The Mike Ricci July Challenge (Page 2)

Yes, the best way to build for one sport is to focus on it.  However, it is not the best just to go pound out a bunch of extra miles without any form or structure.  If you want to up your mileage on the bike, then plan for it.  If you set your plan to follow proper build and rest cycles then you will get much more benefit out of the increased mileage then if you just go ride around all willy-nilly.  Setting a training plan and following it crucial to proper training and making it to race day in tip-top shape.  I'm not saying import a plan and follow it.  I'm saying make A plan for the month and stick to it.  No more sleeping in, or not going out on a ride because you don't feel like it.  Yes one month is only a small piece of a plan, but if you can't follow a plan for a month, then there is no way you can follow it for a season.  Besides, all the challenges seem to be month to month, so We'll just follow common form.

As for flexibility,  days marked with sick/injured will not count against your score.  So if something happens, like the pool is closed, you get sick, you get injured, family emergency, ect....  either mark it sick/injured, or just report back when totals are tallyed that such and such happened and that your plan needs to be adjusted accordingly.  Just don't try and kill your second great aunt twice removed 3 times in the same month because you slept through your alarm.

So final rules:

1.  You must have an entire plan set for the month of July by July 1st.

2. Each week, training variance will be calculated.  This means that time under plan for each day will be totaled seperately from time over plan.  These numbers will be reported with total variance (their sum)

3.  The plans will look at running time, riding time, and swimming distance, unless you specify otherwise.

4. If you don't use the logs to store planned data, then just keep us updated each week about your progress.  It's okay, we trust you won't cheat.

5. Workouts which are cancled because of reasons beyond your control will not count.  This includes illness, injury, family emergencies, acts of god, ect.  If your pool is closed for maintence and you have no other pool you can get to, that is okay.  If your pool is closed because you slept in and missed morning workout, that doesn't qualify.

6. Plans can be modified for injury, illness, life altering events, as long as they are made in advance.  If you find out about a buissness trip a week in advance, change your plan then.  Don't wait until the day before, or while you are in the airport while you are supposed to be running.

7. Weather is no excuse, unless it is hazardous to your health.  Missing a ride because it is raining is no excuse.  Missing a ride because of lightning, a hurricane or a tsunami will be acceptable (see acts of god)

does that sound good?  Did I miss anything?

Sounds good to me.  Couple questions on the rules:  if we miss a workout due to acts of god, can we reschedule that day to put it later in the week? I get a weekly work schedule, so I have to rearrange my workout schedule based on that (I usually do that on Saturday/Sunday of the week to change).  Is that okay? 

Overall, I think my plan is to run 3 days, bike 2 days, and swim 2 days in every given week for the month.  Times for the week are based on the plan in my log.  I sometimes have to switch around the days based on my work/school/rain schedule. 

Great rules and guidlines allowing for changes in life.

I have my training plan and need to put it into my plan. We are traveling to MN 3 day drive....will be training in various locations....on an island without roads and in a lake...no yardage.

I'll get my stuff in later today.

I want to do my runs and swims in time and my bike in miles, is that okay?

Do I have to put all my workouts in to my blog as planned? Normally I just enter them when I do them? I have a plan from my coach and just follow what he outlined. Trying to figure easiest way to get the info. in....or does that fit under you trust me point?

I was at the doctors, and hospital today with some stuff so already my plan is altered for the weekend...the beauty of this challenge is that it works for stuff like this.

Allright, July's planned training calendar is updated-haven't done anything yet for July, so this should be ok?  Swim is in minutes, a short summary for the month:

S: - 4h 51m - 10 workouts
B: - 7h 56m - 8 workouts
R: - 3h 33m - 7 workouts

Good luck all!

Week 1:
Swim: 116 minutes-4 workouts
Bike: 61 miles-3 workouts
Run: 20 minutes- 1 workout
This is a Rest/Recovery Week for me.

yea, it is tough.  That's the point of the challenge. 

Just remember, that plan is in place to get you to a greater goal.  Every time you think about breaking, think, is doing or skipping this workout worth jeapordizing your A race?  Is it worth fudging on a few workouts and not being able to put forth your best effort in the race you have been training for months to compete in?

Once you get used to sticking with your plan it is wonderful. No thinking or debating what you are going to do each day.

I hardly ever miss workouts maybe once every one to two months usually only when my coach tells me I need more rest, which I do reluctantly.

For those struggling with sticking to your plan, by following it for 30 days I hope will bring you a new understanding and ability to stick with it...as it really makes a huge difference.

Yesterday was the end of week one, how are we reporting in?

I did all my workouts.

Slight variances are due to a few things...some workouts on training plan are say ows 30-40 minutes, some are in miles and I convert to time but I may run faster or slower than I estimated. Plus I forgot to include one short run in my weeks totals when I said what my plan was.

How'd you guys do?

we should report at the end of the day, as I (as well as others) still have workouts to do today.

Just report your real vs plan numbers.  If you had a workout that was in a range, like ows 30-40 min, and you swam within 30-40 min, then you hit the target.  No variance to report.  If you run the mileage planned even though it's different from your estimated time, you still did the planned workout.  No variance to report.

So just report tonight your total numbers, I'll throw them in a spread sheet and we will go from there.  So far I'm 13 min over on riding and 2 min short on running

I slipped this week.  Added an extra run (I had too...it was short!) and doubled my swim times (I had to as was waiting around for the rest of my family to show up)...BUT, it was supposed to be a rest week so I did still get 'rest' in the bike and run as noted in the '% of last week's workouts'.  So my biking only held according to plan.  Next week is build weeks again so I should do better!

7/03/2006-->7/09/2006	Swim	Bike	Run	Total
Actual	80minutes	40minutes	40minutes	160minutes
Planned	42minutes	42minutes	21minutes	105minutes
Actual-Planned=	+38minutes	-2minutes	+19minutes	+55minutes
% 'Actual' Change from last week	-4%	-64%	-113%	-54%
% of Last Weeks Workouts	96%	36%	47%	58%
# Workouts Accomplished	2/2	1/1	3/2	6/5
% Workouts Accomplished	100%	100%	150%	120%
% Workout Minutes Accomplished	190%	95%	190%	152%
Rest Days (Planned/Actual)				3/2
Strength Sessions	(2) @ 20min

planned bike 210 min, actual bike 210 min

planned run 16 miles, actual run 14 miles

planned swim 120 min, actual swim 95 min; mostly with one OWS shortened 20 min due to lightening (does that count against me?)

Sigh.... okay suck need improvment on skipping workouts. So as of right now, I am failing miserably struggling because of four defunct days this week...

AS of today I stand at -4h 45m on the bike, 2h 38 min running, and 1hr 25min swimming. giving me a staggering total of  8h 48 mins off for the month...

New goal... keep it under a 10hr variance.

By the way, I like this challenge...keeps me motivated cause I am doing so great. LOL

I will say that even though I organized this challenge..... It's hard.  There have been a few workouts where I just plain did not want to do them, or wanted to cut them short.  This is how I'm doing for the month.