Day 1: 22 Weeks to Race Day

Remember me?  I did just check and was impressed with myself when I saw that I had actually posted in June, so four months of silence isn't as bad as I'd thought.  My intent is to actually blog more often heading into the 2015 season, but since we all know how that can sometimes go I won't make any promises beyond the fact that I'll try. 

Today marked my first day back in "official" training for the 2015 season.  My goal race to start off will be Ironman South Africa, which is quite a trek for someone who has actually never left the country before for a race.  In fact, I've only left the country one other time, period, and that was fifteen years ago.  So this should be quite an adventure.  I wrote up my training plan last week and if I survive the grueling workouts I've set for myself, I should be in a very good spot for race day.

This past season I took an intentional break from Ironman, and I think I really needed it.  I did my first race in 2004 and since then the only year other than 2014 in which I didn't do at least 1 Ironman race was 2011, and that was only because I found out I had a stress fracture two weeks before I was due to race in Coeur D'Alene.  Mentally and physically, I can't tell you how nice it was not to be staring at twenty-five+ hour training weeks constantly, 4-7 hours of training on most days, and just endless miles.  Yes, it is nice to push our bodies and test our limits and see what we can do, but I do believe there is only so much of that you can do consistently before it stops feeling worthwhile to you.  It eventually requires at least a temporary break, if not a permanent one.  I feel much less daunted by the training I'm staring at for the next 22 weeks given that I'm coming off a pretty care-free year in terms of training.  I biked when I felt like it, or mostly just when friends wanted to ride.  I tried to run at least somewhat consistently, and was in a position where even a 45-minute run was a worthwhile venture, which was a nice change of pace.  And I swam quite a bit given that it was summer and I love open water swimming.  It was a nice and needed break. 

But today I was back at it.  I actually set my alarm and drove to my pool, where they haven't seen me since either late March or early April.  Just remember that at that point I went to Texas and Tulsa and got plenty of swimming in down there before coming back and hitting the lakes or ocean, so I haven't been quite as much of a slacker as that timeframe implies.  I don't think I recognized anybody there but was at least glad that it wasn't crowded.  I then hit the weight room for the first time in a long, long time.  I don't even remember the last time I lifted.  We had reached a point where since I am not generally a strength limited athlete, we bypassed strength training in favor of other things, but given my lengthy absence from serious training, it seems like it can only be a good idea. 

I even wen to Bikram yoga today.  I don't think I've done that in five years but I decided I wanted to toss something else in there and work on some core and other strength stuff.  That was more intense than I remembered.  And tougher.  And I forget that in spite of the fact that I have zero issues when swimming, biking and running, my knees are not so good.  But I think it will be a good addition, at least for the first 8-10 weeks before the rest of the training really kicks into high gear, at which point I fear hanging out trying to do yoga in a 105-degree room might have vastly more of a chance of resulting in me passing out in front of a room full of strangers. 

But anyway, day 1 is done.  It went pretty well.  Now I just have to string together a few months of this and I'll be all set!