Off-season ruminations, part 1.
Crap. I didn't realize people might actually still be reading this. Well, I'll post anyway, I suppose. If I haven't chased you off yet..
I'm currently in the middle of the most off off-season I've taken in.. quite some time. Normally I finish one event, take a week or two off, then immediately start training for something else. This time I decided I wanted to have a real off-season. So I'm currently coachless and scheduleless, and it's a bit strange and uncomfortable. I crave discipline and direction. But I'm sticking to my guns.
I'm not signed up for any races. (Sort of. Mostly. Technically.) I've only been in the pool twice since Ironman Florida, and only been on my bike on the trainer since Florida a handful of times, and never on the road. I've been eating whatever I've wanted, and given the reduced exercise and the increased fatty foods, I've definitely put on some pounds. I'm taking an off-season from the scale, as well, and I figure I'll deal with it when I start for-real training again. It's hard, because I know that I tend to do back-to-back events just so I don't gain appreciable weight, because it's SO hard to lose that weight again. But it's also somewhat of a relief to just eat a donut when a coworker offers one to me, rather than want the donut, but refuse the donut, and then spend the next 5 minutes repeatedly continuing to refuse the donut as it's forced and guilted on me.
So I'm off-season "fat" and I'm not swimming or biking, but I AM continuing to run regularly. Matt and I are hooking up with Karen's group when it suits us and fits our schedule, and that's been fun to run with that gang again. I'm not running with any particular goals other than companionship and fitness, but the running has been going really well. Speed workouts felt a little rough at first, post-Ironman, but now they feel.. well, still rough, but the normal kind of rough, from running fast.
I've also been suckered into doing my long runs with Karen the last few weeks. She always says she wants to run with me, which I find absurd, because she's much faster than I am. But she keeps wanting to do it, knowing how fast, or not, I run, and it's flattering that she wants my company, so I keep giving in. Which means I run all my long runs about a minute per mile faster than I run when I'm alone. That's a big jump! That puts my long run pace often just above my MGP. It's not what I'd call "comfortable," but Karen keeps pointing out that I'm conversational the whole time. Mostly. The conversation is a bit labored at times. But it's really nice to feel like maybe eventually I can run comfortably with Karen regularly.
And it also helps me believe that maybe I can eventually BQ. One of my main goals before I try to qualify again is to get more comfortable running faster. I need to run low 8:30s to go sub-3:45. And I've done that. I ran a 3:42ish. (Damn qualification time changes!) But I just remember it being So Very Hard after mile 13. And, of course, it SHOULD be hard to qualify for Boston. But that makes it mentally very challenging to want to sign up for another marathon. So I figure if I can get "comfortable" running 8:50s or 8:40s, pushing myself to 8:30s won't be such a stretch, and I can actually enjoy the process of qualifying for Boston instead of dreading it.
That's the theory. But 14 miles averaging 8:42s wore me out on Saturday, so nearly double that, even faster.. well, we'll see.
But that's where I am, off-seasonally. I intend to start swimming again, and try to get more rides in (probably on the trainer, because it's hard to want to ride in the cold when you're not training for anything), but I'm not going to sweat it if it doesn't happen. Because I'm awfully busy doing other stuff, but that's fodder for another post.
I'm currently in the middle of the most off off-season I've taken in.. quite some time. Normally I finish one event, take a week or two off, then immediately start training for something else. This time I decided I wanted to have a real off-season. So I'm currently coachless and scheduleless, and it's a bit strange and uncomfortable. I crave discipline and direction. But I'm sticking to my guns.
I'm not signed up for any races. (Sort of. Mostly. Technically.) I've only been in the pool twice since Ironman Florida, and only been on my bike on the trainer since Florida a handful of times, and never on the road. I've been eating whatever I've wanted, and given the reduced exercise and the increased fatty foods, I've definitely put on some pounds. I'm taking an off-season from the scale, as well, and I figure I'll deal with it when I start for-real training again. It's hard, because I know that I tend to do back-to-back events just so I don't gain appreciable weight, because it's SO hard to lose that weight again. But it's also somewhat of a relief to just eat a donut when a coworker offers one to me, rather than want the donut, but refuse the donut, and then spend the next 5 minutes repeatedly continuing to refuse the donut as it's forced and guilted on me.
So I'm off-season "fat" and I'm not swimming or biking, but I AM continuing to run regularly. Matt and I are hooking up with Karen's group when it suits us and fits our schedule, and that's been fun to run with that gang again. I'm not running with any particular goals other than companionship and fitness, but the running has been going really well. Speed workouts felt a little rough at first, post-Ironman, but now they feel.. well, still rough, but the normal kind of rough, from running fast.
I've also been suckered into doing my long runs with Karen the last few weeks. She always says she wants to run with me, which I find absurd, because she's much faster than I am. But she keeps wanting to do it, knowing how fast, or not, I run, and it's flattering that she wants my company, so I keep giving in. Which means I run all my long runs about a minute per mile faster than I run when I'm alone. That's a big jump! That puts my long run pace often just above my MGP. It's not what I'd call "comfortable," but Karen keeps pointing out that I'm conversational the whole time. Mostly. The conversation is a bit labored at times. But it's really nice to feel like maybe eventually I can run comfortably with Karen regularly.
And it also helps me believe that maybe I can eventually BQ. One of my main goals before I try to qualify again is to get more comfortable running faster. I need to run low 8:30s to go sub-3:45. And I've done that. I ran a 3:42ish. (Damn qualification time changes!) But I just remember it being So Very Hard after mile 13. And, of course, it SHOULD be hard to qualify for Boston. But that makes it mentally very challenging to want to sign up for another marathon. So I figure if I can get "comfortable" running 8:50s or 8:40s, pushing myself to 8:30s won't be such a stretch, and I can actually enjoy the process of qualifying for Boston instead of dreading it.
That's the theory. But 14 miles averaging 8:42s wore me out on Saturday, so nearly double that, even faster.. well, we'll see.
But that's where I am, off-seasonally. I intend to start swimming again, and try to get more rides in (probably on the trainer, because it's hard to want to ride in the cold when you're not training for anything), but I'm not going to sweat it if it doesn't happen. Because I'm awfully busy doing other stuff, but that's fodder for another post.