It has been a little over two months now since Ironman Boulder. During that time, I've managed to stay busy, but I have definitely cut WAY back on training. Given the amount of volume I was doing from January through July, it has been a little weird to do so much less, and I've had to remind myself not to feel "guilty" or "untrained" with the exercise I'm currently doing. I have no real goals or target races on the horizon other than a potential half-marathon in December. But I've got a bit of time before I decide on that. Here's what I've been up to in the "off-season" training department:
The Gym: Since about the 2nd week of August, I've been going to the Y once a week. After a short warm-up on the treadmill or elliptical, I'm spending about 30-45 minutes doing some strength training. I usually work on core strength every week and alternate between upper body and lower body every other week. It isn't a lot of training, but since I'm not really looking to bulk up, it's sufficient for now.
Swimming: After Ironman, swimming was the only exercise I wanted to do for a while. Running was okay, but I had no desire to go near a bike at all. In the last few weeks, I've cut back on swimming a bit, mostly because I don't have to go. The pool has been really crowded, so I've elected to roll over and go back to sleep for a few extra minutes instead. I'll plan on hitting the pool at least once a week, but probably no more. In December we have the Triathlon Club fitness challenge and the first leg is swimming (we compete with other teams across the nation to log the most swim, bike, and run miles). I will probably try to do a bit more then. Last year, our club had a challenge to swim a 3-4 mile swim in one day. If that happens again, I'll probably go for it.
Biking: Throughout my Ironman training, I envisioned the pleasure I would find by just getting on my road bike and riding around without any specific purpose. However, after Ironman, I really didn't want anything to do with the bike. I've been out a couple of times, but don't think I managed more than about 20 miles. What I have been doing to my great surprise, is going to spin class. The class starts at 5:15 in the morning and I've gone every Friday for the last two months. This week I went on Monday as well, and I'll continue to try and go a couple of times a week during the month of October. I've found the class to be a nice change of pace and its forced me to work a bit harder (and differently) than I otherwise might. Spin is way different from the steady state training I did for most of the Ironman. I'm not usually one for fitness "classes" but I've enjoyed the spin classes. They've been a nice diversion and have actually been helpful in building more strength and explosiveness on the bike. I will probably try to get a FTP test done on my trainer sometime this month and jump back into Trainer Road in a few weeks. By the end of the year, I will have logged close to 3500 miles on a bike in some form or another. That will be close to 1600 miles more than the year before.
Running: To this point, I've run a lot less than in previous years, but that's to be expected considering the amount of swimming and biking I've done. I'm still trying to run a couple of times a week, and that's going fairly well. Most of the running I'm doing is fewer miles at a time. Since Ironman, I've done one long run of about 10 miles and I'll probably continue to do a longer run every 2-3 weeks. That way if I decide to do the December half marathon, I'll be ready. Running is still my favorite form of exercise, so I look forward to the opportunity to get out there and run a bit.
Looking ahead: I'm staying busy enough in life that I've dropped to about 3-4 hours of exercise each week. I'm fine with that for the moment. By the time January rolls around, I'll be anxious to start thinking about some more formal training and some solid goals for 2016. I'll continue to train for triathlon but my plan is to focus on a few "sprint" distance triathlons next year. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1) I'd like to work a bit more on speed and intensity in my training. The last 3 years I've worked on everything from a 50 mile trail run to a couple of half Ironman races, to the Ironman last summer. It's time to do something different. 2) During the Spring and Summer next year, I'm looking to get involved in a few other activities like Paddle Boarding. Training for shorter distance frees up a lot of time to do that. 3) Sprint distance races are affordable. I've shelled out a lot of money for the longer races, and I can probably do 3-4 sprint triathlons for half the cost of what I've spent on the longer stuff. There are also races all throughout the spring and summer in the region, so I will have a lot of options available. It might be time to try a few new races.
That's it for now!
