Training and Life Update: First few weeks of January!

One of my goals is to get back to blogging regularly in 2016, particularly now that training is underway for the upcoming triathlon season.  Checking in with the blog and with my coach helps to keep me honest and accountable.  It's hard to get up at 5:15 to hit the pool when it is cold and snowy, but it is also harder to admit that I haven't actually been swimming... at all lately!  So back to blogging and back to swimming it is for me, starting NOW!

Work commute chic!

The first few weeks of the new year have been characterized by new routines.  I started a new job in December, and the office is an easy, though longer trek from my house.  Before the snow arrived, I had been cycling to work, but my nervous nelly syndrome appeared along with the snow, so I've been hitching rides once in a while, but mostly running to and from work. The run commute is definitely challenging to manage logistically, as it requires me to be super organized in the mornings with all the clothing and gear that I will require for the run and work day. My body is still getting used to the extra mileage (up to 50 minutes of running per day).  On Monday, I rode the bike into work though, despite a decent dump of snow overnight, and I survived!

Night skate skiing

I've been continuing my ski lessons with my patient, kind, and excellent coach, Mike.  He has vast experience coaching athletes up to the highest levels and his patience runs very deep. Lucky for me!!  The lessons are definitely helping, and I've begun to get the hang of skiing.  However, I'm still working on overcoming my fear of people skiing anywhere near me. Apparently I prefer the trail all to myself!

Sometimes the climbing on skis is worth the view!

I've also continued biking with power at Eurosports and also started co-leading, along with Coach Dave, the HPS group at OTC on Wednesday nights! I definitely need to work a bit more time on the bike into the schedule though (and space it out, since both are now on Wednesdays).  I'm working on organizing our garage at the Trifecta House to be an official pain cave. When I'm done, I'll share some pictures!

And like I said, I really, really need to get back in the pool. I went once, with Mike, to help him with his swimming (as sort of a very lopsided trade for my ski lessons), but I only swam about 800m, and mostly just hung out on the pool deck! The swim will always be the part of triathlon that I least like to train for, mostly because I spent those 11 years training for swimming 20 hours per week. I'm hoping the motivation comes back soon though!