The Value of Goals

Last year my only goal was to finish an Olympic distance triathlon. Specifically, finish the NYC Triathlon. I had a lot of work to do. I'd never swam other than for recreation. I'd never run after biking. My fitness level was 0. Knowing that I had a lot of work to do, my only plan was to do a lot of work. I ran, I biked, I swam, I went to Crossfit. I did whatever I could whenever I could and I always went for maximum effort. Each workout was an attempt at a personal best with the assumption that I was more fit each day than the last. This assumption was incorrect. In fact, I was creating an increasing amount of fatigue. I'm quickly discovering the disadvantages to the way I approached training last year.

With a plan and clear goals, each workout has a purpose. Right now, coming off a long break and a minor injury, I have an overwhelming urge to run a 5k as fast as I can, or jump on the bike and sprint over the Manhattan bridge. Though it might be fun and a great release of energy, it won't do a whole lot for building the foundation I'm looking to develop in the coming months.

This morning, for the first time ever, I timed my 100m swim at my race pace. I swam like I needed to swim 1500m and recorded the 100m splits a few times. Now, keep in mind, I'm a novice swimmer. My 100m split was 2mins. That puts my 1500m at 30mins. This is bad, but hey, that's my time. Without this embarrassing truth, I wouldn't have a clear goal and therefore a clear direction for my training. My immediate goal is to get my 100m split down to 90sec by March 31st (1500m in 22.5mins). I've got 2.5 more weeks of general fitness building and then a solid 8 weeks of speed and endurance training to achieve my goal.

I'll do time trials this weekend for running, biking, and a Crossfit workout that will serve as a strength test (sets of thrusters/pullups for time, aka: Fran). In the past, all I ever did for running and biking was lay down some miles. This year I'll do drills as well as the long endurance runs. Reps on hills, sprints, intervals, etc... I want to get my race pace on the bike to 25mph and my run to 8min/mi after a 30 mins on the bike. I'll want to boost my 10k run time to something like 45mins. My immediate running goal is much more modest, get my 5k (3miles) down to 22mins by March 31st.

The last goal that will help all the others is to get a handle on nutrition and drop down to 175lbs. I've already shed 6lbs in 2 weeks so I should be able to get to 175 by March 1.

And there you have it, clear cut goals that will help define each workout. I'll do testing every 4 weeks to see how I progress and adjust accordingly. Each workout will then have a clear purpose - speed, endurance, or power or a combo of both. Easy, right?