Answer: Freeze his toosh off. No, seriously, this whole triathlon lifestyle I'm living makes me a regular freezy cat. I've had the electric mattress pad rolling for more than a month now. Long sleeves and sweaters have been in the wardrobe rotation fro just as long. Maybe body fat does keep you warm. Who knew?
As for training, I've studies my last few years. Looked at some race results. Not all mine, mind you. And come up with some goals for the upcoming twelve month period (that is a year for those readers who are not so quick). I will, most likely, write down those goals here in a few months. But, for now they reside in my head. Remember that my goals and mine and should not affect your life in any way, shape, or form.
Any who... How to get to those goals.
Here is the general plan that I'm looking to follow until mid-January:
2 basic bike workouts every week with a FTP type workout every second week thrown in just for fun.
3 interval based swim workouts every week. My "test" interval will be 6 or 7 x 200m.
1 long (read painfully boring) swim workout per week. I do get some of my best thinking done during these swims, so I may become a dunce if I completely forego them.
4 solid runs per week with one at or below my goal race pace every two weeks, or so. Weekly mileage should be above 30 miles during "work" weeks and around 20 on a recovery week.
I am an avid stretcher so yoga and stretching are just part of my life. So, that will be there. But, I don't count it for anything.
About the bike: A typical training workout for me would be 4 minutes easy and 1 minute hard. "Easy" and "Hard" will be by feel. My intention is to do a little sleeping in and just keep on friendly terms with the old bicycle.
About the swim: This is my new project. Had I known I could get faster with just a little real work, I would have done this years ago. Anyhow... Now I do a warm-up, a drill set, two work sets, and a cool down. This has also reinvigorated my desire to swim.
About the run: This is still the third that I like best. I intend to do about the same total mileage that I did in 2010 in 2011. But, I intend to do a lot more speed work and even some track workouts. These next 6 weeks, or so, I will just be getting my body ready to go a little faster than it is comfortable with.
Unfortunately, my personal (read "my family's" and really "my wife's") training schedule will not allow me to attend too many of the Brent Emery lead training sessions at the Milwaukee shop. But, I will make attempts to make as many of those as I can in order to be in shape for the spring road races.
Send me an e-mail if you want to get together for some winter training fun.
