Training Plan!

Since January my coach has been providing me with monthly goals to build up to and reach each month. While I begged and pleaded for a "training schedule", we he decided that it was smarter to give me flexible goals each month while I built up my endurance. By doing this, I wouldn't be bound to a strict training plan and I wouldn't get burned out before the meat of training even started.  Now, I did take his goals and put them in a pretty little Excel format but I followed orders and didn't force myself into a rigid routine. If I had to skip a swim or move a bike ride, I didn't freak out about it. As long as I hit my goal each month, I knew I was on target for where I needed to be.

So I've slowly been building up my long bike rides, my endurance swims and my long run over the past 4 months while anxiously awaiting the start of "real" training and my official 6 month training plan. This past weekend I couldn't take the suspense any longer asked my coach if I could finally see it. Not knowing what I was in for was exciting and scary. I expected the worst, that's for sure. The training plan came with an intro document to explain things and explicitly pointed out that this plan is tried and proven and has produced an Ironman finisher every time it has been used. The last sentence said, "You are going to be an Ironman at the end of all this hard work." I screeched with excitement when I read that sentence and have read it about 20 times since!

Following the intro document I quickly opened my training plan and the associated document to explain all the workouts. My first reaction was that it all looked very manageable...almost too manageable. I freaked out a little bit and re-read the intro document, "Your plan will make you an Ironman." I have that over the top mentality that more training is better, even though I've learned the hard way that overtraining is the dumbest thing you can do.  This process is about getting me to the start of the race healthy both physically and mentally, it's not about beating me down to the point where I don't even make it there. I spent the next day looking at the plan, walking away from it, coming back and looking again. Each time I became more comfortable with it and the progression built into each month.

And then last night it all came together. I was beaming while I rode the bike trainer, thinking about the crazy weekend workouts that lie ahead. The freak out was over. This is my schedule for the next 6 months. I'm going to eat, breathe, sleep Ironman training and I'm going to do it with the biggest smile on my face. Because at the end of all this hard work, I WILL be an Ironman.