Of Christmas and Pools

Dec 24 - Dec 30
S:  26,350 yds - 6hr 23min

B:  107.05 mi - 6hr 53min

R:  40.14 mi - 5hr 26min

Total:  18hr 43min

So, I was off work this week and managed to get some quality play-time in.  And it mostly involved Christmas and pools.  The stars aligned with company holidays on Christmas Eve/Day and now New Years Eve/Day, so I perfectly placed my remaining 3 days of vacation to bridge the gap in order to get 11 straight days of no work!  Christmas was pretty awesome.  We had the whole family at my parents house for 2 days at the start of the week which meant tons of great food and fellowship.  The rest of the week consisted of getting to see a handful of old out-of-town friends as well as some quality exercise time.  Obviously, I was a frequent visitor to the pool this week.  My biggest swim week so far this year was around 17-18k, so 26k just blew that out of the water.  This should bode well for next year (I hope). 

Vacation!

Dec 17 - Dec 23
S:  15,100 yds - 3hr 36min

B:  76.83 mi - 4hr 48min

R:  45.32 mi - 6hr 2min

Total:  14hr 27min

Another solid weeks is in the books to start 11 straight days of no work...wohoo!  Low on the bike, some decent swim yardage, and 9 runs.  This time last year running 40 miles in a week was really tough on me, both physically and mentally.  I had just never done it before so it was quite a shock to the body.  This time around I feel like I'm on cruise control.  Quite a difference a year makes!  This next week and a half will be a good time to hang out with family and friends and get some quality work done.  Rumor has it that I'll be in the pool a lot.  Actually, its no rumor...it's fact.  In the words of Brian these next weeks will be "Swim heavy, bike run light.  You're new perfume:  Cl."  This should be good for me.

Week #1

Dec 10 - Dec 16
S:  13,650 yds - 3hr 11min

B:  69.59 mi - 4hr 18min

R:  42.10 mi - 5hr 36min

Total:  13hr 6min

The first week of "regular" training is in the bag.  4 swims, 3 bikes, and 8 runs.  Boom!  It really did feel good to crank up the running.  The last time I hit 40+ mpw was mid September, and before that was mid-June.  I have a sneaky feeling that this trend of mucho running will continue, and my guess is that the swimming will really crank up as well.  Just what I need.  Another thing I've been doing lately is trying to get an idea on what the race schedule will look like this coming year.  Tentatively, I think it's going to look kind of like previous years, but I am going to dabble in a couple more long course races as well as some duathlons and a long distance cross race.

Date	Race Name	Location
2/16	Southern Cross	Dahlonega, GA
3/2	Tuscaloosa Half-Marathon	Tuscaloosa, AL
4/6	Double Oak Duathlon	Birmingham, AL
4/20	Heel & Crank Duathlon	Mooresville, AL
4/28	Capitol of Dreams Triathlon	Montgomery, AL
5/11	Gulf Coast Half-Ironman	Panama City, FL
5/18	Memphis in May Sprint Tri	Tunica, MS
5/19	Memphis in May Oly Tri	Tunica, MS
6/8	Buster Britton Triathlon	Birmingham, AL
7/21	Racine 70.3	Racine, WS
8/10	Mountain Lakes Triathlon	Guntersville, AL
8/25	Rocketman Triathlon	Huntsville, AL
9/1	Hy-Vee Triathlon	Des Moines, IA
9/7	Alabama Coastal Triathlon	Gulf Shores, AL
10/12	Goosepond Half Ironman	Scottsboro, AL
10/26	Beach 2 Battleship Half	Wilmington, NC

And the Offseason Ends

Nov 12 - Dec 19 (4 weeks)
S:  29,950 yds - 7hr 10min

B:  190.42 mi - 15hr 40min

R:  50.89 mi - 7hr 6min

Total:  29hr 56min

There has been lots of trail running and lots of mountain biking in my life lately...doesn't get much better than that.  It's been nice to cut back training volume for a little while, but I'm about ready to get back in some sort of routine.  I do well with order and structure.  And now it starts (this morning actually).  Year #2 with Accelerate3 drving.  The 2012 season was pretty successful in terms of results, but complacency is never a good thing and I don't think I'm near my potential yet.  The goal for the off-season (which should be any triathlete's goal but is not what most want to hear) is to throw some time at my weaknesses.  Basically I'm going to be running and swimming a whole lot...should be fun!

riding trails at Oak Mountain State Park