One door closes, and another opens

Being the anal-retentive type-A that I am, I always have to have a plan before I set out to attempt anything. My wife, on the contrary, loves to set out with a goal (of sorts) in mind but absolutely no notion whatsoever of how to get there. We both get tremendous satisfaction from solving problems in our own ways, and can get very frustrated with the opposite approach. Fran relishes the adventure and discovery of making it up as she goes along and being surprised by the outcome. I love formulating a crystal-clear vision of the end result in my mind, often reworking the end product in my head countless times until it's perfect, and then developing the perfect process to get to the goal so I'm not surprised by what I get. We both drive each other absolutely nuts in this regard. This is a typical Saturday morning conversation for us:

Wifey: "Let's do some landscaping in the front yard"
Me: "OK, let me get a pencil and paper and we can sketch some stuff out"
Wifey: "No, let's just go to the nursery and look around"
Me: "But how will we know what we need if we don't have any idea what we're trying to do?
Wifey: "That's the fun of it- let's just go look around and see what we like"
Me: "How will we know if we like it, if we don't know what we're trying to do?"
Wifey: "Let's just see what happens"

That last line, "let's just see what happens" has become an inside joke of sorts between us. Whenever I get to wrapped around the axle on something Fran will say "let's just see what heppens" and that's my cue to mellow out a little bit.

When I decided to make the commitment to return to racing triathlons for the 2009 season, one of the first things I did was lay out a season training plan (complete with Excel spreadsheets, of course). The season was divided into roughly three phases that took me through my "A" race of the year- the Vineman Half Ironman in July.

The first phase, which started right after Thanksgiving, had one very simple goal. Just work out. It didn't matter what I did or how I did it. It was all about just getting my body and mind used to a daily routine that included working out again. All I wanted to see was something, anything, in the training log every day. It was basically about testing the commitment. Phase I concluded at the end of December, and it was a resounding success. I was loving working out again. I wasn't calling it training yet, it was just working out. It was supposed to be fun- and it was a blast.

Phase two started in early January, and ended yesterday. This was the "offseason" portion of my training plan. It was a bit more structured, both in terms of what I did and when I did it. I started adding some speed work to my runs and rides, started introducing some weekly 'long' rides and runs, and started structuring my weekly routine so that it more closely resembled what a weekly training plan would look like. There were some more specific objectives as well:

1) Shed the holiday baggage- I've now managed to lose 15 pounds in the last four months, and I'm at the lowest training weight that I've ever been at. In fact I'm only 3 pounds heavier than my best racing weight. I feel fantastic, and my knees thank me every time I run.

2) Get some serious swim instruction- this is something that I've always told myself I needed to do but always thought of a million reasons why I didn't do it. I've always been a horrible swimmer, and not surprisingly the swim has always been the least enjoyable of the three disciplines for me. I finally bit the bullet and started working with a coach six weeks ago, and the difference is nothing short of astounding. Becoming a more proficient and more confident swimmer has (surprise) allowed me to love swimming for the first time. I find myself waking up at 5:30 to go swim most mornings, and I'm in the water at least five times a week now. I honestly can't believe I'm in the place I am with swimming. I'm still not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but for the first time ever I have an understanding of what I need to do, and I have a coach that will get me there.

3) Continue the commitment- Phase I was about doing something every day, but in order to get to the level I wanted to get to I knew I'd need to eventually be doing double workouts most days. In my last few seasons leading up to Vineman 2004, I had the occasional 12-14 hour training weeks, but most of my weeks were in the 6-8 hour range. Mind you, those were my in-season hours! I always told myself I wasn't a morning person, and I always tried to 'cram' my weekly hours into the weekend with long rides and runs on Sat/Sun. That was admittedly not a recipe for success, but rather a recipe for burnout, injury, and slow and frustrating races. Getting in the water in the morning has allowed me to use my lunchtime to bike or run, which has finally allowed me to crack the 10 hour week on a regular basis- and it's still the offseason! I haven't even started piling on the big bike/run volume yet. Despite doing 40% more volume than before (and being 5 years older) I feel fresher and more healthy than when my big bike bike/run weekends accounted for the majority of my weekly training hours.

So here I am, on day one of my 18 week training season, and I'm utterly ecstatic over what I've accomplished over the past 15 weeks. I've dropped ALL the weight I wanted to lose (and then some), I'm happy, injury-free, and utterly enjoying biking, running, AND swimming. I'm knocking out 10 mile long runs and 65 mile long rides at paces I never dreamed of. But perhaps most importantly, as I wrote about several months ago, I've made enormous strides in making triathlon a foundational part of my life again. Training isn't a daily struggle, as it sometimes was before. It's usually one of the highlights of my day, along with dinner time with the family.

So as my offseason comes to an end and my season starts in earnest, one door closes and another opens. I can look back on the past four months with a tremendous sense of accomplishment and I look forward to the next 18 weeks with anticipation and excitement, knowing I've done everything I've set out to do so far and I've positioned myself for a great season. Now all that's missing is to win the Kona lottery and get that spot in the Hawaii Ironman I've been dreaming of.