Rest, Recovery and the Aging Athlete (Me)

Training is easy - get up, loosen up, out the door, then work your ass off. Depending on the day it may be intervals or something as simple as an aerobic-paced run. No matter what the schedule says it is fairly easy to get up and put the work in when you are a motivated, Type-A kinda athlete. Triathlon is a sport made up of Type-As.

Science tells us that once we hit roughly age 35 the body starts to fight us a bit. Now I am not talking about your average Joe who spends more time sitting on the couch or a bar stool who "suddenly" realizes he has a 42 inch waist, surprised by the whole situation. No, I'm talking to you, the athletically inclined soul who wakes up at 4:30 in the morning to get that run in before work or sits on the trainer, pedaling away at 9:30 pm because that was when you finally had the time to get it in. Even as we deny it, things get different as we age. Vo2Max levels decline over time and the body doesn't recover from hard workouts as fast as in the past.

As we get older we need to adapt. Joe Friel said it better than I can:

"... it appears that aging athletes are fighting an uphill battle. But for most I don’t believe the issue is aging so much as it is detraining, misuse and disuse. We simply fail to adequately and appropriately change our lifestyles and training regimens as we get older. When younger one can make more mistakes in lifestyle and training without significant negative consequences for performance. As we age there is less latitude for mistakes." Source

Change my lifestyle and training regimen? Are you crazy!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my routine!!!

Yeah ... reality is, just like everyone else, I'm getting older. Doesn't mean I need to give things up, just means I need to adapt. I have the whole nutrition thing down as well as the must lift weights thing. Sleeping 8 hours a night is something that will never happen (I am sure I fall on the need less sleep spectrum) but I do get more sleep these days than I ever have. I love the Saturday afternoon power nap!!!

The problem for me is the whole rest thing. I remember the days of training for my first few full Ironman events with some crazy, crazy workloads. I had a peak week that included 14k in the pool, 300+ miles on the bike, and 45 miles of running. Sounds nuts because it is. But just like any other motivated athlete I remember those days and see no good reason why I shouldn't be able to do that now. 

Just as a little side note: if you've ever been out for a post-run breakfast with me and you think I eat a lot of food today, should have been there 8 or 9 years ago.

Anywhooo ...back to that age thing. Can't put in the type of workload I did "back in the day." In fact, back then I remember training like I was trying to bury myself in a training hole. Now that I'm in my mid-40s I can still make that happen. Difference is, too much training today is not only digging that hole but also jumping right in. For example, read this. 

And while I would have to admit that killing myself with intensity and/or volume is fun, the days of suck that follows I could live without. Thus, I have continued to modify my training to fit the reality of the workload my body can handle. 

1. Redefining Rest Days - Ten years ago a rest day might be an easy morning run and an aerobic/casual bike ride in the evening. Today a rest day is either a complete day of rest or a short, easy swim.

2. Diet - In 2010 I was having trouble recovering from workouts and made the decision to eat more fruits and vegetables. Today I give zero thought to calories in/calories out and focus more on the nutrient density of what I consume. Is my diet perfect? Heck no. But 80-90% of the time I'm eating real, high quality foods. Basically I follow the wise words of Michael Pollan - "Eat real food. Mostly plants." A synopsis of his seven rules for eating here.

3. Recovery Weeks - This is really new for me and am currently in the middle of one right now. Some of you would call it barely training. With the crappy weather we have been having in Eastern Pennsylvania this hasn't been so hard to do. This will take some work to do when the weather breaks and I can get outside on my bike every day. 

4. Taking the Warm Up and Cooldown More Serious - There was a time when I could go from head on the pillow to out the door for a run in about 10 minutes. Today it is more of a process.

5. Foam Rolling - This is something I have done on and off for some time, but have been more consistent about this year. 

6. Massage - I have the best massage therapist who I see on a regular schedule. If you don't do this you should call Joe (610-865-1418). You can find his website here.


Simple but not easy. I'm not a physically gifted athlete. I'll never be the fastest runner, strongest cyclist or best looking swimmer. My results come from hard work. If I have a default mode it is to put my head down and work, work, work. For 2015 I'll be taking the more cerebral approach my body needs.

Thanks for reading!!!

Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon

Ready to Run by Dr. Kelly Starrett - Book Review

There are many books on the market available today that will give you a training program to complete every race distance from the 5k all the way up to the marathon. Heck, you can save some money by searching the internet for a program if you really want. I don't recommend that as there are some classics available that should be on every runner's bookshelf. Running to the Top by Arthur Lydiard, Pete Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning, Daniel's Running Formula (Dr. Jack Daniels), and the Hanson Marathon Method.

