no mans land

In terms of training in mind for a race that's so far away but so monumental, I'm pretty much in no mans land. Just like the race, I have to temper my training so that I don't over load to early in the year. At the same time I don't want to end up out of shape by the time the first of the year comes around.

So what does one do during the off season when your planning on an Ironman next summer? You run a Marathon...of course. December 12th I'm running the Rocket City Marathon (Huntsville, AL...I know, space camp) along with Naomi and our friend Lauren. It will be a good confidence builder if I can complete this one with out looking or feeling like death in the last 4 miles like the Philadelphia Marathon last year. I have to find a way to make the different events that make up an Ironman seem less intimidating - so Marathons and Century bike rides are in order. This will hopefully help me wrap my head around the Ironman event as something that I am actually capable of.

Right now everything is pretty much maintenance training except for the 20 mile runs every other week. I'm looking forward to building in some swimming soon along with the biking and running. I'll be on a holding pattern of training 6-9 hours a week until January 11th - when my 24 week Ironman specific training plan will start. I'm currently doing some research on some strength training that will be beneficial in the off season as well.

Today was a good (or bad depending on how you look at it) preview of winter. I sat in the garage on my bike for an hour on the trainer while the rainy weather persisted outside. I try to avoid using this awful machine as much as possible - but no doubt there will be some nasty days where I just have to get the ride in - but going outside is not an option. Tomorrow is a 9 mile run at an easy pace, hopefully the rain goes away!