I'm obsessive like this about everything - how neat my house is, that my clothes aren't wrinkled, etc. Nope. It's pretty much just workout stuff (and spreadsheets. Oh, how I love a good spreadsheet). Weird, huh? Although, I guess if you're training for your first Ironman, being obsessive about your training isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Happy Training! See you on the road!
To make it even worse, Training Peaks (TP), which is the system that my coach uses to schedule my workouts, has a color-coded system on their mobile app that tells you if you hit your workout or not. After you upload your data for the day, your workout will be highlighted in one of three colors. Red means (in my mind, not officially) "Nope - you suck." Yellow mean "You showed up and made the attempt." And, of course, green means "Rock Star!" I really, really hate seeing red after I upload my workout.
You want to know how crazy I am with this stupid color-coded system that only I can see? This past week, my coach had written a swim workout that was 2,200 meters, but had posted in TP that the swim was 2,500 meters. Guess who swam an extra 300 meters so their TP app would show green for that workout? This girl! Not that the extra time in the pool hurt me any, but the point is that I'm a little nutty. I know this and am working on it.
What's funny is that after reading this, you're probably thinking that I'm obsessive like this about everything - how neat my house is, that my clothes aren't wrinkled, etc. Nope. It's pretty much just workout stuff (and spreadsheets. Oh, how I love a good spreadsheet). Weird, huh? Although, I guess if you're training for your first Ironman, being obsessive about your training isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Happy Training! See you on the road!
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