First snow and a change in training philosophy for the winter

Looks like I changed my training plan just in time. The weather turned from really nice fall days to snow today. No accumulation here in the valley, but the local mountains are white. Yeehaw! (I think).

This is the first week of my winter training plan. Well, October through December, anyway, beginning this last week of Sept and first week of October. I'm simply scheduling a morning bike trainer ride and a 5 or 6 mile run at lunch EVERY DAY. This requires me to get to bed at 9:30pm instead of after midnight, and then I have to get up at 0500. I was successful the first three days (Mon, Tues, and today)! We'll see if it continues, but I feel good about.

The morning bike trainer is just 30 minutes right now, and it's more of a matter of getting up and then simply doing a little something to get used to getting up. The bike isn't boring...yet. Intensity level is low, with heart rate around 120. It's amazing how much you can begin to sweat when you're not really working hard but don't have any wind to evaporate the sweat. I actually drink coffee during this workout to make sure I don't get into a higher effort level than I want. I'll up this bike trainer time to 60-90 minutes as time goes by and I get used to the volume.

The lunch run is the same as I've been doing all summer, but I'm lowering the effort level to 8:15 miles or so, about a 6 out 10 effort level, with a 10 being race effort and 4 being a little jog. I want to hit 24 miles per week, which is four six-mile runs or five five-mile runs each week. The focus is on consistency and not effort level. I'm going with the theory at least until December that consistency at a moderate effort level can increase your overall speed, and I'm also working on getting my run cadence up to 84 instead of 80, which actually takes alot of mental focus. Running at lunch in the cold and/or snow is something I can deal with, but cold and wet means I'll head to the gym and get on the elliptical. It's nice that home, work, and the gym are all within a mile of each other.

I feel good about this plan / philosophy so far, but I'm only on my third day. I found in the first three weeks of September that consistent running with moderate effort can be effective because I noticed myself running a bit faster with the same effort level.

In any case, I'll continue with this and evaluate it after three weeks. I'll assume I can continue getting up in the morning! When the bike trainer time gets up past 60 minutes, I think I'll cut that time back a bit and head to the pool when it opens at 0600 to get a short swim in and be back at 0640 so I can watch little Paul (not so little anymore, btw!) while Tera works out.

Lifting weights will get thrown into the mix somewhere along the line, too, but I'm not sure where. Maybe 60 minute bikes followed by 30 minute swims on Tues and Thurs and then lifting weights for 30 minutes on Mon, Wed, Fri. I have a quick lifting routine that will fit into that time frame nicely.

All in all, I think I'm happy with this plan and where it should get me at the end of December.

End o' summer...such a bummer.....

So, summer is officially over. Yesterday I came back from the annual late summer fishing trip in Yellowstone National Park. That trip is my "recovery" period, although it is usually lots of walking and quite physical because of the rock hopping, water-wading, and fighting all the fish(!).

So now it's MTB season. I recently got my front crank replaced after a few of the teeth on the small and middle chain rings bent from a broken chain. This bike was purchased in 1994, and this is the first major component replacement, so I think it's doing pretty well. Lots of trails to hit out there!

I've been keeping up the running at lunch, usually doing six miles at about 8:10 pace, kind of easy but it's getting harder.

I haven't been on my tri-bike since the Portland race. Oh well. I'm planning on doing some easy morning workouts of 60-90 minutes once I decide I want to start getting up early. Right now, I sleep in and take it easy with little Paul so Tera can hit the gym. It's dark til about 7:00am, and we don't like to run in the dark.

This 20-60-40 goal is pretty tough. I thought I got my bike to a good level with all the hill training, but it didn't show in the races this year. I took about 8 minutes off my average 40k route this summer, so I know I made progress. I really wanted to see the progress in a race I did last year versus a time this year. The only Olympic race I did last year was the Bear Lake Brawl, and I canc'd that this year because of too busy a schedule. I guess I have to wait til next year.

I'm still committed to the goal, but I realize that it's much tougher than I thought. I got my swim time down alot by getting in some OWS in May and getting comfortable in the open water. I'm still weak on the hills on the bike, and that's where I can get the most time. The run times really suprised me this year by staying under 46, and this winter I want to work on increasing my natural run cadence as a method to improve my run times. My transition times improved immensely this year, too, from first to last races....I focused on getting in quick, changing gear smooth and fast, and then getting out quick.

I put together a Sept - Dec workout plan to slim down a little and maintain a base. I want to do 60-90 minutes easy biking in the morning, running 5-6 miles at lunch, and then evenings off. The only swimming I plan to do is as a replacement for a bike or run to break it up a bit.

From Jan - March, I'll add my favorite backcountry ski routes to the workouts! That's always a good workout.

When spring hits, I'll do the hills on the bike again and do more short, hard runs after each bike. That first mile on the run after the bike is where I can cut some time, I'm sure. Next year, I need to actually get in the 800's and 400's on the track more than once!

So from now til March, I'll probably only update this once a week or so.

Here's to a good off-season to everyone!