As Winter Closes In…

Ken October 15, 2009 Uncategorized 3 Comments

I reflect back on all that was this year.  I learned a lot; about my body,my sleeping patterns, and what motivates me.I hate pulling out the winter clothes: The lobster gloves, the fleece mask, the ear warmers, it’s almost like going into battle putting all that stuff on.

I hear true champions work their weaknesses first. Looking back I think my real weak links were the following in order of weakness:

Core Strength, Run, Bike, Swim.

I think I spent way too much emphasis on my swim this year or at least thought about it too much. Maybe it was my desire to be a good swimmer which overclouded the smart thing which would be to work on my bike and run combo. I think the Death Valley Marathon will be a good winter goal to hold me over till spring.

I can’t wait for the coming season because I know I’ll be faster and lighter. I’m going to concentrate on my run this winter and core strength. I bought the book “Strength Training for Triathletes” by Patrick Hagerman and downloaded core strength exercises by U.S. Swimming.  I’ve been doing just the core exercises so far and it’s funny how much I shake when I’m holding a position longer than 15 seconds! I’ve also been doing the upper body running exercises which has really helped so far already.

Getting my winter training plan together takes a lot of planning

Getting my winter training plan together takes a lot of planning


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3 Responses to “As Winter Closes In…”

  1. owen said:

    Oct 26, 09 at 12:20 am

    Ken, you tried that book `Going Long` by Byrne and some Kiwi? I found it really good in the build up to my last Strongman. This was underlined when I ran 24km one day in training (about 20% more of a jump up than the book said I should), and I spent teh next two weeks injured. They know their stuff!

  2. owen said:

    Oct 26, 09 at 12:23 am

    The good thing about doing all that swimming is, that each year you`ll be able to get to that same speed without putting as much effort in as you did to get there teh first time. Maintenance is so much easier than development!
    BTW Zinn just published the latest edition of `Zinn and the art of roadbike maintenance` – a must have.

  3. Ken said:

    Dec 14, 09 at 11:50 pm

    I was thinking about my marathon periodzation recently: I’m adding just two miles a week to my long runs. I did 14 last week, 16 this week, and I’ll do 18 next week. The week after that I’ll recover and then bump it up to 20, 22, etc. With this done properly, I should run 24 miles twice before Death Valley. I’m in no hurry to burn myself out in anyway shape or form. I just want to get to the starting line healthy.

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