Back to work at last so as well as a third quarter review this will also form a 'whilst I was unemployed' review. More importantly it is also the end of the triathlon racing season and I am hoping to chase some more specific goals next year so this will also be a starting point on training for next year's race season.
Targets that this review is based on are: here.
The Q1 review is: here and the Q2 review is here.
2015 Annual Targets are:
Swim 92.6 miles. Revised to 98.3 miles.
Bike 2,268 miles. Revised to 2460.1 miles.
Run 688 miles. Revised to 776.1 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.
Having revised all the numbers at the end of June the Q3-end targets now look like:
Swim 78.5 miles. (Original target 72.8).
Bike 1825.7 miles. (Original target 1633.6).
Run 588.4 miles. (Original target 500.3).
Green are complete or ahead of target. Red are behind or still outstanding.
Actual miles to date are:
Swum 81.7 miles.
Biked 1812.0 miles.
Run 623.2 miles.
All ridiculously far ahead of the original targets to this point and even having lost some ground more recently I am still doing pretty well. The 14 miles off the revised bike target is partly due to the cut off being midweek, by Sunday afternoon I will be ahead again.
On the racing targets.
My 400m target is 6mins and at Forres Triathlon I managed a really disappointing 6:40 and at Alford I only managed 6:32. It was a big ask to get to 6 minutes but to go slower for both races than I did the year before is really disappointing. I may make another solo attempt at 400m before year end as I still think there is a 6 minute swim in me. There is definitely something under last year's 6:25. Trying to find 6 minutes of clean water in a 25m pool for that attempt may make it impossible.
I missed my 750m time again at Inverurie when I came in at 12:35 but fortunately I just snuck under it at Westhill with a 12:28. Happy with that.
1500m swim is a strange one. I am going to colour it green and claim it against the 25:15 I did at Knockburn Standard but I am fairly sure that course was short. My 27:08 at Huntly was really disappointing again. Not only a minute off my target but also slower than last year's time.
I may still try a solo 5k in the pool at some point before the end of the year. I have asked the club if they would be interested in setting up a proper race rather than just timing myself over the distance.
On the bike I did 7 Time Trials against a target of 1, next year the bike TT targets will come with times attached.
I have done my single Sportive at Alford again this year.
I did Elgin 10k in 42:17, so well inside the 44 minute target and then I did the North of Scotland 5k champs in 19:37, almost 2 minutes inside the 21:30 target, clearing off both times and the optional target of running a championship race. I then went to Glen Moray and added a 41:41 for that 10k as well.
Analysis
Now I am back at work I have access to the pretty picture tools again. Purple lines are this year's progress. Solid red was the original plan, dotted red is the revised plan.
Swimming
Swimming is going well for the most part. Even with a single swim each week I am staying ahead of the revised plan.
At the end of Q2 I was also happy with the speed and the progress of my turns. I am happier still with the turns now, but there seems to be a disconnect between the speed I can do some days at training and the speed I can hold on other training days and in races.
Cycling
Biking I am still staying ahead of the original targets but I have only just managed to stay on plan during Q3. This puts me just about on the revised line. Winter rides start on Sunday though, so the miles should go up from now.
Not having the exercise bike from the work gym is going to make the big winter miles colder and harder.
Now I am back in a decent job there is a potential option to get myself a mountain bike for the winter miles. There is also a sensible option to commute to my new job occasionally. Mountain biking is also more of a cycling rep session so is probably more beneficial for sprint races next season. And it is more fun in the dark.
Running
Running is still streaking ahead of target and continuing to exceed even the revised target. No plans to cut this back any time soon.
Also I have been a bit smarter in general at putting in some fast sessions though the year. I could still use more and the weekly fartlek session is definitely helping with this.
Having reached the numbers for a normal year of run miles already, I do expect to go through my highest total ever and probably pass the 800 mile mark by the end of the year. This should set me up well for 2016.
Changes to targets
So what changes to make with 9 months gone?
None.
Being back at work means the original plan should be fairly valid again and since the revised plan is just an offset version of that Q4 should be fairly realistic. The only real risk at the minute is that the bike target has no weather or injury allowance and even a single missed Sunday ride is going to hurt the numbers.
I still think I might try the two swim speed targets at some point.
I would like to get some fast bike sessions in as well as keeping the miles up. This probably doesn't fit with the commuting idea, I hate the turbo trainer, and I don't like to road bike in the dark as Aberdeen traffic is bad enough when they can't claim they don't see you. The obvious but expensive solution is some night time mountain biking.
Running is going really well at the minute and is generally easy enough to retain the miles towards the end of the year. While any serious weather affects the bike there isn't much that really gets bad enough to stop a run.
I might add in a duathlon somewhere. I should really like duathlons but they are only ever held in the cold and wet at the end of the year when I am already into more general fitness training.
