My ideal week of base training - a challenging goal

The last week was almost back to plan but not quite! I ended up missing my Friday run and Saturday morning club swim but made up for it on Sunday by getting in both an off-road run and cycle ride with my old training partner and neighbour, Chris (approx. 3 hours in total).

By Sunday afternoon I was back to my target weight although a couple of days on I have let in slip once again.

The good news is that my tendonitis issues have further eased and I only have a minor niggle in my left Achillies heel. The right side having completely healed - finally!

So thinking ahead to my base training for the next season I have been considering my ideal week of training, which should certainly give me a strong foundation to build on, whatever race distances I end up doing over the coming months.

The week would look something like this:

Mon - 0:45 strength exercises / circuit + 1:00 club swim

Tue - 2:00 bike commute: interval set + easy return

Wed - 0:30 run strides set / intervals + 1:30 club swim

Thu - 2:00 bike commute: hill work + easy return

Fri - 1:00 easy run

Sat - 1:00 club swim + 0:45 run set / turbo

Sun - 2:00 to 4:00 long run / cycle or brick session

That brings the total between 12.5 to 14.5 hours, good enough even for Ironman training.

Obviously I would have to allow the occasional rest day (normally Monday or Friday) and would work off a 3-week cycle, increasing the total hours training each week and reducing it back down on the fourth week.

That is the theory - in practice not so easy to pull off.

All decent goals should however be challenging, albeit still realistic. They also need to be listed in detail, easily measurable and time driven.

Let's hope I will be reporting back over the coming months that I am at least getting close to my ideal training week.