What's been up

It's still really early in the season (if there's going to be any kind of "season"), so right now I'm mostly logging time, trying to get some things straightened out while keeping/building some speed. Since commuting makes up the bulk of my base bike miles, the weather has kept me from my biggest miles. I'm still getting two solid rides on the trainer every week, with lots of threshold work. Add in what miles I get traveling to work, and I'm building some strength to put to use.

The gait re-training is starting to pay off on the run. I can feel when my form is clicking, and my body is beginning to find this a more efficient way to run. Downhill is still a bit problematic, and my natural tendency to speed up through cadence is still there, but more runs will help to solve this. I did have a bit of a "falling apart" at the end of Sunday's long run, but I don't think that's fitness related. I think the new running muscles were getting a bit tired, and the cold weather shrunk my foot inside my shoe, which then became quite loose, and my ankle was rolling around and starting to hurt. I'll keep an eye on this during my next long run. If it keeps up, I may have to do some adjusting of the schedule.

The new swim coach continues to hand me my butt on regular intervals. On man, do I wish I could kick. I may be the worst kicker in the whole pool. Luckily I only race in a wetsuit, which helps to mitigate the damage. My strength is coming back, and I'm holding form deeper into every workout. We had a 800m TT a couple of weeks ago that put my pace just off where I was at the height of last year. It's like two workouts forward, one workout back. This may be killing me, but I'll be plenty faster once I dip my toes in a race.

And speaking of races, I have a very tentative schedule for next year. There definitely won't be seven triathlons and a handful of road races. Instead, I have a 10k in April, (hopefully) a triathlon in July, another 10k or a half-mary in September, then one of: a) a HIM in September, b) Olympic in October/November, c) nothing else. Maybe with the money saved on race fees I can buy myself some pretty gear.