Sunday Ramblings

So the wind at Ironman Wales was 30mph steady for the entire day with gusts up to 40mph, and I raced 12 hours in it with no complaint. This morning in Memphis, the wind is 25 mph, and I do not want to go ride outside. Does anyone else become a huge baby this time of year, or is it just me? What happened to my HTFU? I am still trying to decide if I should go outdoors or this the trainer.

I have received the question, "What are you training for?" quite a lot recently. (And apparently times have changed and it is now okay to end sentences with prepositions according to the internet. I must be getting old, because I did not know this.)

I don't have anything on my calendar, besides a half marathon in Baton Rouge with Kari in 3 weeks where I will be begging her to leave me to die.

But, in my mind I want to hit the early season with some longer races. It seems to me that I almost always have good racing in the spring. I find, though, that I place my "A" races at the end of every year in the fall. So while I continue to gain fitness through the year, I think I start to show a little mental fatigue, and my fall racing is never spot on. My best racing last year happened early, even though I was not in the best physical shape. I think I was excited and motivated by my results, but I couldn't hold that for the entire year. It is just an idea, and we will see how it goes.

I am probably going to choose to race longer simply because I like it. I am not sure that I am any better at it. Actually, I think I get my butt kicked a lot. I would probably be well served to race short and build some speed this year. But, I think the longer races are fun, and I want to keep working on getting better at them. I went from 2008 to 2011 without doing a single half iron distance or iron distance race. I think trying to race them a little more frequently than 1 x every 3 years might be a good strategy for improvement.

So, now you have an answer when you wonder why I am doing a brick workout today. I plan on racing early spring.

Plus, I have to stay in good shape because I now have a new nephew, Nathaniel James. I plan on being his physical therapist and coach, so I have to be on top of my game.

Nathaniel...just a couple of hours old!

Uncle Dave holding his first nephew :)