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July 1, 2008
getting to the next level
Now that I have reached the podium in my age group, I have found a new pinnacle of frustration. All my friends think I should get a coach. I do not necessarily disagree with them as I basically just do whatever seems to be a good idea at the time when I train. There is not a whole lot of method to my madness except that I think I should bike, run, and swim about 4 times per week. And I think I should strength train once or twice a week. And I like to do intervals with my club, and ride uphill, and swim in open water, about once a week. As you can see this is not very scientific, so my friends feel that if someone with method to his/her madness told me what to do, perhaps I could go a little higher on the age group podium or even approach the overall podium.
Clearly it does seem like a good idea. However, the world of finding a tri coach is a scary, confusing, and expensive place. Ideally I would like to be on a team of some kind so I had some people to do workouts with, I would like a schedule, and I would like a single person that I could email with occasionally. And I would not like to spend a thousand dollars a month for this service. Holy cats, is this hard to find! Especially for someone who wants to get on the podium. It seems like there are some very reasonable programs out there, but they are designed for beginners and casual athletes, and I do not think I really qualify for that type of program any longer. I do have a normal job and I understand the limits of my talent, so I don't want to go pro either, but I would like to find a happy medium. What a pain! Anyway, I feel better now, so thank you for listening to me vent about my Quixotic quest.
Now that my race was a few days ago and I am in a whole new month, I am feeling good and I am ready to bump my volume back up. Yesterday I ran easy in the morning and then went to a lifting session with my friend Michelle and our strength trainer. It was a fun, pretty light workout. However, my arms did feel it a bit in the pool this morning - Tuesday mornings are usually kind of rough (and slow) for that reason. I did a few 500's and some shorter stuff this morning for a total of what I believe is 1800 meters.
Once I bust out of here, I will be riding for maybe an hour and a half or so. I cannot wait for this weekend when I will have a lot of time for a long ride or two. I will also be able to bust out my first real long run in a few weeks as my races and trips have precluded a real long run for the past several weeks. That should be fun and hopefully it won't be too hard!
Posted by barb at July 1, 2008 2:23 PM
Comments
Hey Barb!!! About 3 days ago I THOUGHT I left a comment on your blog about your race/coaching but apparently I didn't!! Anyway - the short version is - GREAT job at your race!! And, if you are still looking for a coach, I would highly recommend mine. Let me know if you have any questions or are interested! Hope the recovery is going well! :)
Posted by: Beth at July 8, 2008 6:30 AM