The Power of Numbers in Training Plans

I've been in base mode for a few months. Long, slow miles in the pool, on the bike and on the road. Now, I find myself able to cruise through workouts with very low heart rates. And with my target race only two and a half months away it's time to start working on muscular endurance, my main limiter thus far this year.

To do this I did something simple: I chose target paces for the race.

They're aggressive numbers and I may not hit them. But they give me a target. I didn't think it would work as well as it has. In the last week simply having these numbers has given me a whole new level of focus in my training. I suddenly know what I'm shooting for and how far away I am.

In the pool, for example, I chose 1:35min/100y... five seconds/100y faster than last year on the 2.4 mile distance. Earlier in the week I did some intervals and found that I'm not there yet. Since then I've been working in the pool with a sense of purpose.

This sense of purpose is good because my base training had plateaued. I was doing long miles but not adding much fitness. Now I need to keep those miles but add some intensity.

The power of numbers.

So, what are my numbers? They're private. Which must sound odd coming from a guy who posts damn near everything on his blog. My numbers are overly aggressive and I don't want to feel on race day that I have to hit them. They're a training tool to make me faster. Come race day, once I see what my progress has been, I'll choose a different set of race day numbers. So I'm keeping my little numbers to myself.... a guy's gotta have some privacy, no?