End of Q1 Review

Unfortunately I no longer have access to the natty bit of software that allowed me to screengrab the graphical versions of my progress to date. So it is back to painting pictures with words.

Targets that this review is based on are: here.


2015 Annual Targets are:


Swim 92.6 miles.
Bike 2,268 miles.
Run 688 miles.

Swim race 400m under 6 mins.
Swim race 750m under 12 mins 30.
Swim race 1500m under 26 mins.
Optional - Swim race 5k under 1 hour 35mins.

Bike race - Any time trial.
Bike race - Any sportive.

Run race - 5k under 21:30 or 10k under 44 or Half Marathon under 1hr 48.
Run another race - 5k under 21:30 or 10k under 44 or Half Marathon under 1hr 48.
Optional - Run a championship race. 

But because I have S-curved the training plan for the year it is not as simple as quartering the totals this year. Instead I have a more specific set of targets that should be complete by the end of March:

Swim 18.2 miles.

Bike 694.3 miles.

Run 181.9 miles.

I have only done one real race so far this year but it was Elgin 10k in 42:17 so well inside the 44 minute target. I should hopefully have picked a few more of these off by the halfway point of the year as race season starts in earnest next weekend. 

And the actuals to date are:


Swum 20.3 miles.


Biked 702.2 miles.


Run 195.8 miles.


All well ahead of target to this point.

Nothing particularly exciting on the swimming front. I am tumble turning 80-90% of most sessions these days and when we do faster reps in the middle of those sessions I am definitely going faster than last year. Until I get a chance to test the turns in a race and get a longer single rep pace test I am not really going to be able to tell how it is going. Still another month till Knockburn opens so I don't expect to make any real changes here until I can see how things pan out. The only thing I might benefit from is a longer test swim at race pace before going into Turriff triathlon. 

In previous years I have struggled with cycling in Q1 due to the weather and the huge time commitment it takes compared to the other two events. This year has been pretty good for weather and even losing a week to the flu hasn't really cut into my numbers. Also I have had more control of the distances on Sunday rides so instead of slow paced 60 mile rides I have been able to keep the distances a little shorter and the pace a little higher. I am also able to get out and do other short rides in the daytime much earlier in the year than if I had been working so I am already more comfortable on the TT bike than I expect to be before early season races.

Running I am ahead of plan, slightly. And after running a decent time at Elgin 10k at the weekend I should be pretty happy. I am not quite happy though. I think I have done too many short and slow runs. I either need to exchange them for short and fast, or long and slow. If I am going to do 12 miles at ~8-min pace it would be much better to do it in one go rather than spread it over 4 runs. Better still would be 8 miles at 8-min and a separate 4 miles at 7-min or faster pace.

Overall, the flu put a dent in the numbers which I have managed to over-run. The time off from work hasn't really added as much as I expected. This may be because I am starting to struggle for motivation now. Particularly in the last week of March where I have effectively had 3 days off in 5 days. And failed to finish a session on one of the two days where I did train. 

Changes to targets


So what changes to make with 3 months gone?


None. I am ahead of everything, by up to 10%, but partly because I have been out of work and that has cancelled out the flu and cold that I have had. 

I am thinking about adding some shorter running events somewhere through summer if I can fit them in, but we will have to see how that goes once I get a new job and once I am into racing season.