Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Winter Training Recap


Given it’s the first warm sunny day of the year here in Utah it seemed like a good time to record how my winter training program went. Maybe then winter here in the Wasatch will finally end. We kind of skipped spring but what are you going to do? At least our house isn’t about to get flooded so I’ll count myself lucky.


Back in December I wrote down some goals and carved out three large blocks of training leading to a race at the end of April. May was a month “off”, and now it’s time to add to the base I spent the winter building. I don’t often record the end result of my programs. The goal of this blog is to educate; hopefully in an entertaining manner, and planning a program aids with this. Results are a nice perk, especially when you hit a goal, but the important elements of training programs happen en route. End results are personal and I only report on them if there’s a good story involved or something to learn.


This time, however, I’m rolling my winter training into another program that should be some help to all of you Beachbody-ers that use our programs to train for sports. The next phase of my Year of Fitness will be putting my knowledge to the test, big time. But that quest begins later. Today we’re recappin’.


From December:
Goal: since all training plans must have one, is to build a huge fitness base that will see me through an epic year of adventures.

I think this goal went well. While a lot of my sports specific fitness is nowhere near its peak my general conditioning is as good as it’s been in my life. I’ve got no acute injuries (other than some scrapes from falling off my mountain bike), my chronic pains are all at bay, and my strength base is very well rounded.

training with finnegan: meaning most of it was on trails. not ideal for speed but big plusses for fun, especially when you consider how crazy an un-exercised rescued cattle dog can be.

My primary fitness test, Duathlon Nationals, went well. With very little sports-specific training I easily qualified for the World Championships in a fun, very spirited, and ultra-competitive race for a multi-sport event (which can be very boring). Later I learned that a few of us had been penalized for some weird infractions and then had to sweat out the selection process as our penalties (6 minutes in a race where I was 4 behind the winner) knocked us into the alternate category for the US team. My official notification of selection came just as I was ready to target some new goals for the next round of training, but now I’m all in for the World’s in September, in Gijon, Spain.

probably losing time for sporting un-triathlon-specific ritte clothing

Climbing-wise I’m way behind schedule, mainly because the weather has been dreadful. Last week we humped some gear up to a local crag (with a one-hour uphill approach so we stash gear so that we can “run” up and down after work) and it was still completely soaked. Most of our local cliffs won’t be ready until midsummer so there just hasn’t been any urgency to get serious.

And while I’ve had very little time for long endurance days the few I’ve put in went surprisingly well. This is a testament to how solid a fitness base our programs build as my training centered, as you may know, on Asylum, an as-of-yet unannounced Beachbody program, and the PAP phase of X Two.

likely i was the only one racing in tucson who did this sort of thing for training.


There were no injuries during this phase. I only missed training during 90X filming, where I’d scheduled a break anyway, and the week following it when I got sick—about as good as I can expect in a five-month program.

what's next, buddy?

My break officially ends on June 1. The summer training schedule will be announced soon. If you plan to use Beachbody programs to prepare for any outdoor sports pursuit, particularly multi-sports, I’d recommend following along.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I will be following along. I planned on training for a 5k that's happening in September but I looked online this morning and its already closed to new runners.

Never having liked running much, it's something that I've recently been very interested in. Dont' ask my why.

But, I look forward to see what you have for the summer.

Bruce Anderson said...

So happy to got into the Worlds and the penalty thing didn't screw it up. SO...hopefully we'll see you here in France before.

Trainer T.s Fitness said...

Always following along......great pictures :-)

Tommy said...

Love the follow up. So thankful for Beachbody's programs. Started last June with my ancient DVD of Power 90, then picked it up with 90X, then jumped into an Insanity-90X routine. At first, it was about health, weight and looking good. Now it's about fitness and simply living. Planning on a half-marathon in October. From you've I've found that training without an event, it makes me lose motivation....and I slack.

Your adventures make me want to explore the physical limits of my body and also the world.

The Dude said...

Good luck in Spain. "X Two" is a MUCH better name than "mc2"! Is it safe to assume that your training through the summer will be limited to Beachbody programs?

Carlos said...

Will be following in anticipation :)

Dan said...

Been following your blog for a while but not sure how I never connected the dots you're in the geographically awesome Utah until the last few days... which kinda brings the whole "using Asylum to train for the Ragnar Wasatch Back" a weird full circle. You were always cool and a go-to man of wisdom... but now 100.87% more so. High Five.

Matt Withers said...

"The summer training schedule will be announced soon. If you plan to use Beachbody programs to prepare for any outdoor sports pursuit, particularly multi-sports, I’d recommend following along."

Um, hell yes!