Why I am doing a blog.....

I have never "blogged" before and I dont even really know how to use text messaging much less...but here I am.....I wanted to create a forum for sharing training ideas, things that worked, things that didnt work and really just make my daily training available for others to see and to learn what to do and probably what not to do in some cases.

I have done triathlons for a while but this off-season has been the first year since my college track/XC days that I have really intentionally trained to the amounts that one probably should if they are going to try to be fairly competitive in this sport. I started off planning my training by trying to research what pros and truely elite age group level athletes do for training schedules. What I found was that nobody shares what they are doing on a daily basis for training. I suppose this is becuase most people are paying for a coach to write their schedules or they dont want their competitors to read what they are doing. Either way, I wanted to make my training pulic for others to learn from if possible. The caveat being that I am self coached (with consistent input from people who are experts in swimming/cycling) and so probably I am doing some crazy things, but i hope i am doing some good things too and maybe sharing that can help someone else in thier training......

A quick note on where my training plans come from...I believe more in the model of becoming a great runner, swimmer and cyclist individually then I do the idea of becoming a great triathlete. This model seems to be more common among the people that win races on raceday from what I have observed. So I try to get expert swimmers and cyclists to help me....

I ran Division I XC/Track for 5 years at two separate programs and was pretty successful, then I was an assistant coach for a Division I level program after my eligibility expired...so I get most of my running stuff from myself. I get swimming advice from Dustin (wont mention last names without permission), a surgery resident and nasty swimmer; he has helped improve my swimming this off season to a level I would have never thought possible at the end of last year...it has truely been dramatic and so I trust him empirically. Cycling input I solicit mostly from Saul, a friend who has coached many great cyclists and an elite triathlete too. My husband Wes is also a great cyclist, especially in a race, so I bounce stuff off of him as well.

I hope this blog can be helpful to someone out there when they are planning their training!