Setting new priorities

Honestly, having only one computer in the house makes it very hard to update regularly!

In short, I have had a great three days, sticking to my schedule, and really working well!

I feel this latest success has a lot to do with three things:

1. Re-prioritising my training objectives
2. Great weather
3. The deadline looming!!

I set my training objectives with a priority list, and then scheduled my time to accommodate my top three disciplines.  So, my new training priorities look like this:

1. Horse - min 4 sessions per week - he is an athlete and needs to be trained like one, I can't just hope for the best!
2. Run - min 3 sessions per week - running a minimum of three times per week is the only way to maintain my knee strength, and every time I let this slip, I regret it.  Also, I haven't done my race distance in nearly two months! Need to be doing my race distance consistently!
3. Cycle - min 3 sessions per week - This will be my weakest link and needs to be strong.  I will have to do 20km of hills in varying terrain after having done a previous 4ish hours of exercise!  This cannot be overlooked.
4. Paddling - can be done at night, in the dark, in between things, it can get squeezed in anywhere and I will only need 2 or 3 sessions a week. Since I can't do more water training, I will accept that I am not going to be likely to kick any butt in this leg. 
5. Rowing - I will use the rowing machine as a tool to work on swimming fitness until I have a pool, so will just work on one session a week.

Attack and other 'cross training' stuff I have dropped to the very bottom of the list.  I will miss those in favour of Blackwood disciplines.  As fun as they are, I need to focus on the bottom line.

Based on the list above, I reorganised my training schedule.  The main thing I did was make sure my horse riding is done FIRST in the day, for two reasons:

1. I can take as much time as I need to do what I have to do with the horse, and am not time-poor in my sessions. I can do a shorter/faster run or cycle following my ride, but I just hate feeling rushed with my horse!
2. and so that I have plenty of muscle strength and control - I'm not just going to sit like a lump on my horse. I want to have the fine motor control to be able to work and push him in his training.  Granted that I will have to ride him in the fourth leg, so may need to change this later, but my priorities will be reviewed at the end of the month, and any changes required made then

Running and Cycling both got scheduled with a recovery session, a race pace/distance session (hills), and a long haul.

I have one night of rowing, and two nights of paddling, a short and a long session.

Thus far, I have stuck to plan!! :)  It really is working!

Must get organised for work, hope I can get online tonight and update you with a training update!