Dec 21 2025 2025-12-21 2026-01-04 by Ross

This Week in Training – Week 13: Decimal Point Rage….

Posted in Cycling, Running, Swimming, Training, Triathlon

IMWI 2026: The Long Crawl to the Base Phase
(Progress, motivation, and numbers that are offensively close to round.)

Solid week. Better motivation, better consistency, and a noticeable jump in workload without feeling broken afterward. Relative effort topped out at a quarter high — if not longer — which I’ll take as a sign things are moving in the right direction.

I wrapped the week with a fantastic recovery smoothie: frozen berries, yogurt, milk, Ballerina Farm protein powder, and a banana. Ridiculously good. Possibly the highlight of the week.

Swim 🏊

  • Workouts: 2
  • Total Distance: 4,000 yards
  • Total Time: 1 hour 19 minutes
  • Notes: Solid swims. And yes, the OCD part of my brain is screaming that I couldn’t just do one more minute to make it a clean number.

Bike 🚴

  • Workouts: 3 (including a brick)
  • Total Distance: 43.98 miles
  • Total Time: 2 hours 25 minutes
  • Notes: A nice jump in volume without injury. Also: 43.98 miles? Come on. I couldn’t tack on another .02? This will haunt me.

Run 🏃

  • Workouts: 3 (including one off the bike)
  • Total Distance: 11.59 miles
  • Total Time: 1 hour 57 minutes
  • Notes: Again with the decimals. Had I known I was going to land at 11.59, I would’ve run a half block more just to restore order to the universe. The six-mile run this morning was sloooooooowwww, but it got done.

Strength/Other 💪

  • Workouts: None
  • Notes: Still pretending this will magically appear in the plan on its own.

Relative Effort 📈

  • Total Weekly Effort: 619
  • Notes: Quarter high and the highest it’s been in a while — but still manageable and injury-free, which is exactly where I want it.

Reflections ✍️

This felt like a real step forward — more volume, better motivation, and no immediate consequences. I’ll take slow runs and ugly decimals if it means consistent progress.

The following two weeks should be solid, though I’ll need to shuffle workouts around because of travel. That’s fine. I’m learning that flexibility matters more than perfection. Even if the numbers occasionally offend me.

Goals for Next Week 🎯

  • Keep the momentum going.
  • Make the math cleaner if possible.
  • Adjust workouts around travel without skipping them entirely.
  • Accept slow runs as part of the process.

All good. Still building. Still moving forward.