The Off-Season

My blog posts have been few and far between, mostly because the off-season has begun. I can't spend the entire year focused on training and racing as it mentally burns me out. I haven't raced a motorcycle since my burnout a few years ago, and I still don't have a hankering to go back yet, I'm sure much to Zac's dismay. So for the triathlon season, this is the part of the year where I get to relax a bit, train a little differently, and not worry about my eating or the scale as much. Of course, I can't stop the crazy planning, and I already have races on the calendar for 2009. Everything is a tentative race as XTERRA is the focus for next year, and they don't have the schedule out yet for the American Tour. So I sit around, constantly checking my inbox and XTERRAPlanet.com to see if a schedule is up yet, and end up getting disappointed. I am NOT a patient person.

I have been running quite a bit, biking here & there, and not swimming. Last year I swam all through the winter to get through the April IMAZ, which included 5 AM swims in 25 degree weather where my swim gear froze to the deck. I refuse to do that this year. My plan is to swim once in awhile, then really get back into it in January.

Biking is going to be taking over with some long endurance rides. Zac and I are signed up as a duo team for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo, so I need to keep the endurance riding up. Liane and I are doing the Dawn 2 Dusk race as a duo, and then I've somehow conviced her to do the Arizona Endurace Series Kentucky Camp Epic with me. 34 miles of riding and over 5,000 ft in elevation gain on a mountain bike. Then there are some long road bike rides planned, leading up to 24HOP. The MBAA mountain bike series begins in January, and my plan is to follow that series to get faster on the MTB. Of course, I'm not sure which dates I'm racing for sure as XTERRA hasn't come out with their schedule yet. Do you sense a recurring theme here?

Tomorrow is the Turkey Trot 5K. My goal is the biggest splash in the water crossings. Given that the weather is supposed to be rainy, I may be diving into some mud pits too.