There IS No Off Season

Only a few days after Augusta, Pinata and her boyfriend E did a double-tri (an Oly one day and a sprint the next). I was still basking in my end-of-season euphoria, and I coached swim practice one night that next week. Pinata was still doing her normal hard core workout and discussing her splits with E, and I said, "You guys are acting like you have not just finished your season!" Without skipping a beat, E said "there is no off season with this sport."

After my half Ironman was finished (only a month ago, but it seems longer), I have been in a bit of a funk training-wise. Sure, I signed up for my Ironman and made preparations for winter training, including starting to think about the other races which will fill out next year. During the season I had gotten used to working out every day, sometimes twice a day, and an average of five hours a day on weekends. I have really dropped the ball.

Granted, my "dropped" state is probably still quite a lot by the average American's standards-  barring a hurricane-forced break (Monday) or the stomach flu (yesterday) I have been exercising more or less every day or every other day.  But I don't have the same vigor as before, and I feel purposeless.  I definitely don't do as much as before- I have only been on my bike once, and I haven't run over 6 miles. How do people do this all the time? How do you make yourself work out when you don't have a nicely planned out race and training schedule?? And what the hell do you do with all this free time? I guess I could take up knitting again....

Last year, after the marathon, I had a couple of days of euphoria, after which I sunk into the "post race blues" for a little while (this was normal, as Flash assured me).  I had known from before the race, though, that I was going to start doing triathlons after I finished so I had something to look forward to, a new mountain of fitness to climb. I think that's one reason why I signed up for the Ironman with such gusto. That post-race high and subsequent low is what makes us crazy tri kids keep coming back for more and more- harder, longer, faster races.

Jewel, the eternal optimist (as in, always turning my complaints and negative thoughts into positive ones)- says that I really need to give my mind and body a break so that I don't burn out. I know she's right. I tend to over-train, not only because I love it but because I want to make sure I am completely and utterly prepared. I also hate the feeling of losing all the fitness I worked so hard to achieve. 

And don't get me started on the fact that I have still been eating like a triathlete in training but haven't been working off enough of the calories.  Any time I complain about any of this, though, Jewel reminds me that I won Female New Triathlete of the Year for DC Tri club last week... which does make me feel better :)

Still, this is all supposedly "healthy" for your mind and body.  If you didn't stop and rest a bit after your big races, your body would just continue to degenerate and you would never be able to get better.  I read this interesting article in Runner's World recently about an elite athlete (I tried to find the article to link here, but for some reason I can't).  Basically, when he was asked what his secret is in terms of running such fast marathons, he replied that it is not to run. For eight weeks after his last race every season, he DOES NOT WORK OUT. AT ALL. He doesn't run, lift, anything. He even said that he puts on about 10 pounds (a lot for someone his size). The interviewers were flabbergasted, and so was I. But what he said rings true. Your body isn't rigged to do this kind of working out every single day, year round. So you have to give it some RnR (in relative terms) before stepping up to the plate for the next season.  I think I would go insane if I didn't do a single thing for eight weeks (I would get to antsy- like a junkie without a hit, I guess), but I get the general idea.

All that said, I still feel like I will never stop "training" until I cross the finish line in Whistler.  People sometimes ask me "how long I have been training" for races- and I honestly don't know what to say. You keep a baseline of fitness as much as you can through the winter, building your endurance, and then start working more on your speed as the weather warms up.  So, as E astutely pointed out, there really is no off season. You just work on your weaknesses, tweak here and there. And try new things! I love boxing, for one thing, and I never get to do it during high training time. No, I don't mean those stupid girly cardio kickboxing classes (sorry if that offends anyone... I just don't like them)- I mean the ones with wraps, gloves, and heavy bags. If anyone wants to try a new workout, try boxing. It makes me feel like I am dying after a few minutes- it gets your heart rate up so fast. And you can tell people that you have a mean left hook. 

I am also trying out Bikram yoga. I have heard that you will love it after you give it a few goes (at first you will hate it), so I got an unlimited pass for a month through LivingSocial, and I'm going to use the crap out of that baby.  One thing I definitely learned this season was that I need to do yoga more, since my muscles get really tight with no relief.

All in all, I know that this is a temporary lapse and that soon I will have to be kicking my own butt out of bed at 5 am just to go for a seven hour ride. So right now, I should enjoy the fact that I have more time to, say, sleep in on Saturday and go to brunch, or to coach more nights without worrying about getting in a workout. 

So with that, I leave you with a youtube video to ponder.... god, sometimes I wonder what I am doing to myself.