Winter Training Plan

Every year, I tend to let my fitness slip over the summer - my high hopes and ambitions get dusted with pollen & generally sneezed over. This year I’ve [mostly] managed to avoid this, though through August & September, there was a little trailing off on the hours. Maybe all those races had something to do with that though.

Anyway . . . as I’m ratcheting up my ambitions over the next two years, I want to actually use the autumn & winter to help toward my fitness goals. I have two main objectives for this period:

• Strength training. Never done any of this before. Unless you count my one session in the gym earlier this week. I’m genetically built like a greyhound, which means that I can run & get running fit surprisingly quickly, and cycling up hills is just great. But I’m lacking in speed & power, AND as the [still ongoing] thing with my neck & shoulder has shown, I may be setting myself up to be prone to injury.
• Running Speed. Still got that 10k in 40 minutes goal to do. And the only way I know to do this is to work at it - interval training with the big boys.
• Swim Technique. OK, so that’s three. At the moment, I’m steering clear of swimming hard, while my shoulder heals. But if I want to hit 2008’s goal of 400m in 7 minutes, then sooner or later I’m going to have to get back into the pool and work hard on the technique.

So with those in mind, this is my basic weekly plan for the next few months:

•  Monday: Strength training - 45 minutes
• Tuesday: Run a.m. 3-5 miles easy. Run p.m. with North Shields Poly - typically 5×1 mile intervals + 1.5 miles each way warm up & cool down.
• Wednesday: Cycle 20-40 miles - depends on the weather
• Thursday: Run a.m. 3-8 miles easy. Swim p.m.with NE31 Tri, once fitness allows.
• Friday: Spin class a.m. if I need the mileage. Easy swim OR 30 minutes strength training p.m.
• Saturday OR Sunday - rest day OR cycle 40-50 miles if I feel like it, or the Sunday a.m. spin class
• Weekly training hours: 6-11 hours a week.

So much for the ‘off’ season!

Filed under: Cycling, Fitness, Goals, Injury, Running, Strength Training, Swimming, Triathlon