It's ez to get caught up in the number of training hours or training miles.  Big numbers are required if the athlete is to succeed at endurance stuff.  Success is relative, tho.  For a pro, its the podium.  For everyone else, success is personal.  I've slipped  farther and farther away from the need to shout from the rooftops to everyone who will listen about how many hours or miles I put in the week.  Some people like updates, will ask, and I'll share.  But the science of stressing the body with overload and then recovering pays off on goal day.  So, at this point, I've stopped measuring the 'workout week' as a 7 day stretch that I need to get 'x' number of swim/bike/runs in.  I now look at where I want to be for a given event, and start building 'stressor' workouts that are sandwiched between a prep day and a recover day.  This takes patience and trust.  It definitely takes longer than 7 days to hit all three dislciplines.  Prep day might be a light swim and/or bike or run.  Big day includes longer rides and/or runs, or high intensity LT workouts, or weird stuff like late at night, early in the morning, or heat of the day.  Then recover the next day may be a light swim or even off.  If I'm feeling fresh, a light spin on the bike or a short barefoot run is reasonable.  But it has to be short and light.  As a busy husband/dad/professional, this has worked well for me this year.  I seem to be able to stay focused on the real world priorities while improving fitness to meet demanding goals.  The most important aspect of this is patience.  To keep your eye on the big picture, and to keep moving forward to it.  Not to fret over a day off, if its well placed.  It may turn out to be beneficial in the long run.  I hope to continue endurace sports for many years.  And I believe that this training philosophy will help me keep rolling, to keep showing up for many years, and hopefully, to stay in pretty good shape both mentally and physically.
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