Taking it in stride. Adjusting goals. Adapting on the fly. The finely honed skills of an experienced triathlete. Or a woman’s whimsy, but whatever!
This is how I justify to myself a total revamp of my 2008 race schedule. It was only a few short posts ago when I publicly committed to racing IM New Zealand this March. However, in the past few weeks I’ve realized that was, well, a dumb idea. Not that I don’t have a pronounced longing to return to Taupo; I most certainly do. But I’ve taken a good hard look at the calendar, at my work and travel schedule, at my personal commitments and at the season as a whole and I’ve decided to change things up. Oh, and did I mention the even larger looming issue, the fact that I’m feeling just plain lazy?
The winter slump I find myself in this year is more challenging than most I’ve experienced. I simply haven’t had that “aha” moment when a few lazy weeks magically morph into a renewed zest for fitness. Sure, I’ve had a handful of long runs and a Berkeley hills bike climb here and there. But for the most part my recent running consists of a 3 mile roundtrip loop to the dog park. My tri racing bike has yet to be fully reassembled following my October trip to Kona. The only body of water I’ve been in lately is 102 degrees with bubbling jets.
I keep telling myself it’s good to have some down time, a chance for my body to rest and rejuvenate, a break from the routine of triathlon training that can so easily become the basis for how we endurance athletes plan all aspects of our free time. I promise myself I won’t get too out of shape, too soft, too far gone. But I also know I need to get started soon if I want a fighting chance of a decent season. An Ironman on March 1st, however, feels a bit too lofty.
Instead, I’m going to follow a similar plan to what I did last year: an early season marathon, a handful of half IM races and IM Coeur D’Alene as the pinnacle event. Visions of a late June IM and warm weather training hold so much more appeal for me right now. Plus I’ll get to race Boston as my marathon, where I’ve wanted to return since they changed the start time from noon to 10am, a distinct advantage and preference for this early riser.
So that’s my plan and I’m sticking to it. I figure I have a couple more weeks before I need to dive seriously into my marathon training runs. For the time being I’ll stick to the daily dog park drill, followed by laps across the hot tub.