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!