Winter Training

I am going low-budget this year in terms of my "off-season" training. For the past 5 years or so, I've trained with a group - not always the same one, but a group nonetheless. This winter, I'm going solo (for the most part) with my training. Why? I'm not really sure. It may be a function of my job - which is very demanding time-wise and people-wise. I am not sure how many interactions I have each minute with a child or a person, but it's a LOT. Don't get me wrong - I love it. But after a day spent interacting, teaching, re-teaching, reacting, soothing, reprimanding, supporting (you get the picture), I need a workout that allows me to just be...quiet. When I taught at Radford and Richmond, much of my day (when not teaching an occasional class) was very solitary. I literally craved human interaction. Poor Rick - you can begin to imagine how I talked the poor man's ear off when he walked through the door.
We happen to belong to a gym that has just about everything I need: masters swimming, spin classes, boot camp, and plenty of cardio and strength training equipment. We also have a workout room above our garage where I can ride on my trainer at the crack of dawn. I kinda love rolling out of bed (literally) and hopping on my bike. I don't even have to brush my hair if I don't want to (hmmmm....this may scare Rick - need to rethink that decision).
I've also made the decision that I need to ride outside this winter on Saturdays. I have cold weather riding gear, although at the moment I can't seem to find it. I have always whined that it's too cold to ride outside here....but it really isn't much of the time. As someone once wrote, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing." As a girl from chilly New England, I need to embrace that motto.
Do I miss my training buddies? Of course. But, there is such a thing as getting together for glass of wine, mug of beer or a cup of coffee.

Ironman Florida

Happy to report that I finished my third (and final) Ironman last weekend. Somehow the magic of IMFL '07 just wasn't there this time. One of my friends (also an IM finisher) looked at my attitude in an interesting (and, to me, positive) way. I told her how after finishing I felt just...down. While I continue to be extremely grateful that my knee held up just fine during the race, I didn't have that emotional/amazing/magical feeling training or during the race. Quite frankly, I began to find 100+ mile bike rides just plain annoying. I dreaded them. I had one good ride at the Heart of Virginia century - and then my desire to ride that long just...disappeared. My friend pointed out that this may be a good thing. She experienced the same thing with marathons (after she broke 3 hours - fast freakin' woman). I now know that my Ironman days are done. I am ready to say goodbye. I still love triathlons and will always think that the Ironman distance is "way cool." But, I don't want to race that distance anymore. So, au revoir, Ironman. Take good care of all my friends racing that crazy distance next year!