2010: Training Stats

Another year has come to a close. Below is a quick look at my summary training volume stats for 2010 as compared to the prior three years:

Swim:

2010: 357 (000 yards)
2009: 254
2008: 303
2007: 472

Observation: My swim performance in 2010 was the best of my career. Relative to my "natural" capabilities/potential, my swim was the strongest of the three legs this year. I emphasized technique and frequency versus distance. The consistency of my approach to swimming ultimately yielded the second highest volume of these four years.

Looking ahead to 2011, I'll try to basically replicate my approach in 2010. Volume in the 300-400 thousand range seems right. Of the three disciplines, I'll put the least emphasis on my swimming as I feel I have already become very competitive and further competitive gains would entail far too much of a training investment to achieve.

Bike

2010: 10,017 (miles)
2009: 7,753
2008: 9,185
2007: 8,586

Observation: I rode a lot in 2010--probably the most I have in any year. However, my bike performance was disappointing given my historical numbers and this investment of time. Some of this was clearly related to the bike accident (hip, hamstring) I susatained in April which, in retrospect, basically affected my entire racing season. However, I think I spent far too much time involved in long zone 1/low zone 2 rides and not nearly enough training in zone 3 and zone 4.

This is in direct contrast to my approach in 2007 when I rode 15% fewer miles but included much more quality in my rides. My intent in 2011 is to return to my approach of 2007. I expect to do somewhere around 8,500 miles but with a lot of intensity. Further, the emphasis on intensity will come in the first half of the year as I'm effectively treating 2010 as my "base" period. I'll add a lot of longer rides as I get close to my Ironman in November.

Run

2010: 1,348 (miles)
2009: 978
2008: 1,228
2007: 1,511

Observation: A similar conclusion to the bike can be drawn about my run training and performance in 2010. I put a far amount of volume in but it was of low quality. I was also significantly affected by the April injury. My run was the weakest of my three legs (relative to my potential) and it has become my most significant competitive liability.

Unlike the bike, I do need to increase my aggregate run volume in 2011. I'd like to be in the 1500-1700 mile range for the year. In the first half of the year, I'm going to emphasize frequency--in fact I plan to try to run every day in January. After the middle of the year passes I'll start adding longer runs and more rest days. I'm also going to put an early emphasis on hills and speed work up through July.

Cross Training

2010: 77 (hours)
2009: 91
2008: 32
2007: 80

Total Training Hours

2010: 984
2009: 791
2008: 864
2007: 934

Observation: with all of the biking my total training time hit a new high in 2010--an average of almost 19 hours/week. with the above changes I expect this to drop a bit in 2011--perhaps somewhere in the 875-925 hour range. I don't have a specific target as this measure is more the "output" of the above training strategy.

I'll post a review of the 2010 racing season as well as my detailed training plan for 2011 shortly.