Welcome to week TWO of the Program Minimum. Dan John had it right when he was referring to people hitting that weak spot around day 14 of a program. All of a sudden I find myself wanting to tweak the plan, make compromises, put off the planned workout. It was really hard not to do something that had more glitz, seemed like more 'fun', than do what the coach had prescribed.
Generally I train haphazard on a daily basis. This year, up until October when I did the CrossFit mainsite wods and rested on the 3-on 1-off pattern, I was doing all training by the seat of my pants. No plan, just do something and rest when you felt like it.
Well the obvious happened when I went to test myself on a half-ironman triathlon. Over confident and convinced I was better conditioned than my 2004 self, I was hell-bent on beating my old time. Instead what happened, I added 30 minutes to my race time. Still, I was able to get under 6 hours, but that was a PAINFUL race. It was also eye opening. While I am significantly stronger (there's no way I could clean and jerk 100 pounds in 2004, let alone the 185 that I did this August), and I can run far (ran 50 miles in April this year qualifying for Western States 100), I did not have the specialized fitness I used to have in order to get a sub 5 1/2 hour half-ironman.
So what am I doing different now? First, I'm hitting the big training reset button for November. Program Minimum, from Pavel's "Enter the Kettlebell" program. Strength and mobility work with Turkish Get-ups, and strength and cardiovascular conditioning with swings. In the evenings and off-days I'll do the occasional track workout and focus on running form with speed emphasis. The bike will be put on the trainer and rides will start happening again.
Next, the plan for 2011 is laid out.
Depending on what happens Dec 4th (Western States Lottery), I may be shifting gears to run 100 miles in June. If not, the plan is either to do another month of full CrossFit for December (swings and getups will still be part of the program) and then January through February will be the Right of Passage (ROP) program for the 24kg bell. Running, paddling and mountain biking will become more important as the the Gold Rush 4-Day Expedition Adventure Race will be on the calendar.
So I am sticking with these programs! Last night I almost caved to not doing the swing workout. It was a 5 minute AMRAP of single arm swings for the 24kg kettlebell. In short, I set a PR for single-arm swings, and I was glad I did it.
I drafted out the training plan in October, knowing that there might be a period in the program where I felt like couldn't do a workout. There's really no excuse. It was FIVE MINUTES of focused effort. How hard is it to get 5 minutes in? I even went through DROM and my standard warm-up. It took 20 minutes total.
If you have doubts, tell yourself you'll quit tomorrow. Which is what I did. I told myself let's do this one workout and we can quit tomorrow if we feel like it. It worked, I got a new PR and today I have no intention of quitting.
Stick with the Program!
