The 2010 season is going to be broken down into 3 different segments. Early season, middle season, and late season. Early season will last 16 weeks, middle season will be 19 weeks, and late season will be 15 weeks. Before breaking down these segments it's important to know what my key races are going to be for the season:
* 5/16 - Florida 70.3
* 6/13 - Eagleman 70.3
* 7/18 - Racine 70.3
* 9/26 - Augusta 70.3
* 10/30 - Miami 70.3
Early Season (11/16/2009 - 3/7/2010)
* 3 weeks end of season break (unstructured)
* 13 weeks swim/run/strength focus
* Swim volume build to 30K
* Three spin classes for the bike
* Run volume build to 70 mi
* Run a couple of 5Ks and a 1/2 marathon (3/6/2010)
Middle Season (3/8/2010 - 7/18/2010)
* 3 weeks of unstructured workouts (baby girl is due mid March)
* 6 weeks of big bike volume (300+ mi per week) and overall volume at 26+ hrs per week
* Race Florida 70.3 then recover 7-10 days
* 70.3 Specific training for 2 week then race Eagleman 70.3 and recover 7-10 days
* 70.3 Specific training for 3 weeks then race Racine 70.3
Late Season (7/19/2010 - 10/31/2010)
* 1 week recovery from Racine 70.3
* 6 weeks of big bike volume (300+ mi per week) and overall volume at 26+ hrs per week
* 2 weeks of 70.3 Specific training
* Race Augusta 70.3 and recover for 7-10 days
* 3 weeks of 70.3 Specific training
* Race Miami 70.3
* END OF SEASON
During the early season period I plan to work my swim, run, and overall strength. If you miss the main swim pack you are pretty much out of the race so it's going to be priority numero uno for me to close that gap from 3 mins to ??. I'm starting off the winter in a good place and need to keep building upon that momentum. I'm going to leave my bike in maintenance mode over the winter due to lack of light and conditions. Instead I'll put in some big run miles and focus on strength in the weight room.
The middle season will start off with our first baby being born in early to mid March. I've mapped out 3 weeks of uncertainty around that to give Jen and me some time to figure out how to work our schedules. After that I'll be building my bike fitness for 6 weeks to tie everything together. I'll mainly just focus on getting in a lot of time on the bike and will start the 70.3 specific work directly after that. I've chosen to keep my races spread by at least 4 weeks this year because I got strung out on 3 weeks between last year. The 4-5 weeks in between gives enough time to recover from the previous race and still get in 2-3 weeks of 70.3 specific work before the next race.
The late season will start with one week recovery from the middle season races and then back into rebuilding the foundation with a 6 week big bike volume period of lower intensity training at high volumes. After that will be a couple of weeks of 70.3 specific work followed by the Augusta race and some more 70.3 specific work leading into the last race of the season......Miami 70.3.
I think the way I've laid out this season gives me a good mix of building the foundation for years to come as well as being race ready when it's time to race. Of course, this is just a road map for this season and will no doubt change as the season goes along but I find that it's better to have a plan and make adjustments than not have a plan at all.