Training update...

I am in the middle of a hard build phase and I am happy to report that things are coming along exceptionally well. I am very pleased with my progress and I really feel like I am setting myself up for a very successful season.
My swimming is coming along nicely. I am swimming a lot with the local masters team/high school kids at Monterey Peninsula College and I am hitting the open water with Reto on a regular basis. I had a bit of a revelation last time Reto and I were out doing an open water workout. I was watching Reto's stroke and realized that my left arm was swinging way to wide on my underwater pull. Once I made some corrections I felt so much more powerful and balanced. Funny how this stuff works...you put in tons of time training to only one day think "what am I doing?" Then you make the slight changes and your times drop instantly. So, I expect with this slight modification and some practice I will be swimming ever stronger in a couple weeks...just in time for the bigger races! I did recently post an open water swim article on my coaching blog and with every passing week I realize how truly important open water swimming is to a triathletes preparation...so, I guess that article was a timely one and I hope some people found it useful.


--This is where we do our swimming!


My cycling is stronger then ever and I still have several weeks before my fitness peaks. I am feeling powerful during my hard sessions and I am recovering quickly. I put in a tough mountain bike race last sunday and I am happy with the way I rode. It was a 20 minute lap (we did 5 laps) with 15 minutes of climbing and 5 minutes of a tight, semi-technical descent...perfect training! I built each lap and felt very strong on the climbs. I was able to maintain a solid and progressively stronger tempo as each lap progressed showing me that my trainer sessions are building my fitness and power, which was what I was hoping for.
My run is on its way. I am putting in the miles and tough sessions as planned and I am certain my running will be in great form by the time temecula rolls around. I am focusing on my bike and swim more this year b/c I know my running will be there. I know what I have to do so I just put in the hard work and when it is all said and done I know I will show up on race day ready to run fast off the bike.
Next week will be hard and it will include some hard mountain bike racing at Sea Otter. I can't wait to test my fitness and I can't wait to get another hard week of training under my belt as I enter my next recovery week leading into Xterra Arizona Extreme (April 26th). So, things are going as planned and, I would say, I am right in line to achieve all of my early season goals, which are tough but attainable.
I am off to pre-ride the Sea Otter cross-country course and then off for a transition run...is this weather not amazing?!!!!!!!
Have a good day everyone and thanks for reading!