Winter Training

My major goal for this year was to complete Muskoka Half Ironman, but I missed the registration. I liked the date of the race. It was nicely aligning with all other plans. I will choose probably one of those:

• Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA - 2 August 2008 (http://www.steelheadtriathlon.com/)
• Gilford, New Hampshire, USA - 17 August 2008 (http://www.ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/timberman70.3)
• Quakertown, Pennsylvania, USA: EnduraSport Half Triathlon - Philadelphia - September 06, 2008 (http://www.genesisadventures.com/v3/ )
• Mt. Sterling, Ohio, USA - Sunday, September 23, 2007

My running goal is to match McMillan calculated time for marathon: 3 hours 30 minutes. My plan is to do it in Mississauga Marathon on May 11, 2008.

My summer goal is to finish Olympic Triathlon within first 1/2 of competition in all 3 disciplines.

My family race is Mud Run, a 10K run in a mud, where I will run as a part of a team with my wife and my son.

My training
I experimented last month and was able to wake up for workouts before work. Here is visual of my ideal training schedule:

I will be practically working out twice a day with exception of Monday - which is my rest day , and Saturday - which is reserved for a long run and some family activities.
This schedule is tough and I lost somehow motivation after I missed the deadline for Muskoka 70.3. I know I will drop some workouts while focusing on specific events.

My running plan during the winter is to run inside when weather isn't cooperating, with exceptions of long runs which I always do outside on Saturday on Sunday dependent on weather.

The FIRST training program (http://www.furman.edu/first/fmtp.htm) fits nicely into my schedule. I use modified version of spreadsheet posted on the net. Plan calls for three runs in a week: speedwork, tempo run and long run. My long run is slightly different - I always try to run the second half of long run at faster speed, adding at least one km at near race pace.

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