There are other books out there that are designed to teach you HOW to run. The POSE Method is probably the most well know system. But there is one book that is missing from the world of running - the book designed to help keep you running. Running is a destructive sport that can play havoc on the body. You can have the best training program in the world or the world's greatest coach, and it doesn't matter if you keep getting sidelined with running injuries.

This is where Ready to Run steps in. Dr. Starrett is not who you may expect to buy a book on running from. While he surely does some running in his life, I am fairly certain he wouldn't describe himself as a runner. What Starrett is, however, is a man obsessed with movement, mechanics and mobility. What he strives to do in Ready to Run is help those of us who are runners improve performance and reduce the risk of injury. Or, as the first chapter is titled, he wants to help you become a durable runner.

The book is divided into four parts. Part one is Starrett's philosophy and basic ideas on running. Part two is a breakdown of his twelve standards with each receiving it's own chapter. The third part introduces the mobility work that relates to runners, and part four goes into specific running injuries and the applicable mobilizations.

As a runner or someone who runs you will want to concentrate on part two and the twelve standards where everything from posture to footwear is addressed.  Some of what he discusses here you may find controversial (flat shoes) while some is just common sense (hydration). You need to go into this with an open mind, understanding the standards presented are designed based on science and research, not myth and folklore.

Within each chapter there is a briefing, a "runner to runner discussion," a test for the particular mobility being discussed, as well as recommendations for mobility exercises (where applicable) located in the third part of the book. If you are good with the standard you can either move on or use the information presented to make your body even better at the standard. Your choice, of course.

Personally, this is a book I have been waiting for for a long time. I purchased Starrett's first book, Becoming a Supple Leopard in hopes of keeping my body highly functional for the long term. It has been helpful, but a bit overwhelming. There was all this information but I had trouble connecting the information to practical application. This book connects those dots, allowing anyone the ability to get your body to where it should be on a functional basis. This book shows you how to get your body organized, eliminate pain, and get your body ready to run.

Who Should Read Ready to Run?

If you are an athlete who has to run in your sport of choice or while training for your sport, this book is for you. Staying healthy should be the number one goal of anyone who is active in sport. Staying healthy, unless you are a freak of nature, takes some work. When you run you put stress on the body that will help you improve performance, but it also puts stress on the muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones. If you run you will inevitably have some "issues" at some point ... most of us sooner rather than later.

As someone who loves to run I want to be able to continue doing it for as long as possible. If you are reading this I suspect you feel the same. Over the years I have been relatively injury-free, which I am grateful for, but am always concerned about my body wearing out from the stress I put on it. Ready to Run is the resource that will allow me to continue on for years to come.


Thanks for reading!!!

Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon

Training Failure - The Good, The Bad, The Stupid

For 6 years I swam with a Masters swim group. Not only did I meet some great people whom I consider to be friends, but I learned a lot about swimming and training. My stroke got better, leading to better swim times. But every swim at Masters wasn't my fastest. There were days I knew I didn't have it and I would seat myself back in the lane or one lane slower. That hard interval workout now became a more aerobic workout by necessity.

A while back the health club I had been swimming Masters at shut down. Tragic, but not surprising. Since then I have been swimming mostly on my own. There are many disadvantages to always being in the pool on your own. One big advantage, however, is the ability to design my workouts to my needs. Takes some work. Takes some effort. But last year I raced faster than I ever have.

Yesterday I had one interesting day of training, full of failure. Failure is not always a bad thing ... and yesterday one of my fails was of the good kind. One. On the way home from LA Fitness I got thinking about my day, which led to contemplating the three types of failure I achieved in one day.

The Good Failure - Now that we are three weeks into the new year I figured I should maybe start to do some work in my workouts. I've been on the bike, both outside and inside, but really not putting high level efforts into it. I've been exercising, but not exactly training. Yesterday was the day I thought to myself, "let's do some kick ass intervals." And I did. After a proper warm up I did three sets of short, very intense intervals on minimal rest. I worked up one heck of a sweat while hanging just the edge of not making the set. By the end my power numbers were down, my legs were shot, and the last rep was just short of completion. Failure!!! Success!!!

About an hour after the early morning trainer session I felt great. The legs had recovered (or so I thought) while my energy level was high. I drove to work, going about my normal day.

