I love Training Peaks

Every Monday morning I wake up an hour before everyone in the house, I pour myself a cup of coffee, and I sit down at my computer.  It has become my favorite time of the week.  I log onto Training Peaks (an internet application for athletes and coaches) and it’s like opening a Christmas present.  I get excited anticipating the week my coach has planned for me. Will it be a hard? How much cycling, running, and swimming? What kind of effort is planned? Does it look like a challenge? Does it look like fun? Is Alan going to give me shit for not listening to him the week before? :)

I have been doing this every week since April 2011, so I decided to poke around the program to see what my progress has been. What I found is very interesting: a definite behaviour pattern. It appears that I do not like running that much.  This is certainly true when you compare it to cycling. It was all there in black and white (actually, it was a very colourful graph). I am consistently coming up short in running training times.  Swimming less so, but still a little short.  Cycling however, (no surprise here), I am over training… ooops. 

It does appear that in the last couple of months, I have been getting better. I know that I am listening to my coach more, but I am still coming up short. The shortcoming is due to “sick days”. Everyone gets sick…right? Even when you eat well, and get lots of sleep and physical exercise, sometimes you just can’t avoid the odd flu bug.  It seems, however, that I am capable of convalescing on the bike. I have never missed a bike workout… ever.  I even have extra non-scheduled workouts, like yoga and strength, that I don’t miss.

I guess it is human nature.  My weaker sports will get bailed on.  This is where my head will need to intervene.  “Just do it” (Nike).  “Push, Push, Push” (Tara Norton). "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion." (Muhammad Ali). “Don’t be a wiener” (my husband).

I love training peaks. It lays out the weeks ahead, keeps track of all my completed workouts, allows me to review my history in eye-opening, graphic format, and it keeps me honest. Plus, the cherry on top is that it is free. A rare thing in this sport… perfect!