3 Weeks Out - Sprint Triathlon Race

I have found that someone with limited training experience with the three triathlon disciplines seems to make a lot of progress early on in their preparation.  That someone I am referring to is of course myself.  Reflecting back on my training last summer, I did not dedicate nearly enough time to training as I should have.  I knew I was competing in a sprint race and I took it for granted.
 
The other day I joked that I put in more training time this past July than I did pretty much all of last year.  And to be perfectly honest, I probably trained more last month than I did in 99% of the months I ever trained for a powerlifting or track & field meet. That goes way back to the summer of 2004 after I graduated from college.
 
Right now I’m a little less than 3 weeks out from my race.  I am again competing in a sprint race.  I am 100% more prepared for this race today than I was for my race last year.  A couple of reasons why I think I’m more prepared are:
 

1. I’m committed to a training routine
2. I train at the same time every day—early mornings

 
This past week was one of the best training weeks of my life.  At 37 years-old, I completed two long bike rides (both over 20 miles), four running sessions (12 miles—that is a lot for a still active powerlifter LOL), and two swim sessions (each over 2000 yards).  I hit a personal best time in my 4-mile run and 5k run. I hit over 16mph on both of my bike sessions, and for the first time in my life swam over 2000 yards in two swim sessions in the same week.
 
Last year my goal was to finish the race in under 2 hours.  I finished in 2 hours and 3 minutes.  I didn’t deserve to finish in under 2 hours.  I didn’t put in enough work.  My swim was 19 minutes.  My bike was just over 50 minutes.  My 5k was over 43 minutes.  Yes, my time in transition was over 10 minutes.  
 
My goal for this year is to finish under 2 hours.  My second goal is to finish under 1 hour 45 minutes.  My training indicates that I should be around 1 hour and 45 minutes.  I’ve been practicing my transitions, as well as incorporating more brick workouts in my training.  I’m really looking forward to this upcoming race, but I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve been able to maintain a consistent training protocol.  In the end, my training philosophy for this race is process > outcome.