Picture 186It’s been at least 2+ weeks since my last post due to my post-season hiatus.  We all need a clean break from the rigor of endurance training.  Mine couldn’t have come at a more perfect time considering I had my annual Canadian fishing trip scheduled the week following the Lake Geneva 1/2 IM.  Ultimately, I took off 2 weeks and completely disregarded any sense of control and routine that I would otherwise apply.   This included blog posting too, because that would dilute my triathlon hiatus gluttony!  My first week was simple and involved sleeping in, relaxing after work and prepping for my second week off… Fishing in Canada!!!
An entire week in Canada with my brother and a few buddies is gluttony at its finest!  If you’re a purist triathlete, you’ll likely write me off after this, but as I firmly believe, you’ve got to play a little in life as well.  Have fun, relax and do things the way you want to and not how you think you “have to!” 

Canadian Gluttony

Beer

Wine

Liquor

Cigars

   Total Qty

16 cases

14 bottles

6 Liters

50 sticks

 Weekly total/PP

76.8 beers

14 glasses

40.57oz

10 cigars

We also consumed, in the form of some type of fresh walleye preparation, upwards of 4,000 calories a day.  Blackened walleye, walleye almandine, walleye paella, walleye boil, and several shore lunches!  This trip is a blast and is just what I needed after a long season of hard work and self-control.  Picture 193

As fun and relaxing as my 2 weeks off were, I have already knocked out a couple of workouts since getting back and am moving forward into my “off-season” training.   Saturday involved an easy 60 minute spin on the bike and yesterday I spun for 50 minutes followed by a 4 mile run.  It’s a little shocking to the system to get going again, but we (triathletes) tend to bounce back quickly.

Moving forward…
I’ve really been thinking a lot about the next year and obviously have a lot of work ahead.  I’ve decided to spend a large amount of time in the off-season becoming a better student of triathlon, especially in the areas of training(macro & micro), technique and nutrition.  I will be doing a decent amount of research into these topics and be discussing what I learn.  This upcoming off-season is the time to become smarter about how we do things so that we’re not trying to figure it out half-way through the season.  I have also decided against hiring a coach for 2010 and will self-coach myself to the finish line of Ironman Louisville next August.  I will be developing my own training plan composed of what I like from other existing IM plans as well as tailoring it to my own personal strengths & weaknesses.  Honestly, I’ve written plans for friends, but have never followed one myself.  I’m a “just get out and work hard” type of triathlete.  I’ve already started my first book written by Joe Friel called “Going Long” which in only 50 pages, has seriously piqued my curiosity about how one can tap their true potential.  More on that as it progresses as well. 

Lastly, I went down to a local race on Sunday, Capital Pursuit, that my wife Jennifer and a co-worker Marty were running in.  Jennifer has been battling a hamstring injury for nearly 3 years where she hasn’t been able to run at all without aggravating it.  She worked through it by starting with the “walk 9 minutes/run 1 minute” back in Spring and just clobbered it.  Marty has been dealing with shin splints, but with a new stretching routine, he not only ran the farthest he’s ever run, but at a record pace.   Both are running the Des Moines 1/2 Marathon in mid-October and are a great example of hard work and persistence.  Congrats!

2009 turnout to be my best season so far and 2010 is wide open to improve!  Cheers to the ride ahead! 

Highlights from Canada!