New triathlon training program - all intensity, all the time

I abandon plans to participate in Monday’s Boston Marathon.  I was never particularly enthusiastic about attempting a fast 42-kilometers on pavement, and felt mostly relief when I made the decision and abandoned my slot.  Right afterwards one of the guys beside me at a workout in Arizona starts talking about all his effort to run a “BQ” .  It took me a moment to figure out what the heck a BQ meant, and when I did I was reminded of the effort so many (particularly American) runners put in to experience the hallowed course.  I decided not to mention to this guy how I had just relinquished my coveted spot. 

So with Boston out of the picture, and no run events on my calendar, I shift into a new Triathlon Training Program. I enlist a “coach” - longtime teammate Keren - who creates a base triathlon training program for late March and April. 

All the training is intense.  Ten relatively short and relatively fast workouts per week. 

As far as the running - that Polarized Training concept I mentioned in my earlier post - that is completely out the window.  None of that “active recovery” that is considered so crucial by some run training gurus.   No easy runs, no foundation runs -- just hard brick-runs, track intervals, hills, and short bursts on treadmills. 

You see this vividly illustrated in my Strava run log for the past 4 weeks (versus my January run log I posted here on Feb 9).   Like in the lyrics of the old Coldplay song, “it is all yellow” - yellow meaning “workout” rather than the green for an easier “run”