I'm talking about the time when all those Twitter pics start showing up of people either on their trainers with some cliche tagline about "getting the work done", or already giving up on winter and heading south for some warmer training. The truth is, November and December training for most triathletes is about as uninteresting as it gets...if they're doing it right.
My last posts left off with putting the book end on my 2014 season and my plans for next year. I think more than any other year that I've been in the sport, this past year's mixture of modest successes and some challenges along the way allowed me to take a ton of lessons into my off-season. I learned that being ultra-motivated going into off-season can be a bad thing, that big miles and wattage in October doesn't mean superstar results in August, and I learned that an inconsistent off-season can affect the entire upcoming year.
To that end, so far this off-season I've successfully spent more time playing with my new Di2 toy, dreaming up new builds and cursing at pressfit BB's than actually riding bikes. Oh and crapping my pants at the thought of doing an Ironman in less than 10 months!
In all seriousness, my intention with planning a full-distance race in 2015 was all about taking an entire year to focus on one event. I don't mean that in the way you might think. Its not a lazy man's decision to go slow and long from here on out. And I certainly don't mean that IM is my only goal for the upcoming year; in 2015 I plan on racing everything from draft-legal tri's, road races and maybe even an Xterra, to a couple 70.3's that will be goal races in the first half of the summer.
I've wanted to do an Ironman for a while now, not in small part just to prove to myself that I can finish it. But for me, doing one next year was a calculated decision to make me a better athlete on every possible level. Trying to actually race over that distance and be satisfied with my effort is pretty daunting to someone whose barely started to figure out the challenges of racing half that distance. In fact its scaring me to the point of identifying all of my weaknesses as an athlete and systematically checking every box.
Some readers may or may not know that since my second season in the sport I have dealt with chronic back issues. Its called spondylolisthesis and yes that's a funny word. Essentially my lower back lacks some structural stability between two vertebrae and its left to the muscles to compensate - but that can lead to tightness and pain. I've had seasons that it has taken me out for some of all of the summer, but for the most part, if I stay on top of physio exercises, core, flexibility and prehab it doesn't affect me.
Essentially, unless I develop really good habits with core and physio I'm not going to be able to push reasonable wattage for 180k, let alone run after. So I've been putting more emphasis on something that I often get lazy with, and a lot of athletes completely neglect. Not only is that going to get me through the race, but I'll be a stronger and more durable athlete for it moving forward.
One thing that Amanda will attest to as my biggest weakness in triathlon is my consistency throughout the year. It's something I've slowly improved upon for the last 2-3 years, and its not that I'm lazy or anything (well, that's not true). But throughout year I struggle at times to find a healthy and sustainable balance between training, work, and sitting on my ass and doing nothing.
While this off-season has already presented its challenges with moving into a new apartment and getting a real job (not to mention the year as a whole), in those tired and unmotivated moments of doing the vast majority of my training before/after its light outside...having that IM in the back of my head (and the $800 charge on my Visa) doesn't hurt.
The biggest reason for me wanting to do an Ironman wasn't even for the race itself but for the training - not only experiencing the ups and downs of the big miles but also getting back to basics and nailing down my technical skills in all sports. I'm probably not alone when I watch NBC's annual Kona coverage and can only focus on how incredibly inefficient many athletes are...and that's at World Champs!
In my opinion there's no race or distance where being technically sound and physically efficient can impact a race; even for a relatively strong athlete ironing out swim stroke flaws can cut minutes off a split - tens of minutes for staying aero on the bike, and hours if you can maintain some type of running form on the run. I firmly believe that focusing a year on base fitness and improving efficiency will not only make me stronger but significantly faster when I go back to racing shorter stuff the following year. Not to mention optimizing nutrition and recovery strategies. Even if the race goes to hell with the unpredictable nature of it being my first IM, I am confident that I'll be racing on a completely different level in 2016 than ever before.
All of this is to say, so far my off-season has been going pretty well. I'm not in peak fitness, but I don't want to be in December. I've spent the last couple months working on my swim stroke, pedaling efficiency and core/physio. That said I'm really happy with the numbers I'm seeing in training right now, but more importantly how much better it feels than this time last year.
I've been consistently working on fixing some issues in the pool, and despite much of my swimming being drill sets and keeping my efforts in check my speed is there when I've tested it. Mixing in plenty of mountain biking in the fall and now some time on the road bike indoors seems to have my power right near my best fitness ever. And while my fall running season was put on hold with some minor hamstring tightness, I've been putting in some good base with just enough faster efforts to know that all the run fitness I built up over this past season hasn't gone anywhere.
I'm confident that I'm setting the foundation for my best season of racing ever, and its coming up pretty fast! Amanda and I are heading down to Florida for LPC Training camp in about 10 weeks, and that's where I'll also be kicking off my race season as well.
