It's About to Get Real

I was listening to Dave Ransey the other day on the radio.  I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan and like his matter of fact stance on things.  I gain a lot of valuable financial advice from listening to his show and in an odd way, he has had an impact on my triathlon life as well.  You see, while Dave's platform to his show and business is financial advice and living debt free, he approaches it in a manner different than anyone else in the business.  He doesn't have a get rich quick plan or magic pill, but teaches you to change the person in the mirror.  He always starts with teaching his followers about the importance of a plan.  After listening to him for years about financial plans and budgets, it finally hit me that to be successful in Ironman, you have to have a plan .... duh. 

Back in December I sat down with a huge wall calendar and mapped out what I thought was a rather good training plan.  I came up with a starting point of where I was and then started to build on it.  What I did not take into consideration into this plan I created was life.  Opps, left that dynamic out.  I said from the start that this trip to the finish line would not effect Stephanie and Kyle or weekends at all.  Now I'd be remiss if I did not tell you that from the beginning, Stephanie pointed out the many flaws in my plan; time, distances, days, rest, wrok travels, and again life.  I simply brushed off her .... opps.  After watching the rest of the TriShop.com tri team on facebook and in their own blogs, I slowly realized that there were some great plans out there being developed by guys just like me.  I noticed rest days, bricks (technical tri term folks), and a lot of training by time vs my plan of distance only.  Luckily I stumbled across the book "The 12-week Triatlete" by Tom Holland that outlines a 12 week plan centered totally around training by time that increases weekly and runs from day 1 all the way up to the day of IM.  The great thing about this plan versus all the others I have been trying to decipher is that there is no mention anywhere of the stinking metric system.  EUREKA, a plan for an all American guy like me!  Because if you are like me, you have no idea what 2,000 meters equals without having to google it!

So now with a time training plan that gradually increases weekly with built in bricks and rest days, I can incorporate this plan into my daily life and work travels.  No more worrying about how long a 12 mile run will take me in downtown Miami on a business trip, or will I be able to squeeze a 1 mile swim in before a meeting.  Now I simply look at the days direction and know that 1 hour is 1 hour and 2 hours is 2 hours, etc. 

Lastly, I've talked a lot about following your inner spark lately.  I've actually had a lot of comments about this topic.  I was shocked to learn that not only did my buddy Chad listen to his inner spark while he battled brain cancer, but so many of you out there listen to yours as well.  Some people equate it with that little devil and angel on opposite shoulders that we remember from cartoons, while others call is that gut feeling deep down inside.  Either way, nuture it and let it help guide you along whatever path, plan, or play book you follow.  I am glad my inner spark has erupted and is helping to guide me along the journey :-)

Develope a plan and follow it.