Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Long Time No See

So I have been pretty terrible about keeping up with this during the off season, but to be honest, not too much has happened since my last race. I took a few down weeks after Clearwater to recover and just to clear my head before I started training for the 2011 season, which at the time I hadn't really thought of too many races which I really wanted to focus on. I had a few ideas for this season, but that was it, they were just ideas. Well, I put in a few pretty solid weeks in December, was pretty consistent over the holiday weeks (Christmas and New Year) and have been still at it this month. One of the things that has been drastically different from past years is having access to a computrainer (at Swim Bike Run of KY) to train on during this winter months. I feel like I'm in the best cycling shape of my life right now, so I'm anxious to get out on the roads to see how strong I actually am.

I have a lot of trouble with motivation during the winter months, as I'm sure most people do that live in a state with weather like Kentucky. Especially the weeks surrounding the holidays in December, I have trouble getting out the door and I tend to eat significantly more food than usual. As we all know, those two don't work great together. Not having access to a pool in my hometown also doesn't help me get in those extra yards I need to work on my swimming on the days I decide to visit home. However, I had a shorter holiday visit than past years thanks to my job here in Lexington (and the fact that I don't get a 3 week break like I did during college).

The month of January has also been pretty exciting in regards to travel. I have been to Colorado Springs and Bowling Green already this year, when the month of January is usually a month for me to get back into the swing of things. I flew out to Colorado the 2nd weekend of January to get my USAT level 1 coaching certification and also to honor Susan Bradley-Cox and her induction to the USAT hall of fame by attending the hall of fame dinner there in Colorado Springs that same weekend. So, if anyone is interested in being coached, shoot me an email as I would love to help you reach your goals.

The very next weekend I drove down to Bowling Green to visit my girlfriend and family. She is doing her first clinical of PT school there in Bowling Green, so I decided to go down and spend the weekend with her. I was able to get in my first 1hour and 45 minute run of the year while I was there. Sure it was 14 degrees, but that just shows that the weather will only affect you if you let it.

I am now back in Lexington for a few weeks and will be racing in the Mercedes Half Marathon on February 13th in Birmingham, AL. I'm really looking forward to it as it should be a fun race. Then once March rolls around, I have two races that I'm looking at: the USA sprint National championships in Clermont, FL on the 5th and then San Juan 70.3 on the 19th. So I'm looking at two extremes at distances, one being a sprint ITU draft legal race, and the other being a half ironman.

So we'll see how the season starts off.

Thanks for reading.

Tony