The Off Season is Now

The plan for the season was to end with Austin 70.3 on October 23. However, my body had other ideas. After Pacific Grove I was fatigued and sore but not overly so. I had a few days of very easy swimming and biking with no running in hopes that everything would feel better. I ran 3 days after the race. It felt better but not great. However, it seemed "manageable" so I carried on. After 2 weeks I realized that my body was screaming at it me that it needed to be done for a bit. I was fatigued in all 3 disciplines, running was painful on my right leg and I dropped 3 lbs! After one final attempt on the treadmill I decided that training through my pain and fatigue would most likely yield a lackluster result in Austin and the real possibility of a serious injury. Game over. I got off the treadmill and decided to start my off season. It took me a few days to taper off the training. For example, I still did the scheduled swim after I got off the treadmill. I swam the next day and then I shut it down and did NOTHING for the entire weekend.

Ending a season without a final race is definitely disappointing. I like to finish leaving everything out there in a race. It is a bit anti-climatic to step off a treadmill and declare the season over. I was sad and down and felt a bit like a failure for not being able to finish out what I had set out to do. Nevertheless, I have to think about the near term AND months down the road. Lets face it, I am not getting any younger and I want to maximize my years of competing in triathlon. One year builds on the next and I want to have a healthy and productive "off" season that will set me up for more improvements next year.

The plan right now is rest and physical therapy. It seems that my hip and glut are weak so I am working on strengthening and mobility. I have still been in the pool 3-4 times a week because as a former swimmer losing my "feel" for the water drives me crazy. Plus, as my physio said, "you'll go crazy if you don't move a little so swimming is perfect right now." Next week I'll do some easy biking and then start to add in some running the week after that. In the long term the rest will do me well and the strengthening will help immensely. My swimming background serves me very well in some aspects of triathlon but in other ways the lack of leg activity on land for 15 years of my life throws me some challenges every now and again. I do have goals for this lack of activity time---I want to do it REALLY well. So I sit on the couch, use my new Recovery Pump boots and surf the internet watching all the Kona coverage videos I can.

This weekend we are heading up to Lake Oswego for my grandmother's 100th birthday party! A very special weekend. I have scoped out the internet situation due to a big race being held in Kona :) When I can't be watching the video I'll have my phone and will be checking twitter and text updates religiously. Please keep me updated everyone!

Since I had no training planned, Andy and I had a little fun last Sunday. We went shootin' with my training partner John and a few others. We shot at targets and clay pigeons. I had a good time but I was a bit bruised from the recoil of the shotgun into my bony shoulder. We also took some time to take a few fun photos (as seen above).

Good luck to all racing this weekend and later on this fall. I wish I would be joining you. I'll be ready to kick ass in March and April though! Plus, I have to be healthy for a wedding/training weekend over New Years! It is a take no prisoners type of wedding....I must be strong! I'll give you a hint on who it is---a certain GCM will be WAY out in front this weekend on the bike.