Saturday, October 8, 2016

Back from hiatus

Wow, it's been quite some time since my last blog post. I had to even look back to see what I last covered. Since May of last year I have completed 2 half ironmans, 2 marathons along with countless other halves and relay events. I have learned so much about myself over the past 1.5 years that I can't wait to share.

As I sit on my couch today trying to control the volume of snot coming out my nose, I am enthralled with Kona (Ironman's World Championships in Kona, Hawaii). What better way to kill a day as a triathlete when you are out of the game! One day I hope to be able to make it there, if not to compete I would love to spectate. Ironman is an event like no other, the crowd support and race day euphoria is amazing.

I am lucky enough to have one take place about 2 hours from where I live, in the town I currently work (mostly telecommute) and the town I went to college. This is IM Wisconsin, IMMOO as it's known to fellow triathletes.  The run course is an amazing run through and around campus that I cannot wait to eventually do. The stars have not aligned for me to sign up for the event yet, but I am really hopeful that 2018 will be my year. It was really hard for me this year to sign up, but financially it just wasn't feasible. Last year my job caused me to delay due to the hours and stress, which I changed back in November 2015.

My current plan and goals heading into year end and for next season.

1. Lose the extra weight! 2013 was my lowest weight and when I nailed all my running PR's, I am currently about 20 lbs heavier than that and I have been really close to a number of my times. If I can manage to lose all the extra weight I see many good things in my future. Doing all this will help me dial in my nutrition

2. Keep a base in swim, bike and run through the winter.

3. Work in a weights program that I can stick to. I enjoy pushing heavy weights but I need to dial in that desire a bit and work on light weights with high reps to help my endurance. Adding in a good home workout with an emphasis on core to add in addition to a gym routine will be nice.

4. Yoga & stretching. This is the very first thing that seems to drop when I dial up my workouts in the spring. This needs to stick as it really helps my strength and keeping me loose.

As I sit here today inspired, I need to keep these goals in mind. I have a dream to complete an Ironman, and I want to do it with all my heart in it!

So long for now, I will fill you in on my progress recently and what I have learned this summer.