January Summary

Here's a little summary of time spent training in January 2010. I don't actually train by the month--I train by the week. I also don't train by mileage--I train by time. This year, however, I am trying to keep track of the mileage/distance that results from the time spent training so we'll see how that works out.

Specifically, I use the "Monday thru Sunday" method for a training week. A new week begins on Monday, even if the month changes. However, January 2010 worked out pretty well (for the end of the month) as I started training on the first Monday of the new year, January 4, and this last week ended on the last day of the month, Sunday, January 31.

So, here at the stats for January 2010:

TOTAL Training Time: 25 hours (January 4 - January 31, 2010)

SWIMMING - Hours: 6.25 (Yards: 15,300, Long swim: 1600 yds)

CYCLING - Hours: 8.75 [Miles: 151.9 (all indoor); Long ride: 1 hour (17.9 miles)]

RUNNING* - Hours: 5 [Miles: 31.45, Long Run: 3.9 miles (33:00 min)]

STRENGTH** - Hours: 5

AVERAGE Training Hours per week: 6.25

* includes indoor/treamill & outside
**includes weights & phys therapy exercise time

My training time is scheduled to gradually increase starting about mid-February with the start of BASE 1. Until then, its prep time. Training time will top out in Base 3 at 10-11 hour in a week.

When talking to others about training, I use time spent. Most people ask, "So how many miles is that?" I usually don't know. Sometimes I explain a bit about mileage versus time training (and I bring it up here very often). Here is a great article that discusses balancing your training and uses time as a way to do it. If you're one of those people who don't track their training at all, it may lead to an imbalance from one week to the next which could cause an injury. Its worth tracking the total time spent training even if you don't break it down by type.

Once of the advantages I get out of using 'time' to guide my training is scheduling training before, after, or even between other things. Also, your husband, wife, or S.O. will like it much better when you say you are going on a 45 minutes run, rather than telling them in mileage.