My training volume chart for 2011: Chart

2011 Review
Swim: 53km
Yikes! Not enough distance. In my peak weak in 2010, I swam close to 10km… Not surprisingly, my swimming has stagnated resulting in my 1500m and 2000m times being 2-3minutes slower than my peak condition from last year.

Bike: 1,808km
Most of this was done on an exercise bike/spinner. Considering the lack of outdoor rides, I was surprised to have managed a PB at the 40km and 90km distance (though one was with a huge tailwind and the other was my first time doing exactly 90km).

Run: 2,571km
It’s been a breakthrough year of running with huge PBs in all distances:

Mile -> 5:32 (2010 -> 5:50)
5km -> 18:29 (2010 -> 19:52)
10km -> 39:29 (2010 -> 41:00)
Half Marathon -> 1:30:29 (2010 -> 1:36)
Marathon -> 3:29:29 (2009 -> 3:58)

2012 Preview
(subject to change if I decide to get a triathlon coach)
Swim
The 50m pool in Sendagaya will close in April and I doubt I’ll get much swimming until mid April. For the first time, I’m thinking of joining a proper swimming school in Tokyo. Hopefully, Ill be able to fix years of bad swimming techniques before IM Western Australia in December. If I can start swimming every weekday early morning for a solid 4-5months, I think I’ll be in pretty good shape by December.

Bike
I’ll upgrade a few things with my current road bike but I’m NOT going to bike a proper triathlon bike in 2012. After Ultra Trail Mt. Fuji (UTMF) in May, I’ll start concentrating on cycling. The plan is to do a lot of hill climbing mixed in with some good tempo rides at Oi Futo.

Run I’m 100% lazer focused on running until Tokyo Marathon on Feb. 26th. The target will hopefully be around 3:10. The plan will be to run the first half in around 1:32:30 (4:23min/km pace) and then at the 30km mark, I’ll make a decision based on my aerobic capacity and how I feel that day:

(A) 100% all out which will hopefully put me under 3:04:59 which is good enough to qualify under the new Boston Marathon qualifying times in 2013
(B) continue on pace and try to run comfortably hard to finish under 3:09:59
(C) blow up and employ a walk/run strategy while trying to finish under 3:14:59

In any case, I’ll be satisfied with any of these outcomes..=P

After Tokyo, Ill continue running high mileage while preparing for UTMF in May. The idea here is to develop my endurance and build that aerobic capacity. I dont have any specific goals in mine but I’d like to enjoy the event and finish in the middle of the rankings.

Finally, after UTMF, I reduce running to maybe 2-3 runs a week with a focus on speed work/running in the heat/brick runs.