Day 1 or I Couldn't Handle It Any More!

So way back at the end of August I did my last race of the season. At that point I said, 'this is my last race this year, I am doing nothing for 3.5 months and pick it up again in January.' Well, that didn't last; it's surprising to me how hard it was to not do anything. Almost immediately my wife's uncle invited me to a 100 mile bike ride with him and his riding group, and there are 5ks and half marathons and 10ks. But I held steady, I forced myself to take the break I was looking forward to.

I recommend a break like this to everyone. Sure you can train all year long, but the break is sweet, and while sometimes I itched to just get a quick run or bike in, most of the time I enjoyed not doing it.

It all came to an end today. Sometime last week I had finally had enough, I was tired of not do anything, and I had started to piece together my early year training plan and it started with me being in better shape than sitting on the couch for 3 months. Also my everyone else who lives in my house have done a few 5ks recently, and that has made me look forward to my own races next year. I would have started earlier in the week, but our newest baby had different plans. My wife and I alternated staying up to the wee hours of the night with her, and that took place of getting back in the saddle.

So today, a little run; it was nothing special, a quick 30 minutes on the treadmill. I have been saying that I was going to try to get outside and run during the winter despite the cold weather. But you know what, 19 is cold, and I am sort of convinced that the sidewalks I usually run on turn into snowmobile trails when it snows, and it has snowed recently. So instead of braving the cold weather only to find out my usual route is teaming with snowmobiles, I opted to hit the treadmill. That's fine, it went fine, it felt very good to get the heart rate up.

Early Race Schedule
Over the last couple of months, I've mapped out a race schedule for the coming year. I haven't really committed to anything yet, but basically it boils down to

• Two 70.3
• One half marathon
• Several sprints
• Several Olympic
• Tentatively - one end of year marathon

We're also tossing around the idea of a trip to FL for some very late season races with my sister and our friends down there. That's still in the drawing board phase; my wife has a marathon in October that she's going to be shooting for, and she may not want a few weeks in FL stuck right near the end.

Training Plans

My training plan consists of two phases. First build confidence for the 70.3. I have an early season one picked out and a later season one. I will spend the first couple months building endurance for the first race which is the same day as my first Minnesota race last year. During this time I will do a half marathon with my family, a 5k with the family, and a couple of tune up sprints.

After the first 70.3 I expect to re-evaluate that plan and see what I might need to work on. There are a couple of months between the first and second and I will use that time to address anything I think needs to be addressed. I will also use that time to address my other major goals which consist of speed work and transition practice. 

The Immediate Future

I am planning on using this time until about mid January to just get my body ready for the full time training to start. That also gives our youngest some time to get on the regular sleeping schedule. She's being a baby, and baby's do this. I didn't commit to a much more significant training program because she's a baby, so if she needs me to stay up till 3, then that's what I'll do and maybe it will fit in with my plans or maybe it won't, but family trumps triathlon every day.