Now What?

I know this is the 'off season'. I had a good (long) triathlon season in 2009 and I achieved many of my goals. Now I'm supposed to be resting and recovering and relaxing and enjoying it all.

But you know what I enjoy? Training.

I really do. I like it. I never really felt like I 'had' to train for anything. I was always psyched up and enjoyed those long and/or hard days. So now that they are over, I find myself asking Now What?

Well, for starters, I know that my body needs some down time to recover from all that I asked it to do this past year. I get that. Consequently, I didn't do much at all last week- just a couple of short easy get out there and move sessions. A total of 3 hours of easy exercise. I know it was what my body needed. But it drove me nuts. After the first few days I started going crazy with the house cleaning. I mean, seriously, I washed the couch cushion covers. I cleaned out drawers and closets that haven't been cleaned out in years. Can I start training again now please???

So I have a couple of new goals. First up! The Waikiki Double RoughWater Swim December 6. I don't know exactly how long it is- something like 4.5 miles I think. I've done it twice so this will be my third time. Last year I did it less than 6 weeks after giving birth to Moana. It's a super fun low key event where everyone has their own paddler/kayaker escort and there are no buoys other than the turn around buoys which makes it an event in ocean navigating just as much as endurance swimming. I sent my entry in today. :)

The week after the RoughWater is the Honolulu Marathon. I'm entered. I have been entered since May, when they opened up the event to Hawaii residents for one week for $35. It was before I qualified for Kona so I didn't know if I'd be doing Kona... I figured I was going to do a marathon this year one way or another, so that was my thought process in sending the entry in when it was cheap. But then I got into Kona so obviously the marathon got put on the back-burner in my mind. I figured I'd make a decision about whether or not I would run it after Ironman, knowing that there was every possibility that I wouldn't have any desire to run a step for several months. But guess what? I want to run. Shocker, I know.

I also know that what my mind wants to do is not necessarily what my body wants to do, so I won't say that I'm 100% committed to the marathon just yet. But I did take a look at the calendar and figured that if I give myself this week as another 'recover from ironman' week and do just a little jogging, I'd have 4 weeks to do a good block of marathon training and then a 2 week taper before the event. So while not ideal, it's possible. And since this is my 5th year living here and I've yet to do the Honolulu Marathon, I think it's time. I think this is the year. I'll likely make the final decision in a couple of weeks after I put in some key run efforts and see how my body is responding.

I know some of you will think I'm crazy, and to you, I offer this... My bike is still packed away in it's bike box. :) Maybe I'll unpack it this week, but I won't ride it until January. I have no fear of losing bike fitness. Shoot, I took 9 months off the bike while I was pregnant and came back stronger than ever. So there you have it. No biking.