Winter training begins...

Reality is setting in, here in south central Wisconsin, where the snow is falling, melting, and freezing, creating unsafe road conditions, both directly and indirectly (ask Harry and Colin about that one...), which is forcing me inside on the trainer, or as I like to call it, my carbon fiber couch.

This is a total re-adjustment in training, especially the mental side of it. A minute seems like an eternity, and the comfort of your bed is sooo close. It brings new meaning to the phrase, HTFU. I am really learning to buckle down and shut down my brain and get it going.

Many of you have been asking me what I ended up doing for my training plan, as I never really followed up from a previous post. Well, there still really isn't a coherent plan, per se, really just kind of a mash-up, kinda like when you go to the soda fountain machine and " a little bit a coke, a little bit a sprite, a little bit a orange...", that kinda thing.

I decided to really focus on my weakness, which is running. Swimming I do fairly well, and biking is probably my strongest of the three. So, what I am doing is a marathon training plan that is bumped down 20% in mileage and time, to be sure that I get in a lot of time in that discipline, while still leaving adequate space for alot of swimming and alot of biking, and allowing at least one full day off for recovery. This means that there will be alot of early mornings and late nights, but that's alright, better than sitting on the couch.

This plan takes me to the end of February, where I will take one whole week off from any kind of physical activity and rest, and then begin my 20 week Half Ironman plan which will take me up to my "A" race for the 2009 season, the Door County Half Iron. In the approach to that race, there will be 2 sprints and an olympic tri to get my competitive juices flowing.

Should be an interesting off-season!

-J