Oh the madness

On Wednesday morning this week I woke up feeling like maybe my training plan wasn’t what I thought it was. For some reason, I felt like the prep phase I was about to begin was the entire plan laid out for base fitness before the higher intensity stuff began. I have no idea what I was thinking, because I pulled out my book and found the prep phase is only four weeks, and then I have a four-week base I phase, then a four-week base II, and even a four-week base III phase to establish a foundation for the later stuff. 

You see, my training plan is divided like this: prep, base I, base II, base III, build I, build II, peak, and race. Each block is well laid out. As I was glancing through the details of the base phases, my concerns quickly drained; I wonder if my blood drained from my face a little too, because for several minutes I began to feel overwhelmed with the sheer volume of training this journey would entail.

Right away next Monday the 27^th when I begin the prep phase, I’m looking at 11-14 hours for the week. I think I mentioned that before, but for the nearly sedentary kind, it’s a daunting concept. And…that’s why I’ve been working at it for two weeks now. Anyway, on Mondays I’ll be doing a weight-training workout for an hour. On Tuesdays I’ll swim and run for 45 to 60 minutes. On Wednesdays I’ll bike for 45 to 75 minutes and then lift weights for an hour. Thursdays are the same as Tuesdays, Fridays the same as Wednesdays, and Saturdays are 45-60 minutes of swimming followed by 60 to 90 minutes of running. Then Sunday involves 90-120 minutes on the bike.

I’ll follow this weekly schedule in the prep phase for three weeks, and then it’s a rest and test week. The workload is not much smaller (10-13 hours), and three of the workouts are an hour-long test. I’m guessing that means time trial; I don’t really know. We’ll read into that this weekend, maybe.

Let’s step back and view the larger picture again. THIS IS THE PREP PHASE. Ugh. We'll discuss the base I workouts when I can see myself actually finishing them.