Last year's motto (for me) was "I will not be undertrained" - you can probably guess what happened as a result. My weekly training sessions from November 2010 through to Regionals in May 2011 averaged just over 8 (range 5 to 12). I got in very "fit" condition but burned out early (dropping strength into the Regionals) and developed bilateral knee tendonitis that only started easing off a few months ago.
This year's motto is "Do more with less". My prior 6 weeks of training featured 5.5 average training sessions per week, this current 6 week phase is capped at 5. Less volume requires a more focused and accurate approach - I can't afford to spend time on activities that aren't directly contributing to a specific aspect of my competition fitness. As a result, there is a lot of structure to my weeks and I know exactly what characteristics I am training each day.
So far, my body feels great. I'm doing weekly tester wods for both a training effect and to monitor my metcon status as compared to last year, so it will be interesting to see where I stand on those.
I have confidence in my approach - both from the standpoint that I believe I will compete strongly once competition time comes and also that I will be in a healthier (and more sustainably healthy) state. This is a manifestation of another transition in my fitness training that has more of a longevity component to it, but more on that later.
The target is to make Regionals and place better than last year. If it works, maybe I'll drop down to 3 sessions a week for 2013!
Good luck to all those who are prepping for the Open - I'll see you online.
Cam