The Bad Failure - Around 6:15 I left the office with a swim workout on my mind. Didn't give my legs a second thought, happy that I could find a parking spot fairly quick (January at the gym really sucks). I jumped in the pool and did a fairly standard warm up. After completing my CSS test last week I had a specific workout to do. Today was a fairly straight-forward 9 x 200 on 3:10 (swimming the interval on 2:48). this is a set I have done many times over the years. Being early in the year, and not in the best shape, the interval times are slower for me. No big deal, I'm thinking, as long as I don't go out too fast on set number one. I hit the wall in 2:48 exactly. The next set came in at 2:50 as did #3. Remember that bike workout this morning ... yeah, my legs really weren't feeling good at all.

From there it just got worse. I gave myself an addition 30 seconds after set number four due to a side cramp, then an additional 20 seconds after set number eight because I just really sucked. Like, really, really sucked. I made it (barely) through all nine sets. If the last few were a little slow, OK, that's fine. It's January after all. No reason to be "in shape" right now. This was not a little slow. No matter how you parse the data, this is what a training disaster looks like. Failure. Bad, bad failure.

The Stupid Failure - I am sure that the reason for failure #2 is directly related to failure #1 earlier that day. Which is really just a failure of stupidity, doing too much work in one day. I'm not talking about the double, I am talking about the work I did attempted in the two sessions. I've been around long enough to know that if I do some hard interval work in the morning my evening workout needs to be more aerobic and less anaerobic. Yet here I was trying to do squeeze more into one 24 hour period than I knew I could handle. Rookie mistake.

I hate it when that happens.


Moral of the story? When scheduling your daily/weekly workouts make sure you take into account the big picture. There is more to scheduling than placing workouts into openings in your weekly schedule. Rest and recovery - things many of us totally disregard - are important. Don't get enough recover between workouts and things go awry. When setting up your week, make sure you consider the recovery you need between hard efforts, even those in different disciplines.

When I set up a day with hard intervals in the morning followed by essentially a threshold workout in the evening I should have seen the disaster waiting to happen. Instead, my focus had been on getting the workouts down on paper in a manner that worked for my life's schedule, but not necessarily what would be best for my overall plan. In retrospect, I should have stayed aerobic in last evenings swim workout. Yeah, my legs wouldn't have been great, but the workload would have been doable. Harder than if I were fresh, but doable.

Live and learn for next time.

Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon

Diet Cults by Matt Fitzgerald - Book Review

When I was two weeks old I was diagnosed with a condition called pyloric stenosis, which apparently is pretty serious. So serious that Dr. Gluck made the call for surgery, which freaked my parents out but basically saved my life. After all was said and done my folks were told that I would have a larger than normal appetite for a few years. Forty-five years later I still have the appetite of a 16 year old boy.

Clearly I loves me some food. In a past life when my obsession was lifting heavy things and "getting big" I ate a much different diet than I do today. In my day I have eaten more dry chicken and tuna fish from a can than I care to admit. Didn't think of it this way at the time, but I was a part of what Matt Fitgerald refers to as a diet cult.

Why the word "cult?" Fitzgerald believes that "cult" is "the best word to identify a way of eating that is morally based, identity forming, community building, and viewed by its followers as superior to all other ways of eating." This, of course isn't new to society. People simply want to believe in something ... and that something should give a sense of identity as well as a feeling of belonging. Science gets trumped by feelings.

Through the various chapters Fitzgerald delves into a number of different eating lifestyles that seemingly vary as much as the reasons people give for being on such diets. He looks at diets you may be familiar with as well as some you may not.

Some of the mainstream diets he looks at are the Weight Watcher protocol, the high fat Atkins plan, and the Paleo diet that came out of the Crossfit revolution. He takes on the chicken and tuna heavy bodybuilder's diet, as well as the exercise doesn't help diet. Even the Vegans, Foodies and Gatorade do not get overlooked!!!

Not only is the overview pretty inclusive, Fitgerald makes sure he speaks with people directly associated with each style of eating. This is good Most people choose a diet on social and emotional factors, and then either cherry pick the science behind the diet (if there is any science), or use anecdotal evidence to justify their food choice. The reader is able to get not just the author's vision, but also those who are actively involved in the specific diets/lifestyles.

So, if Diet Cults are bad, how should we eat?

