Daily FU to the coach

He tells me that I can only curse him on long, hard workouts or during my recovery/rest days. Well today he gets his first blog. All to himself.

One thing Coach Dan stressed to me prior to reluctantly agreeing to coach me is that feedback is crucial to the coaching process. He referenced academic works, personal experience and other bullshit. In the first week, I think he learned his lesson and I continue to give him feedback of small, subtle GFY (go f*ck yourself) and I hate you messages. And to think, he is sick enough to enjoy that type of abuse.

Aside from Belgium and IMFL, one of the reasons I hired a coach this year is to learn how to train with intensity. I felt my training was getting a bit stale. I was using bland, ubiquitous workout plans. They assumed the one-size fits all mentality. They work. I am living proof. They have guided me to successes in the past. However, I feel that it was less about the plan and more the fact that I was training consistantly that guided me.

Developing a unique training plan is far from rocket science. It is understanding the variables and knowning when to throw togther a E1a v. S4d workout (sorry geek talk). But more importantly, coaching has me training with intensity. I worked on this a lot in the early part of the season with my half marathon training. Never had I incorporated it in cycling and it was rarely used in swimming. That is how workouts become stale. I start losing focus of workout's objective. It is too easy to plateau when that happens.

Instead, intensity is how you learn to train in those uncomfortable areas. It is learning how to maximize each workout. No longer do I get to enjoy 45-60 minute zone 2 rides during the week. Sure the miles help base build. But now I am stuck doing sets of 2x10 minutes in z4. Vomit. No thanks. I just keep telling myself that it will pay off in the long run. It will, it will.

The intensity has also contributed to the lack of blogging. I am tired. Yesterday alone was a 2h 41m training day. And of course, that didn't count the travel and prep time.

Swim at 6:30 am: WU: 300 free, 4 x 100 done as 25 pull, 25 R arm only, 25 L arm only, 25 free. 6 x 100 Odds: 25 pull, 25 R arm only, 25 L arm only, 25 free, evens: 25 swim, 25 kick, 25 pull, 25 swim. MS: Try to make the times for these as consistent as possible. 10 x 100 @ T-pace (10”). 10 x 50 @ T-pace (10”). CD: 200 easy.

--For the training plan illiterate, that means about 30 minutes of drills then 10x100 at race pace. Followed by 10x50 at race pace. Just a mear 1500y nearly all out.

Ride at 5:00 pm: 10 min Z1/2. 5 min ON/OFF (:30 Z4/:30 Z1). 5 min upper Z2. 2 x 30 min Z3 with 5 min Z1 recovery. 5 min Z1 cool down.

--Two 30 minute intervals. For me on Columns Drive that is holding about 21-22 mph for the entire duration. A typical, non-interval based workout would have likely yielded 19-20 mph the entire time.

So what does all this mean? Other than the fact that I am really tired. Hopefully, it means that I will become a stronger, faster and more competitive athlete. Either way I get to curse Coach Dan on a daily basis.

The key to getting fast is training fast (in a smart way).