November Training Totals

I don't really care what I did for a calendar month, but some people do, so here are my totals for November, including what I am supposed to do today, which, of course, I know that I will be completing:

Swim: 32,900 yards; 11.71 hours
Bike: 19.8 hours (no mileage totals; all on trainer)
Run: 20.03 hours (I train strictly by time)
Strength: 6.91 hours
Total Hours: 58.45

I track my workouts both on Training Peaks (free through my coach) and in a whiz-bang spreadsheet that I designed. My spreadsheet shows me planned and actual training and the deviation in hours/yards from the planned to actual, and I can see all of it at once!

I've been keeping track of my workout hours for 8 years now. I think it's a good idea for any serious athlete to keep track of their workout hours. Why? Because if you decide you are going to up the ante, there are "safe" increases and "unsafe" increases. Basically, the bigger your base (i.e., years of endurance training and annual training hours), the safer it is for you to make, say a 10-15% overall increase in volume from one year to the next. Novice athletes are much safer in the 5-10% overall increase range. And then you've got to consider weekly %increases by sport, etc.

I could go on and on about constructing training plans--I've done it--I am just here as an example, and I'm getting most of my training from my coach, and from a volume perspective I am never surprised. What he does for me is give me the right workout to do at the right time, given where I am in my season. I can make up periodization plans until I'm blue in the face! I do, however, design my own strength program. This is because when I first signed up with Rich, we discussed my knowledge of strength training and program construction, and since I've been strength training consistently for almost 15 years (yes, that's why Crackhead has fabulous abs), he lets me do my own thing with the strength program.