My very first triathlon season has come and gone. In terms of my goals for the year, I accomplished what I set out to do. I had no clue how challenging triathlon would be, but I’ve been fortunate to have enough self motivation to not only train in a dedicated way, but to also have a hunger for learning. Those who have followed my blog are aware that I’ve had plenty of experiences to learn from this year–which has been vital in formulating some of my training and racing convictions. But what I’ve learned from experience pales in comparison to the information I’ve collected in other ways. I have to give a lot of credit to friends and other athletes in the triathlete community who have shared their experience and advice with me. Also the employees and owners at various running and cycling shops who’ve put up with my questions and have been patient in dealing with me. As a person who makes decisions based on information more than feelings, it turns out I often find that I require more than 1 employee to answer all of my questions (and even then, sometimes I decide to just go home and do more research). Once I understand though, I can be confident in making and defending my own choices; not to mention I can also have only myself to blame. That being said, I have spent time nearly every day reading books, magazines, and articles about triathlon and related topics–nearly every day since January.

I started by reading a book about nutrition for endurance athletes. From there I went on to read books about triathlon training plans, bike racing, endurance running, mental training, swim technique, and some pro triathlete autobiographies. And whenever I have questions about a specific topic, I research it online. Footstrike, downhill cadence, speed drills, strategy for uphill running, fluid dynamics (yes, biking is physics), gearing, tapering for race day, etc… Not every question has an answer, but every question can be researched and the more I understand, the more prepared I will be.

I have also been recording data throughout the year to help me to track, analyze, and improve my training and racing. During outdoor training sessions I collect all the information my garmin is capable of–heart rate, speed/pace, etc. Of course the actual training details are recorded as well (what I did). In addition, every morning when I wake up I record my resting heart rate, weight, the number of hours I slept, how well I slept, how sore I am, and how motivated I feel. This turns out to be an effective way to convince myself of when it is necessary to take a rest day. Periodically I will also meticulously record what I am eating for several days in a row. Starting in a week or 2, I will also begin recording my rpm and wattage data while cycling. Is any of the above truly necessary? No. Will the extra attention to details be beneficial and help me to improve and understand the variables that impact my training and performance? Yes.

On Monday of this week I officially got back into my training. I say “officially” because now I am back to having a specific daily training schedule that fits into a long-term training plan which I’ve put together recently. The past month or more (since whenever the Devil’s Lake Tri was) I have been more or less just taking a break from my regimen–still working out but not training. It was a very good mental and physical break–despite the fact that I still did 2 duathlons and a 15k race during that period. I didn’t focus on training so much as I did on eating whatever I wanted (often that meant stomach-stretching amounts of ice cream, donuts every time I went to the grocery store, and everything on the menu at Bubba’s) and catching up on many TV shows (who else thinks The Voice is the greatest show on television?). So now I’m 2 days into a 2 week transitional period, then it will be full scale training blocks until Ironman Wisconsin in September. My next race that I do will hopefully be a marathon–I’m targeting the Pine Line on April 27th. My first triathlon is up in the air, but my first long-course triathlon will be High Cliff–a half ironman distance race on June 15.

I have all these things planned, and yet I was due for a dentist appontment over a month ago and still haven’t scheduled that yet…