March/Q1 in the Books

 A little delayed but this is an update on my on-going training progress.

The SWIM

These charts summarize the volume of my swim training for the first three months and for the first quarter in total--compares 2026 to the same period in 2025.  As you can see, my swim training is quite a bit further along in 2026 vs. 2025--2026 was 74% greater (78k vs. 45k yards).  This has also been true for each of the first three months of 2026 as compared to 2025.  March last year was actually my largest month for 2025 and so far in 2026, all three months have not only exceeded the prior year but are bigger than last year's largest month.  

My right shoulder, bicep and forearm have felt much better this year as my PT seems to have really paid off.  I'm swimming well (although not particularly fast) and my plan for April is more of the same--20-25k yards of base building as my primary focus over the next 80 days will be on getting reading for my June 26/27 29029 event.

The BIKE

In contrast to my swim, my bike miles are down about 6% as compared to 2026.  You can also see the same pattern that existed in 2025 repeating itself in 2026.  Basically, what's going on is the extra focus on run/walk/climb that 29029 creates consumes a lot of time and this is eating into what would normally be a bunch of 3-4 hour bike rides.

My bike training is pretty mediocre at this point.  I continue to put a bunch of miles in but its low quality and lower quantity than the typical triathlon focused pre-season of the past.  Normally, I'd be well over 4,000 miles at this point with something like 1,500 miles in March.  So I'm training at about 60% of the volume (and much less intensity) than I would if Triathlon was my main focus.

Unfortunately, this is likely to continue for most of Q2 as I focus primarily on my late June 29029.  My bike will still be a strength when I do race but not as the same level as I've typically enjoyed in the past.

The RUN

Given my June 29029, his is the main area of focus for my training so far in 2026.  It was also the main area of focus starting the 2nd week of February last year.  The net of both my earlier start this year and my earlier event (June 26th vs. Aug 1st) is that I'm about 15% ahead of 2025 in terms of total run/walk/climb volume.  You can also see that March was essentially the same volume this year as last year.

These next three charts dig into this in a bit more detail:

This first chart above shows the weekly totals for both years.  You can see the 2025 ramp beginning in after week 5, when I learned we were going to do a 29029 last year.  Over the last 5-6 weeks the totals have been fairly similar, although I had two bigger weeks in 2025 (W12,W14)

This second chart just shows the cumulative volume over time.  I think what's significant is that the slope in both years is pretty similar--near 35-40 miles/week.

This last chart is a trailing 4-week average which smoothes some of the week-to-week fluctuations out a bit.  My target for this metric is to be in the 40-50 miles/week region as I start getting into the last 4-6 weeks before the event.  I seem to be well positioned in terms of my aggregate volume.

I think one area that needs shoring up is my longer hikes.  I plan to start adding some 5-8 hour hikes and get my long hike mileage up in the 20+ mile/day range in the upcoming weeks.  I also have not done much running (less than I wanted to) and so my 5k speed is probably pretty compromised.  I'd like to do a couple of 5ks before the 29029 event so this is something I also need to work on.

The one area where I'm very pleased with are my VAST (Vertical Ascent Speed Test) results.  These are my repeats up Mary's Rock in SNP.  I've been twice this year and already have recorded better results than any of the 5 VAST sessions I did last year:

My original plan was to do 5 VAST sessions but I may only end up doing 3 this year given that my high end climbing speed on this difficult climb is already over 2,000 vertical ft/hour.

Strength/Flexibility

I continue to make significant investments in Strength/Flexibility/Balance training, although this year that number is down about 8% from 2025:

 

Total Training Time (hours)
I continue to make very substantial investments in my training in the Q1 base period and my total training time is essentially the same through Q1 for 2025 and 2026:

Prior to 2026, March 2025 was my largest training month on record with January being the 4th (and April 2025 the 3rd largest).  January of this year is now my 2nd largest month and March 2026 is the 4th largest.  Big investment in time and my body seems to be doing just fine so far!

Onwards and upwards!!!

