Even before I was selected as a BibRave Pro, I regularly took part in their Tuesday night #BibChat. My running buddy, Samantha, from the ATC training program, was already a Pro and told me about the cool community. The Tuesday twitter #BibChats are a great way to meet athletes from all over the country (and their growing across the globe as well), and learn about different products, races, experiences, etc. Each chat has a title sponsor and someone is randomly selected at the end to win a prize from that sponsor. Several months ago I won a 3 month training package from Sweat Tracker! (P.S. Once you’re a Pro you’re no longer eligible to win the prizes, but we get a lot of cool stuff to try as part of the Pro program).

At the time I won I was in the final phases of a tough race schedule. I raced every weekend in October, with 2 races in the final weekend. My goal was to get through October, take a laid back November, and then push into a new training cycle in December. This was really important because I wanted to have a strong base but also be fresh and ready to go for my toughest goal yet: The Georgia Death Race in March. The SweatTracker coach assigned to me, Larry, was really communicative and understanding of my current training and goals. We planned to hit the road running in December.

Larry emailed me last week to get the party started. He asked to “look over my shoulder” for this week. I outlined my proposed training schedule for the week and added him to my TrainingPeaks account so he can see my data. I’ve always done my training kind of piecemeal. I train with several programs and just put all the parts together on my own. I’m hoping that the next 3 months with Larry and SweatTracker can give me more training focus, keep me honest about my training output, and find the consistency needed to complete something epic.