One Month In

One month down, three to go:  Time seems to be flying by faster then I intended this training season, and the weather hasn't helped.  One day it's -10, the next it is 60.  Welcome to spring in Colorado!  The weather was an expected hurdle.  You've got to be flexible with your training, able to move from outdoors to indoors at a drop of a weather forecast.  The weather has had an interesting effect on my motivation, on one hand, I feel like the toughest man alive riding in sub-freezing temps, knowing it's just me and my machine against nature.  On the other, the last thing you want to do is get sick, and the cold does a number on your immune system. Another expected hurdle I've been faced with is my schedule.  Work has precedence over training (keeping my job is of course the top priority).  I did manage to change my work hours to allow me a 1-1/2 hour lunch so that I'm not left training in the dark.  My last priority is my social life.  It has taken a pretty hard hit so far. I've found myself seeing people outside of work and home has dwindled to about once a week.  Excessive beer drinking and late nights aren't really conducive to training, and the longer I can hold those nights off is for the better.  It's a matter of keeping my eye on the prize.

Sunsetting over the Rockies - January Biking in Fort Collins

As far as actual training goes, the last 4 weeks I've slowly been raising my workout consistency and intensity.  Less days off, and more hours training is a pool best eased into. As I mentioned above, my time training is slowly increasing, thanks mostly to longer runs, rides, and joining a masters swim team - i.e. a local off season high school swim team, more on that later.

I've also spent a great deal of time constructing my training plan.  Thanks to my parents and the list of Triathlon books I asked for for Christmas, I've learned a ton of new information and techniques about how to train.  This season will be filled with a bunch of new-to-me training methods.  Combining knowledge from my past seasons with my newly acquired book knowledge should make for an interesting year.  The key is to stick to the plan now that I have it written out.  As lance says -"it's simple, just do what's on the paper".

Abdi running on the Ski trails-Happy Jack, Wyoming

Cross-country skiing has probably been the most exciting part of my training so far.  It reminds me of downhill skiing, but without the crouds, or commercialism.  Not to sound too hippie-ish, but when it's just you, and the back woods of nature, it truly is amazing.  There's a calm and peaceful feeling that embraces you when you're out there in the dead of winter... It really is like a whole other world.  It's also challenging.  XC skiing is much better workout then slope skiing.  You're at 9000+ft in elevation, constantly pushing yourself uphill with only a minor break when you get a 20ft drop.  It really does a good job at simulating the aerobic patters to cycling in the mountains.  I can see why the highest ever recorded VO2 max was by an XC skier!

But the biggest challenge in my training so far hasn't been on ski's or the bike, but in a pool - with a group of high schoolers.  I finally made the plunge (no pun intended) to join the masters group at my local pool.  My first thoughts on this were, 'OK, a few older guys working out with a team, probably along side younger kids, but the whole thing is most likely a support group for swimmers' - I was wrong.  What it really is (or at least the one joined) is a bunch of high school swimmers training to get ready for their upcoming season.  I was essentially thrown into varsity swim team practice in the last part of their training season.  After the first day I had swam more then 4000 meters of intervals and drills, three times what I had been doing the previous two weeks!  Let's just say I didn't think I could get that sore from swimming.

I am greatful for these challenges.  I have come to believe a big part of burning out is being bored with your training.  And training on your own can get boring fast!  I would kill to have a the solid structure of a team again.  Even though swimming has gotten much tougher, swimming with this group has made it so much more enjoyable.  Not to mention how fast it's getting me in shape!

Looking ahead - My training will enter another dimension when I head north with my girlfriend Brianna to North Dakota.  At least it will be constant weather up there - cold.  I plan on making use of the trip by racing my first race since my Ironman and of th season. The race is called The Iceman Winter Triathlon.  It consists of 4 miles of XC skiing, 7 miles of mountain biking in the snow, and a 3 mile run.  It takes place at Lincoln Park in Grand Forks - ring any bells Monk family?  All in all, the week leading up to the race will essentially be my training camp for the year, I look foreword to getting some good quality winter training done while I'm off work for the week!  Always a good thing.  Here's to new adventures!

Cross-county Skiing near Cameron Pass west of Fort Collins