Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Resetting Expectations

My first tri of the season is less than four weeks away and I find myself having to adjust my expectations. This tri is the same venue as my very first tri two years ago.  I signed up since some people from work signed up and decided it was a B, maybe even C race.  I'm trying to keep my A races as my 70.3 in July and 13.1 in October though if the 70.3 goes well I have a secret goal of sneaking in a late season 140.6, but I digress.....

When my training looked solid like this in February, I started thinking about crushing my Sprint PR.


After all, I have a couple years of training and racing under my belt.  Should be a piece of cake, a painful piece of cake, but you know what I mean. Then life happened and my consistency went down hill.  Adding the weeks since the end of February and my chart now looks like this.


First a dip at the end of February, beginning of March for my trip to China.  Then a "normal" week, then three weeks of low volume due to knee problems.  The big spike in April was hiking and skiing, hardly any sbr.  Now I'm building back up and happen to be traveling this week and next as well as taking it easy on the knees.  I'm trying to reset my expectations to a "C" race for fun.  In some ways, that takes the pressure off.  In another way, I know I'm going to try to crush it anyway if I'm feeling good.

In other news, my first Oly of the season is the following weekend and it's at the same venue as my first Oly last year.  Let the season begin!


21 comments:

Jill said...

I bet you'll do a lot better than you think. The legs will remember all that training in February and you'll. Hope those knees soon start cooperating. Happy travels the next two weeks!

XLMIC said...

I'm with Jill...I think you might just surprise yourself :)

Raina said...

That red bar goes WAY up there!! :)

OK - so injury stinks, but you have the right frame of mind for this. It won't be your A race, but you can still enjoy it for what it is. And with time off, your knee will thank you. Maybe with a pr! Three weeks of lower volume right before a race sounds like a taper.

Kate Geisen said...

Is this Carlyle? I was too lazy to click the link bc I'm supposed to be working on a paper that's due tomorrow. I'm excited to hear how it goes...and wishing I'd been doing some swimming.

Patrick Mahoney said...

If you have good base, which you do because despite the lower volume you are consistently out there when you can be, my guess is you can dig deep and surprise yourself. Go get it!

Dawn said...

Ahhh...you and I both doing the resetting thing it seems. I regrettably just admitted that my marathon in May is maybe only a half now...due to my foot and chest cold. Life seems to throw us curves- huh? Good for you for adapting your head to your circumstances- I need more work in that area;)
I'm doing the same thing with my 70.3...if it goes well I'm looking at a full in Arizona come November...but guess life can still throw curves...;))
Sorry I've been neglecting coming by...hope I can catch up soon!

Christie said...

Injuries are no fun. It would be amazing getting through a full training cycle with no road bumps. You sound like you still have a positive attitude though - which is important:) I bet you will do a lot better than you expect!!

**Love that hiking spike! I swear by using hiking as a key cross training component!

KovasP said...

A secret 140.6? Intriguing

The Green Girl said...

Awesome that you got in some skiing. I finally got some snowboarding in this past weekend. Glorious, glorious powder.

Yeay for travel stick in Cleveland! Mine will be in the van for two days for Ragnar So Cal this weekend.

ajh said...

I just went back and read your first tri report. I don't want to add 100 yards to my swim but it sure could happen! I laughed at your comment of getting the money's worth from the swim.
I feel better about my swimming for now. I have some things to try in my swim tomorrow.When I left my lesson this week I wrote down what drills I wanted to do and what I wanted to remember. I think I'll remember and I never do.
Skiing is what I grew up doing. I was actually quite decent and lived to ski. I selected my college based on skiing. And now I never go. I did have my kids do ski lessons so they both can although neither one do at this point. (so expensive and distance)

Ali Mc said...

That sucks about the knee. argh. Consistency is key but I don't think that's much of a set back. you have four weeks to get everything back into the tri training mode :)

Teamarcia said...

I was thinking the same as Kovas.

Theia said...

How do you sneak in a 140.6?? LOL

Unknown said...

Your 140.6 secret is our now!!! Anyway, everything is another training day until your 70.3 right?

Patty said...

Sneak in a 140.6??? Hahaha! I love that!

Unknown said...

So, which 140.6s have room this late? Hmm, we could blow your secret out of the water...

Kathy said...

Travel certainly make the training tough but I know you will do well. Best of luck with the Oly tri! SNEAK in a 140.6??? Pretty sneaky, indeed!!

A Prelude To... said...

Let the season beginnnnnnnnnnnnnn!! WOOT!!!

The Green Girl said...

Yes, those Target up and up wipes were amazing. They didn't have that baby powder-y scent that I despise.

I did use my travel stick in between legs to loosen up.

Donna said...

You may be surprised at how well you wind up doing. It's not as if you've been sitting on your couch not doing a thing. Don't mourn the missed volume, just go on from here, because it's all part of the road to doing that secret race. :) By the way, your A race can't be your A race anymore... your "late in the season" secret race is your A race. :) Just sayin'. :) Good luck to you!

Raina said...

Hey Mike, I hope you are getting better with the injuries. Update us soon, OK?