Struggling for Consistency

It's been a while since my last post, and based on the subject of said post, it should be fairly apparent why. And it shouldn't come as a surprise that training hasn't exactly been going well.

I managed to finish my Base training feeling pretty strong - I was running consistently, my swim fitness was approaching the form of last season, and I managed to set a new high FTP on the bike. But that was back in February. I began my Build in mid-February and everything fell apart in short order. It's now mid-April, and two months later I'm re-starting my Build - definitely the latest I've ever commenced this phase of my training. So what happened? The short answer is: life.

For a longer answer, here's my TrainingPeaks calendar for the past two months:

I got the first week of TrainerRoad's Olympic Triathlon Build done, but couldn't complete the weekend's long ride - life got a little crazy and I was wiped out for a few days (there's a recurring theme of 2 hours of sleep/night throughout this period). I elected to do some maintenance and attempt the culminating workout the following Saturday... which ended up being Sunday, and I still included my sunday "long" run on top of that. Everything seemed to be going according to plan for Week 2 but by the end of the week I was sick. I recovered from that with just a few days before some minor surgery that would necessitate a week off from training, and I still was not 100% so just some general maintenance work in the short time I had before the surgery.

Unfortunately yet again (due to no sleep at night and the dual germ-exchange programs that are Grade 1 and Daycare) I got sick less than a week into my reintroduction to training. Another few days off due to that, and here we are, the middle of April and I'm back where I was in mid-Frebruary.

The biggest hit has been to my swim fitness - it's amazing how quickly it declines. I've knocked a few watts off my FTP on the bike but it's held together relatively well, and the run is somewhere in between - I'm definitely running at a slower pace in order to hold Zone 2. On the plus side, I'm back running outside again which is awesome after the drudgery of the treadmill. More on that later.

As a byproduct of all of this, it looks as though I may end up with an "A" race this year despite my initial plan - it's unlikely I'll be in good race shape for the first few events of the season. It's kind of depressing that I was in better race shape in February than I am now, but this can't really come as a surprise given my life circumstances. So maybe I'll be able to plan for a peak in Brockville and make another attempt at going under 2:20. We'll see how the intervening months go.