I'm back!

Well, just a few days into the new year, and I can say that I'm truly back. In the past few days I've had great swim, bike and run workouts. Considering that I'm 4 months out from St. George, this bodes well. Now, I just need to be patient and not do more tha my coach tells me to do.

First of all, I'm back to running. With ice still on the ground, I'm sticking to the treadmill. I've been able to run (with some intermittent walking) for 70 minutes/7 miles without any significant pain or soreness. Today, I actually ran for 40 minutes (4.4 miles) immediately after a 90 minute bike ride. I managed to get up to 7mph pace and stay in zone 2 (effort pretty comfortable). While this isn't my peak pace for this heart rate, it's a great starting point for St. George.

Next, my shoulder is coming back pretty well in the swim. Despite some soreness (which probably stems from biceps tightness from limiting my motion for 8 weeks), I was able to swim 2600 yards, with 5 x 300 yards at a very respectable pace (1:40/100 yards), again, not my best ever, but a really good starting point for my upcoming training.

Finally, my biking has certainly not suffered, especially since that's about all I did for a month. Yesterday, I was able to ride 3 hours on my indoor trainer, with a good portion of that time in my aero position in my zone 2 heart rate (comfortable), at a power that again is not my optimal, but a good place to be at this point in time. Today, I rode 90 minutes with better power and lower heart rate than yesterday. It actually felt like I've "snapped back into place" in terms of my fitness level!

I think that the most exciting part of this is that I'm about to enter my 4 month training period for Ironman St. George. I am taking an extra day off every week, giving me three half days off during the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday). This really feels good, insofar as it really takes any pressure off of me for the training I am about to embark upon for an ironman. If I had to do the training with a full work load, I don't think that I could have handled it.

I continue to contemplate the nature of my desire to do an ironman. Triathlon and the training it comes with is certainly "a place" I like to be. Training for an ironman certainly gives me plenty of time to be in this "place". I want to do well, but really to the extent that I feel fine doing the race. I want to put myself in a position to have a successful race, which means, feeling very good during and after the swim; having a comfortable bike ride; starting the run feeling reasonably good. The rest will be what it is:). I don't have any other major goals. Is it possible for me to qualify for Kona? Yes, but I can't try to do that, and I can't really make it a goal. It's also not really why I'm into this. I just want to give it my best effort.

Happy New Year, it's good to be back!