There are two realities about food and nutrition. First, we all have basically the same nutrition needs. Yes, there will be variations from person to person, but those variations aren't that great. Obviously there are some exceptions. For example, someone with celiac disease will have to avoid gluten, just like one who is allergic to Penicillin has to avoid that specific drug. The other reality is that the human body is an amazing machine that can adjust to almost anything we put into it. This is obvious when you look at the different diets discussed in the book or, better yet, head out to your local Chinese buffet and take a look at what (and the quantity) people are ingesting.

So how should we eat? Here's Fitzgerald in his own words:

"The only conclusion we can draw from the sum of these lessons is that there is no such thing as the One True Way to eat for maximum health. No diet cult is better than the rest, and a person need not join any diet cult to attain maximum health. An agnostic approach to healthy eating that forbids nothing, smiles upon eating for pleasure, and encourages individual choice can do the job just as well or better."

That doesn't mean you can eat sugar out of the bag with a stick of butter on the side and you're all good. No, there is more to eating healthy than just eating food. Fitzgerald's agnostic healthy eating game has a 10 item hierarchy of food that looks like this:

Vegetables
Fruits
nuts, seeds, healthy oils
High Quality meats and seafood
Whole Grains
Dairy
Refined Grains
Low Quality Meats and Seafood
Sweets
Fried Food

He recommends eating more of the foods at the top of the list and few at the bottom. Nothing is prohibited, meaning ice cream, chocolate or even the occasional KFC Double Down is acceptable. OK, that last one may be acceptable but not really (because like everyone else I too will judge your food choices). The first two groups are essential, must eats, the next four are recommended foods (don't HAVE to eat, but should), with everything else listed as acceptable and can/should be eaten in small amounts (if at all). Basically you eat more of what is on the top of the list and less of what is on the bottom of the list.

Who Should Read Diet Cults?

This is a book that is aimed at the person who considers him- or herself an athlete, but really the book is good for anyone who is looking to live a healthy lifestyle. We can all get caught up in believing in this or that diet cult, even if we aren't living that particular lifestyle. Heck, I did it for a long, long time. Fortunately I learned my lesson and enjoy eating while staying healthy all at the same time. Along with pizza and the occasional treat. Imagine that.

Thanks for reading.

Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon



Resources:

Outside Magazine Interview  with Matt Fitzgerald

Matt Fitzgerald talks to Tawnee at Endurance Planet here

What the Paleo Diet gets wrong 

Paleo Runner, as you would expect, takes exception to Fitzgerald

Well, I Guess the Off-Season is Coming to an End ... Maybe

January - the beginning of  the year to normal human beings, the beginning of a "new season" to endurance athletes - is here. I know this not because I have looked at the calendar, but because I took a peak at both my scale and heart rate monitor last week and noticed the numbers are a tad bit higher than they were a few months ago. If I were a lot of other people I might find this tragic. Both numbers indicate I am "out of shape" ... or "fat" ... or OMG BOTH!!!!

Tragic .............

Or not so much .............

The whole idea of an off-season is built on the assumption that there is an IN-season, or a time where you are shooting for (your) peak fitness. And peak fitness, by definition, is something you cannot hold onto for very long. Peak fitness is why you ask yourself how you ever did a marathon or Ironman three weeks ago when today a 5 mile run feels hard.

Getting "out of shape" enables the body to do two things: destress (is that even a word?) and heal itself. Over the course of months of hard training the body starts to get nicked up at the micro level, regardless of your awareness or denial of the situation. Taking some down time allows the body to heal the trauma it has had to endure while simultaneously keeping the athlete (you) from pushing yourself further down the path to injury. We all on some level believe we are the exception and can beat our bodies endlessly without repercussion, but deep down we should all know this is just not true. The desire to keep pushing and not back off is more about our own insecurities ("I'll lose my fitness forever") or simply ego.

Circling back to me, I feel like the off-season has been a success. After peaking for Ironman Florida on November 1 I stopped training and cut way back on the amount of exercise I do on a daily/weekly basis. The result of all this is I have had more free time on my hands, I have slept more, read more books, and have given my body a chance to heal itself after a rather interesting year. The other side has been the 7-8 pounds I have put back on along with the loss of pure fitness that comes with more couch time.

Right now at the beginning of the new year I feel good. Mentally I am fresh; Physically I am starting to come around. After a week of doing nothing, followed by a few weeks of doing close to nothing, I have slowly morphed back into a general routine. I have a rule for the month of December where I only do what I want to do, when I want to do it. So if I don't feel like getting up and going for a run, I stay in bed. If I get up then decide I would prefer to read and stretch instead of sitting on the trainer, I read and stretch.  In the past few weeks the desire to do more has been there.

