Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to All! Enjoy the holidays and don't forget to make room for training. Just don't let it interfere with the family gathering. Do it in the morning after the kids open their gifts!

The Five Rules

The way I look at training is I need to get it done early so it doesn't hang over my head. Plus, this way it doesn't take away from family life so much. So, with that in mind, here are my 5 rules of Tri Training and early morning workouts:


1. Prepare the Night Before. This means get all your gear together. If you let this go to the morning, which I often do, it cuts into training time. I often break this rule because I'm too tired when I think of doing it the night before. Then I have to scramble in the morning.

2. Factor in Prep Time. If it takes 1 snooze (9 minutes) to get out of bed, 10 minutes to dress and 10 minutes to eat then get up 29 minutes before you need to start the workout. Factor in time for travelling to the workout, for cooling down and for stretching . Of course, I hit the snooze button 3 times, dress & eat in 10 minutes and then cut the workout short by 8 minutes.

3. Stay Disciplined. If I don't follow Rules 1 & 2 then I am not being disciplined. Guess what? I am not as disciplined as I should be. I can get up in the morning but it's never as early as it should be. That's true at least for Monday through Friday. The weekends are no problem. Usually, no problem, that is.

4. Just Do It. Even if you can't get out of bed on time, get out anyway even if you have to short the workout. I find it more mentally rewarding if I run for 35 minutes instead of the 45 minutes planned then if I blow it off entirely. Plus, if I do pass on doing it in the morning, I absolutely have to do it later in the day and then it hangs over my head. And that's worse.

5. Have a Plan. For long distance training, you have to have a plan. You have to know what you are doing the next day, every day and every week. My first two years training for Ironman, I used the Iron Fit plans, which worked great.

A Nasty Morning

One of my rules during my current IM training is to "do it the morning" or else it hangs over my head all day. With that being said, there are mornings like today.

Rain. Cold. Darkness. And more Rain.

The alarm went off at 5:30. I needed to catch the bus at 7:10. I had a 45 minute run on the schedule. If I jumped out of bed immediately, I would probably have enough time to run, eat something, shower, dress and make the bus by 7:10. That is if I slept in my running clothes.

Well, that didn't happen. Wishful thinking. I did eventually get out of bed at 5:40 and hit the street at 5:50. But I had to shorten my run by 20 minutes.

It was nasty out there. But in the end, the good news was that it wasn't hanging over my head. And tomorrow is another day and another workout.

California Dreaming

Today's workout was extra special. The temp read 24 degrees F. I didn't quite get the wind chill but I would say it was about 7 to 8 degrees colder. But nonetheless, we chose the outside instead of the Trainer. I had 5 layers on up top and 2 layers plus my bike shorts on the bottom. Double socks with hot packs in the shoes. Double layered gloves including my ski gloves. And full mask for the face. It did warm up 4o minutes into the ride but when the puddles out on the road are frozen, maybe the inside would have been a wiser choice. After 1 1/2 hours at a low spin cadence and 24 miles of accomplishment we were done. The transition to the 20 minute run wasn't bad except for my frozen toes. Can anyone say, California?

Selfish...anyone?

Does anyone find this to be true? When you run into fellow triathlete's at the Y, all we can seem to talk about is training and racing? If it's a non-racer, it doesn't seem to be that way.

I am as guilty as the the other person in these conversations. I seem to initiate half of them in that direction. But yet I am turned off sometimes by the selfishness that sometimes comes from being a triathlete. I am talking about the many "me first" middle of the packers that exist out there. Hey, I know sometimes we need to be selfish because of the amount of workouts required for long distance training. Personally, I try to get it all done in the early morning hours before the family wakes and before I need to go to work. I'm really talking about the people who seem to spend endless hours away from the family at training camps, races and whatever else they can get involved in. They need to buy the latest and greatest equipment. (On that one, I'm jealous!!) Not to mention the costs.

I don't know. Maybe I'm way off base. Or maybe I'm just bored and have nothing else to write about.

Am I George Costanza?

Ok, I blew off tonight's Strength workout. Since it's the tendency of a triathlete, at least this triathlete (see last post), to justify why it was done, I will act like George Costanza and do the opposite. I will offer no explanation. In fact, I will be arrogant, in a George Costanza kind-of-way and illustrate the rest of my workout week. I will let you draw your own conclusions. One key to this, as well as my reference to my last post, is that Justification is a form of Whining.

Here's the week ahead:

1. Monday: Strength for 1 hour. (Arrived home at 7:15 from work)

2. Tuesday: Bike 1 Hour (will hit the Trainer before I catch the bus at 6:55 bound for NYC & Work)

3. Wednesday: Swim 45 minutes & Strength for 1 hour (Will hit the Y before work, try to get everything in and then shower and dress at the Y to leave by 7:30 for a breakfast meeting at 8 in NJ; father-in-law coming over tonight)

4. Thursday: Run for 45 minutes (before work and then hit the road by 7:30 for office in NJ; Easy Day)

5. Friday: Swim for 1 hour and Strength for 1 hour (before work; must arrive by 8 AM; easy day)

You know, when you write it our, it doesn't look that hard. It's only Week 2. I just have to stay disciplined and take it 1 workout at a time. Bed at 10 PM. Goodnight!