Friday

am) I met with my new athlete, Kathleen, this morning. I met with her yesterday also. This morning was a swim evaluation to check out her stroke. Kathleen is coming to triathlon from a bodybuilding background and is signing up for an Ironman in November. She has never had swim instruction and hasn't swum at all really. No bad habits! Yay! I spent years trying to simply correct the poor technique that I had taught myself. Kathleen is putty in my hands and starting off very, very fit. Not necessarily in an aerobic way, but she is incredibly strong and her diet is amazing. Both of these aspects I consider to be strengths that possibly outweigh the weakness in her aerobic fitness. Aerobic endurance is quite simple to build, where strength is very difficult. Changing an athlete's mentality and lifestyle in regards to diet is also very difficult and Kathleen is coming to me with very good habits.
My work load has doubled in the last month and I am nearing the maximum number of athletes that I can handle effectively. My waiting list for January is at 4 triathletes as I have been slowly integrating new athletes a week at a time. I plan schedules based on the athlete's needs and tend to put a fair amount of time in to the process. 20 athletes means I have to plan between 200-280 workouts per week. Each one is for that particular athlete's fitness level which means I have to know their HR, wattage, and pace profile. My weakness is my organisation and I am excited to have an actual office starting next week! Right now I am sitting on a couch with my laptop with a hundred scribbles of notes on various pieces of paper. Not a good way to be for sure.