Thoughts

9 full days to BSLT.

Training is going well. Well, Tapering is going well. It stings a little to see the volume drop when I know I'm capable of more. I have a lot of excess energy these days. It's funny. Excess Energy + More Free Time = Trouble. Last night I cleaned up my office. I filed paper work that has been building for months, threw out a bunch of trash, etc. I also spent an extreme amount of time ironing my shirt. Ironing? Please.

What will the next few months bring?

I've already started to plan for the next 6 months or so. Here's how it looks now:

New training plan to begin sometime in mid July. This one will be Sprint/Oly focused training and last only a few months.

I think that means :
~ 1500 - 2000M swims :: 500-800M speed drills :: 2 x week
~ 20 - 50 mile bike rides :: 20 miles TT :: 1 long ride / 1 short ride / week
~ 6 - 8 mile long runs :: at least 2 short speed runs / week :: 3 runs / week

I want to try to implement some (all?!) of the things learned from the training bible in this plan. I'd love to feel like my workouts are more than just items to check off. It would be great to have a specific goal for each one. What does that mean? varied intensity; Time trials to measure progress; Drills;

Racing looks like this:

August 6 - Austin Muddy Buddy (w/ Party Pat)
September 3 (4?!) - Jack's Generic Tri & maybe SeaWorld again? (Amers - you up for it?)
October ? - Sprint or Oly in Dallas
November - Turkey Trot and various other 5K / 10K's

There are a couple of Half IM's late in the season lurking out there. Maybe?

Longer term - I have a couple of cool goals to get me through early 2007.

Marathon Finish ~ 4h:00m - 4h:30m

This will most likely be the ball-freezing, Freescale (Freezescale) next February (2/18/2007). I'm seriously considering joining a training group for this. Even M was supportive of the cost. My guess is that most training groups will start up in August / September timeframe? Anyone have any thoughts on a good training group in Austin / Round Rock? This would be a real opportunity for me to get my running on track.

Century Ride ~ RR Outlaw Century (October 21)

I did the 100K last year and had a ball. This would be a great opportunity to do a century ride close to home.

Ironman is lurking on the horizon out there. M and I have already started the negotiation. Looks like 2008 might be a possibility. Arizona? Florida? Early on, it sounds like Florida might be a good possibility with a vacation at Disney afterward. We shall see.

See ya out there...