Ask anyone who is training for an event what training plan that they are following and I bet you get a different answer every time.    Anyone who is serious about their training is usually following something, even if it their own plan.   With anything in life the key is being prepared.    You wouldn’t book a vacation and then forget to pack.   So why would you register for an event and not prepare for it either.   Yes, there are many who probably do this and I have been guilty of it too.    I will admit that when training for my first Half Marathon, I didn’t follow a plan.  I just pulled a Forest Gump and built up my running distance.   There was no special training plan.   Yet still I was training.   I just wasn’t training very smart.

Now that I’ve got a few things under my belt and am planning more for the future, I realize that I can’t just expect it all to fall into place.   It would also be nice if I would be able to walk the day afterwards because my body will be ready.  But how to train when your training for both a Sprint Tri one month and then the following month plan to pull a Hat Trick.    Every athlete (and I don’t really consider myself one, but I digress) unless working with a trainer really needs to figure out what will work for them.   What will fit into the schedule?    What can the body do without risking injury?   Most importantly for me,   how to keep it fun?   Most of us also have lives outside our race/training schedule.   Lives that take up a lot of our time.   So how to fit it all in is usually the biggest question.    But you get out of things what you put into it.   So if you want not just to finish and event, but to finish it with a smile you have to prepare.    I think I’ve found what will work for me and help me be ready when the time is right.

I have done the Iron Girl Sprint before, so I’m not expecting any curve balls.   I also just finished up the NJ State Sprint Triathlon, so I feel like I am prepared for this event.   What I do not feel prepared for in any way, shape, or form is this Hat Trick.   So I have decided my primary focus is going to be on this event.   A Sprint Tri is not an easy event to finish, but I am more confident in my ability to do this.   What I can’t imagine is running a 5K resting for an hour and then running a 10K.  Then going home to sleep to come back for more pain of running a Half Marathon.    So my focus right now is on my running and building up my endurance.   I feel that this can and should also help me in the Iron Girl.

I have a plan this time.   A plan that is working for me.   A plan that someone much smarter about running than I ever could be came up with.   I am following the Runner’s World Training plan.   I’m sure that their running experts  know what they are talking about too.   I’m learning as I go that there is so much more to this running thing than cute shoes although those are important too.    I’m learning about Tempo Runs, intentionally running at a 3 minutes SLOWER pace than normal on some training runs, and just knowing that I am setting myself up for a good experience.  I am training smarter not just harder.    The beauty of the plan that I am following is that on my rest days, I can still (if I choose) do a bike or a swim because these are non impact and will still allow myself to train for the Tri.

I will never be the fastest, but I will be the best that I can be.   That is all you can ask of yourself or anyone else.