Two-a-days

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit the following factoid: through two IMs, and a handful of half IMs, I have never put in more than a couple double workout days.

An admission such as this made on Slowtwitch (the obnoxious triathlon message board, for those who don't know) would likely get a bounty placed on my life. Everyone and everything - and I mean even the most basic of IM training plans, and quite a few 70.3 plans, as well - recommends incorporating two-a-days in order to get the requisite number of sessions in each week for each discipline. Conventional wisdom says that, to be successful (ie., finish upright), you need at least three quality workouts each week in each discipline. Sadly, there's still only seven days in a week. So, obvioulsy, there's the need for double-days.

I have, thus far, elected not to be that committed. Mostly because of time considerations, and partly because I was worried about whether my body could withstand that much beat-down over the course of a 20-odd week training period. Sure, I'll brick some bike rides, and I always try to get my long stuff in, but that's pretty much the extent of my training committment to date.

The Fink plan that I plan to use this time around incorporates two-a-day training sessions. And, I'll be honest, I'm a bit anxious about this. The plus side is that I'm much more likely to untap whatever potential (and I use that term loosely) I have if I put in more training hours. I realize that, in the past, I've really just skimmed by, and am arguably lucky to have completed both previous IMs as well as I did. At the same time, squeezing two workouts into your day - usually six days a week - is going to be a logistical pain in the ass. Some days, it can be hard to fit just one in.

But I'm going to try, and luckily I have my wife along for the ride, so I'll have her support. Fingers crossed, it will bring out my best performance to date. If I make it to the start line.