February Update

Another month is in the books.  Lots of distractions and trips limited many of my training options.  In fact 15 of the 28 days in February I was out of town with trips to Minnesota and NYC or had other obligations that impacted my training.  This had a big impact on my swim and my strength/flexibility training as I did not have access to a pool or gym.  None-the-less, I think I was able to put together a pretty solid month of training in spite of the travel.

SWIM (January Grade: A; February Grade: A)

I got in the pool all 13 days that I could and ended up logging 24,500 yds which was consistent with my 20-25k goal for the month.  This is much stronger than the 11,250 yds I logged last year when I was fighting a right shoulder problem.  At 1,885 yds/session in February, this was a nice step up from the 1,635 yds/session average in January.  I had a couple of 2,500 yd sessions so I'm probably already at a level to begin comfortably swimming open water, but this is still 2-3 months away at this point.

So January and February both had more yardage than any month last year and as such I'm off to a great start in 2026.  While I have a lot of travel ahead in March as well, I'm going to once again shoot for 20-25k in March.  I'm also now going to begin introducing some higher quality interval work.  Overall, for both months, I'm giving myself an "A" grade and I'm well positioned to be ready to do a credible job on my early season triathlons in May and June and then my first OWS race in July.

BIKE (January Grade: B; February Grade: C)

I missed 3 biking days in February vs. just 1 in January and none last year.  As a result I was limited to 861 miles which was below my target of 900+ miles.  This was also quite a bit less than the 1,023 miles I logged in January but this is due to 5 fewer days that I could cycle--both months were around 34 miles/session on average.

My bike is clearly on the back burner and with my travel ahead I'm going to set a March goal of just 800-900 miles.  Overall, I gave myself a "C" grade, down from the B in January.

Run/Walk (January Grade: A; February Grade: A)

With a June 29029 as my main "A" goal this year, this training is my main focus for the first half of 2026.  I managed to get out and walk/run every day in February, which was just 1 less than the 29 days in January.  My total miles went up from 140 in January to 149 in February so my average session increased from 4.8 miles to 5.3 miles.  I also begin to extend my longer walks and when I was in Minnesota I walked around our Lake, which was 17.8 miles, most of which was in below zero weather.

Last year I did 127 miles in February and I was shooting for 140-150 miles this month so right on target.  I gave myself an "A" grade both months.  For March, even with a lot of travel I'm going to aim for 170+ miles and hope to get at least 1 20+ mile walk in as well get down to Shenandoah and log my first VAST (vertical ascent speed test) session as I need to start getting more serious about my run/walk training.  I'm also going to begin adding a couple of run sessions each week and see if I can't get ready to run a couple of 5ks in April.

Strength/Flexibility (January Grade: A; February Grade: C)

My gym time was quite impacted by my February schedule and I only logged 11:35 of gym time, which was way below my goal of 20 hours and even below last year's 14:20.  Not much to say here, as I just didn't have the access necessary to hit my target.  Unfortunately, I need to recognize that March will also be challenging to log a lot of gym time so I'm setting a March goal of 10-15 hours.  Less than ideal but given my run/walk priority and my travel, I think this is a realistic goal.

Total Training Time (January Grade: A; February Grade: A)

I was able to log 113:50 in total training time, which works out to just a bit over 4 hours/day.  I had no zero days in February, even managing to go for an easy walk the day of my colonoscopy.  The February total was down from the 139 hours in January (which was my 2nd highest month in the last 15+ years).  I logged almost identical time with 2025: 113:50 vs 113:44--6 minutes more this year.

I was way below my 125+ hour goal, which in retrospect was unrealistic and so despite not reaching my prior stated February goal, I'm inclined to give my self an "A" for total training time in February.  Looking ahead to March, I'd like to hit 115+ hours, but this may prove difficult given my schedule.

So overall, my January "GPA" of 3.8 declined to a modest 3.0 in February and my guess is I'll continue to be a "B" student in March.  Which means, that I'm going to need April and May to be major training months!  Onwards and upwards!

January/1st 5 weeks of 2026 update

 Off to a great start so far!  Feeling very good.  Swim is progressing much faster than I had hoped as my shoulder issues seem to be well managed so far....

2025 Review and 2026 Training Milestones and Goals

 Here is a little loop I put together on 2025: