It’s hard for me to follow directions; that’s why I am a terrible cook.  I think I know better than the recipe … if it calls for one cup of something so delicious, shouldn’t one and a half cups make it even better?

The same goes with training plans.  Right now I am part of Endurance Nation, and follow an intermediate level Half IronMan (HIM) plan to get me ready for a HIM this July in Portugal.  But I rarely stick to the plan.  I follow the general aspects of it, but I don’t hit workout after workout.  I’ve gone rogue.

I live in triathlon training paradise (minus the hills).  I live on the ocean, I have access to a pool, and one of the most popular cycling and running training grounds in South Florida is the road (Rickenbacker Causeway) that links Miami to where I live.

Also my training goals are not ambitious.  I am not gunning for a podium spot nor am I trying to make it into nationals.  I want to be healthy (both physically and mentally), and I want to finish the IronMan without feeling like I am dying.

I’ve trained with a team before, and that helped the discipline side of things.  I had accountability, people to push me, and met some great friends along the way.  But it also stressed me out because I spent at least twenty precious morning minutes getting to my training, and then I had to lose another twenty minutes driving back home in time to ship the kids to school.  That’s forty minutes which in my book equals FOREVER especially in the mornings.  Not to mention many times I would have to cut my training short to make it on time.  Or Joe would travel and I was stuck at home. Call me spoiled, but those alone were reason enough to change.

I’ve been training solo for about three months now and it has its pros and cons.  The pros are that I can start ten minutes later or earlier if I need to; and on swimming days, I sleep almost a whole extra twenty minutes … paradise!  The risk though, is that since it’s impossible for me to follow directions on my own, I won’t have someone to tell me “you are doing too much of this and not enough of that.”

This week brought out that uncertainty.   Saturday training was nonexistent as I volunteered all day at my kids school carnival, and then the family went together to a Marlins game.  Not my cup of tea but everyone wanted to go, and I wanted to be with them.   Missing an entire weekend training day is the equivalent of a week in dog years. To give you an idea this was what my plan called for on Saturday:

I feel I am getting stronger, but am I doing enough to reach my basic goals?   This week about 85% of my workouts were kind-of-sort-of what was on my schedule.

Here it goes:

Monday: Didn’t wake up for spinning but did bridge repeats, about six times up a 4% incline mile long bridge.

Tuesday: Open Water Swim.  The ocean was rough, and I ended up going super slow.

Wednesday: Spinning class simulating a huge climb. Tough and awesome.

Thursday: Run – temporarily misplaced my Garmin so ended up doing about 1 hour of fartleks. Here I could’ve done better.

Friday: Swim.  Freaked out about my slow swim on Tuesday so did some speed work.

Saturday: “REST” if you can call it that

Sunday: Bike: 35 miles of speed work.  Intense, heart pumping and exhausting.

If you are a coach out there reading this, please don’t cringe but tips are helpful.  And for the record Endurance Nation coaches can always help you switch things around.  I am the “problem” because I just can’t commit to a plan.  So my goal for next week is to stick to the program as much as possible.

How about you? Do you follow your training plan meticulously?