The one consistent over the past few months has been the move back into the weight room, something I quite enjoy. A year ago my goal was to get stronger for the 2014 triathlon season, which never happened due to injury followed by surgery. I am very happy with being able to race like I did in 2014, but never felt like I physically was where I wanted to be. Last year became more about getting back than moving forward. For 2015 the goal of being a stronger, better athlete remains.

SOOooooo here we are the first full week of the new year and time to start some serious training ... or maybe not. For 2015 I am almost 100% sure I am not going long (read: no Ironman) and not even sure about the 70.3 distance (other than racing Eagleman in support of my buddy Ant). I have never concentrated on shorter racing - Sprint and Olympic distances - or doing some straight up bike racing. Realistically I'm starting to get freaking old, which mean if I want to get a fast season in I need to do it sooner rather than later. And if I want to race my bike, no better time than the present.

I haven't given a whole lot of thought to my race schedule other than targeting the Philly Triathlon as my A-race for the fist half of the year. Being that it is the last weekend in June, January seems a bit early to start cranking things up. No need to be "in shape" in February or March.

Bottom line: Yeah, I'm back in the rhythm of working out but not real serious. For now, sessions will be short and intensity moderate at best. There will be a time to start cranking. That time is not now.

Thanks for reading.

Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon

Swim Speed Strokes for Swimmers and Triathletes - Book Review

Like many people, when I was a kid I learned how to swim. It was the 1970s and back in my hometown - Lakewood, NJ - we didn't have a pool at the high school or down at the rec center like you see in many communities these days. We were old school and learned how to swim in Lake Carasalgo. At one point they literally put us in a boat, took us out to the middle of the lake, the tossed us off the side to swim to shore. Apparently I lived to tell. Like I said, we were old school.

These days I am a triathlete and not a swimmer. Yes, I can swim. In fact, if I do say so myself, for a non-swimmer I can swim pretty darn good. But the swimming we were taught back in the day was more about learning to stay afloat and move forward, not win state titles. No big deal until I decided I wanted to do triathlons. All of a sudden a swim program would have been more helpful than Doc Lipzen tossing me off the side of a row boat.

Learning to swim as an adult is hard. Like many age groupers I am not, never have, and never will consider myself "a swimmer." I didn't start perfecting my stroke before my 4th birthday. Also like many other age groupers, I am basically a self-taught swimmer. I have had some help along the way (thanks Bill, thanks Steve) but for the most part I have changed my stroke by figuring things out on my own. Figuring it out has meant purchasing books, reading blogs, and watching YouTube videos.

In my pursuit of a faster, less taxing swim split about a year ago I came upon Sheila Taormina's first book, Swim Speed Secrets. This book focus is on just the freestyle stroke, which is perfect for a triathlete looking to work on the main stroke you will use come race day. While I got a lot form the book and highly recommend it, I have wanted to be more than a one-trick pony in the pool. According to my swimming friends, doing different strokes will make you a better overall swimmer. The other strokes, I have been told, work your body different, taking some of the stress off the muscles used in freestyle. On a different note, swimming all four strokes (or at least more than one) helps break up the monotony of  staring at the black line doing the same stroke over and over and over.

Just in time for my off-season Sheila (may I call you Sheila?) came out with her follow up book, Swim Speed Strokes for Swimmers and Triathletes. The book is a fast read that should be read slowly. I could have blown through this is a few days time, but took the better part of two weeks to sift through the material. This not a cheap novel ... there is a lot of information here that you should really take in. That said, let's take a look under the hood.

Understanding The Why

Just as she did in Swim Speed Secrets, Taormina starts off with "Understanding the Why" of swimming. Unlike some other books on the subject, she wants to make sure that the student understands the background of how the swim stroke has developed over time. Now, this may seem like a waste of  time for the Type A, just tell me what to do type of athlete, but I would disagree. I found it very enlightening to understand the science behind the stroke. For me, having an understanding of the why helps with the practical execution of a (hopefully) better stroke.

Swimming well is a complicated thing. The next three chapters are dedicated to breaking down the different areas of importance - lift and drag; the kick, core movement, and connection; stroke data - with a deep dive into the what and why of swimming. Again, to some this may seem like a waste of time ... just show me how to swim!!! ... but I assure you it is not a waste of time. Once I read in detail about the catch or the core, or the kick, I found a heightened self-awareness every time I entered the pool. Did I start to over think some things? For sure. But with self awareness of your faults comes the ability to fix the problem at hand.

Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures

Fortunately, the book is not just talk about what one wants to do. For me, the hardest part about trying to improve in the water is seeing exactly what I need to do. Others have shown me with varying levels of success. Here, what you have is some of the best swimmers in the world modelling the form they developed over millions of meters over many years. One of the things I noticed was just how many similarities there are between the four strokes. Different, but built off the same platform. On each chapter dedicated to an individual stroke the detail is as good as it gets.

Why Would Benefit From Reading This Book?

The book is an excellent read and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to improve their swimming. If you are a swimmer I think this book is a no brainer. For the triathlete, there is even a nice section dedicated to open water swimming worth the price of the book. Apparently I've been sighting in an inefficient manner for years. Who knew!!!

And for the triathlete who doesn't feel the need to go beyond freestyle, learning the "other" strokes can be helpful in the long run. If you become a better swimmer you become a better triathlete. As a former one-trick pony I understand where you are coming from, but can tell you that diversifying your strokes makes sense. 

You can purchase Swim Speed Strokes for Swimmers and Triathletes here. 

Disclaimer: I purchased this book on my own.

Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon

Rule #12: The Post-Ironman Decision Rule

In the world of endurance sport Ironman is a different beast. There are other incredible endurance challenges (Ultraman, Badwater, Leadville 100, Race Across America) for sure. These events are small in size and really only available to a small number of elite athletes. Completing an Ironman, however, is achievable by Joe or Jean Average if he/she has the desire to pay the entry fee, put in the work, then go the distance. Nothing is quite like an Ironman.

Completing 140.6 miles of swim/bike/run in 17 hours or less is a huge accomplishment, taking months of dedicated training and personal sacrifice in the pursuit of crossing the finish line to Mike Riley's voice pronouncing you an Ironman. Those last few hundred meters are emotional for everyone - from first-time finisher to grizzled veteran. For some it is the highest of highs, for others it is pain and frustration. I've yet to meet someone who crossed that line and said "eh, that's was OK."

Ironman Florida Finish - 9:37 finish (swim cancelled race)

Post-race, the emotions continue for sometime. For some the immediate thought is they have checked the Ironman box; for others it is a high like no other. In race terms, one either wants to get back out and race tomorrow, or never, ever go the distance again.

Over the course of the next 4-5 weeks an interesting thing happens. The day after the race everyone is walking around town in their finishers hats and shirts while the best of the best get the opportunity to punch their card to Kona. Once home it continues on with friends and family congratulating you and asking about your race. The emotional highs (or lows) just keep coming as you tell your Ironman story.

And then it happens ... life get back to normal. You are no longer Joe Ironman, but simply Joe once again. Now, after a few weeks time, you can finally get some perspective. What went right? What went wrong? Do I want to give 140.6 miles another try? After about 30 days time one can truly reflect back on race day, get a grip on what happened and decide on future racing.

The rule then is this:

Any decision on racing a future Ironman-distance race should not be made until at least 30 days have passed since your last Ironman race.

Exception #1: The professional triathlete who is racing for a living and KPR points.

Exception #2: The injured triathlete who already has a second Ironman scheduled for the year can decide to opt out of race #2 if physically necessary.

One month ago, on November 1, I crossed the finish line at Ironman Florida in Panama City Beach, for my fifth Ironman finish. Since then I have embraced the off-season, keeping active but without any structure. Mentally I'm starting to get back into it. On Saturday I felt motivated to do a short swim workout, which is a good sign. It was short and sucked, don't get me wrong, but it is good to once again start coming out the other side of the Ironman experience.

As for next year ... time to start making some decisions.

Train hard. Stay focused.
Jon

Related Posts:

Rule#1: Hard is Hard, Easy is Easy

Rule #2: Be Consistent

Rule #3: Don't Become a Slave to Sports Technology

Rule #4: The 20 Minute Rule

Rule #5: Harden the F#$k Up

Rule #6: Don't be "That Guy" ... NOBODY likes him

Rule #7: If You Are Out Training in Horrible Weather, You Are a Badass. Period.

Rule #8: Don't Think, Free the Mind and the Legs Will Follow

Rule #9: When You Train or Race, Dress Event Appropriate

Rule #10:  It Doesn't Suck, It's a Challenge, It's an Opportunity

Rule #11: When It's Time to Take an Off-Season, Take an Off-Season