After going to Israel this summer, races I had planned for the fall fizzled and just didn't happen. The Nation's Tri, which I was looking forward to, was changed to a duathlon on due to Hurricane Irene causing to Potomac to be unsafe. I couldn't justify the expense, and wasn't motivated to head down to DC for the weekend without the swim portion of the race. And I let my training go quite a bit in September, so wasn't at all confident that I'd be able to complete the hilly course at the Poconos half, so bailed out of that one as well. Obviously, my head is my biggest obstacle at this point. Not at all surprising, and I'm definitely working on it.
What it means, though, is that I'm taking this post-season time as an opportunity to work on my big limiters- my run and my head. In a lot of ways, the run is easier. Pre-season and during the season, it felt like run workouts were the first to go out the window, and thus not surprisingly,the element that I struggled with the most. So through the end of the year, I've set myself a goal of running an average of 25-30 miles a week, but no less than 20 and no more than 35 per week (ha. Not really worried about that upper end!). Since I know that coaches advise against "junk miles" I'm trying to run with purpose - speed, strength, long and slow, or recovery. Long and slow will hopefully make up most of those miles, especially in preparation for IM Mont Tremblant, and hopefully speed will follow as my body adjusts.
I'm also going to be (slowly?) upping my training hours per week, so that full on training in January doesn't overwhelm me. September was pretty lame, training-wise, and part of that is the same September blues that I got last year, but a lot was also my mental game. The next few months will be about forming positive habits.
I've already spoken about running, but will also be adding in strength training. Right now, that's just rotating through routine #1 and routine #2, every few days, but I hope to add TRX into the mix by the end of this month, and will be doing p90x with Nate after he recovers from running the marathon in November.
Cycling has mostly transitioned to being indoors, and thanks to fall tv has been a pleasant endeavor-focussing on cycling at 90+ rpm. Most days that I cycle, I've been doing intervals - warm up then at 90 rpm for 4 minutes, and 1 minute all out, then repeat, on the next gear, and so on, until cool down. Fun times.
Swimming has gone into temporary hibernation, until I figure out a way to ease back into it. There are so many possible ways to do so, that I'm overwhelmed, but that's another post.
As for the head game, as tough as I pride myself on being, I still get anxious about so many things. Fortunately, triathlon isn't the only arena in which to face my anxieties, and trapeze* has presented many opportunities this fall to confront fears. I've found that I can handle those anxieties by baby-stepping my way through them, and can say that though sometimes scared, I won't let those fears stop me from doing the things I love.
*trapeze deserves and will get its own post, and there are other post subjects in the works as well. Probably not interesting to anyone else, but that's ok.
What it means, though, is that I'm taking this post-season time as an opportunity to work on my big limiters- my run and my head. In a lot of ways, the run is easier. Pre-season and during the season, it felt like run workouts were the first to go out the window, and thus not surprisingly,the element that I struggled with the most. So through the end of the year, I've set myself a goal of running an average of 25-30 miles a week, but no less than 20 and no more than 35 per week (ha. Not really worried about that upper end!). Since I know that coaches advise against "junk miles" I'm trying to run with purpose - speed, strength, long and slow, or recovery. Long and slow will hopefully make up most of those miles, especially in preparation for IM Mont Tremblant, and hopefully speed will follow as my body adjusts.
I'm also going to be (slowly?) upping my training hours per week, so that full on training in January doesn't overwhelm me. September was pretty lame, training-wise, and part of that is the same September blues that I got last year, but a lot was also my mental game. The next few months will be about forming positive habits.
I've already spoken about running, but will also be adding in strength training. Right now, that's just rotating through routine #1 and routine #2, every few days, but I hope to add TRX into the mix by the end of this month, and will be doing p90x with Nate after he recovers from running the marathon in November.
Cycling has mostly transitioned to being indoors, and thanks to fall tv has been a pleasant endeavor-focussing on cycling at 90+ rpm. Most days that I cycle, I've been doing intervals - warm up then at 90 rpm for 4 minutes, and 1 minute all out, then repeat, on the next gear, and so on, until cool down. Fun times.
Swimming has gone into temporary hibernation, until I figure out a way to ease back into it. There are so many possible ways to do so, that I'm overwhelmed, but that's another post.
As for the head game, as tough as I pride myself on being, I still get anxious about so many things. Fortunately, triathlon isn't the only arena in which to face my anxieties, and trapeze* has presented many opportunities this fall to confront fears. I've found that I can handle those anxieties by baby-stepping my way through them, and can say that though sometimes scared, I won't let those fears stop me from doing the things I love.
*trapeze deserves and will get its own post, and there are other post subjects in the works as well. Probably not interesting to anyone else, but that's ok.
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