I'm Getting Antsy

The off-season is a tricky thing for me. I don't have any problems at first. I'm not one of those people that feels they have to have a routine in their life at all points of the year, and the off-season is a welcomed break to the scheduled workouts day in and day out of the regular season training. Mental and physical, by the end of the season I need a serious break and I wait for it, I look forward to it, and finally, it arrives.

With that said, there comes a point when I feel ready, antsy, giddy, excited and basically looking forward to the days of following a day to day plan that has been set out for me by someone else. Prior to this week, I've been running if I please, biking if I please (mostly indoors, yep, I'm a baby) and swimming..well.. not so much. I'm not sure why it's the first to go. My guess is because it involves traveling to an actual place as opposed to walking out my front door & smelling like chlorine (which have not missed ONE BIT mind you since the last time I took a dip in that thing). Another thing I have not missed - DRY HAIR. My hair gets so brittle at swimming four times per week it feels like it might just fall out at some points during the season.

This normally would not be a big deal, but the last few years I've been doing some modeling on the side to try and support this massive addiction they call triathlon and it seems to require your hair not look like a bunch of straw all matted up and brittle full of split ends! Thank God for leave in conditioner is all I can say!! If you ever see someone who looks like me on the web advertising some makeup or fitness gear, it's possiable it's me. See, all this training is good for something besides going fast!

What I'm getting at here is that I'm starting to get the itch. The itch to want a bit more structure than I've had over the last month and half and I think I might be ready to maintenance. That's right, I said maintenance. The maintenance program can be used in Mark Allen's program to keep your fitness at a certain level prior to "peak" performance training kicking back into action.

With Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 as my first "A" race, my peak plan probably won't even start until late January. If I wait to do something scheduled till then Kyle might loose his mind as I loose mine by not having enough routine or enough structure to really feel like I am on track. We triathletes are a funny group! What can we say!!

So, I guess that's the story. I'm getting antsy and I'm about ready. I still might switch my days around or do some screwy stuff with my plan like cross train just to keep it interesting, but it really isn't that many hours (probably 6-8) when I consider what I was coming off at the end of the season (22-26). It will seem like a little walk in the park!

Look for more on how my maintenance is going soon! I may swim tonight.. maintenance style (2000 yards :) Isn't Ironman perspective wonderful!