Hitting the slopes, yo

So, Cath and I are heading out to Idaho tomorrow to visit my dad and jump into some winter sports.

I haven't skiied all that regularly since I was a teenager, many moons ago, but we went once last year and it came back pretty easily, so I'm excited to get back out there.

The only problem with skiing as an adult is that you're now wise enough to know that a bad fall could lead to many months of painful rehab, so I'm hoping that the ski gods smile on us, take some pity, and we avoid a hospital stay. Still, I'll be massaging my ligaments and tendons all day, hoping they get all soft and flexy before we get there.

Otherwise, training is going well - I've been trying to really test myself a bit this off-season, doing more intervals and just generally trying to get my heart rate higher than I usually would during a typical IM build up. Basically, just enagaging in two types of workouts - intervals and recovery. I figure I have plenty of time to build up a base, but I'd really like to boost my VO2 max a bit before the IM training really begins in the Spring.

Santa was good to me in the form of a new pair of bike shorts - the DeSoto 400-mile shorts, if you're curious - but it will likely be a good number of months before they get tested. The snow and cold temps arrived early in Chicago this year, and they don't look like they'll be leaving any time soon. But, I'm looking forward to making lemonade out of the lemons, tromp around out in the Sawtooth Mountains, and remember that summer always comes back...eventually.

Happy New Year!

Don't Get Old

I am one out-of-shape mother f'er. Seriously.

The combination of a light racing/training year and, uh-hum, advancing age has killed my fitness, and I feel like crap.

Drew and I have been hitting up a boot camp-style fitness class at our gym recently - basically, just a group class with an emphasis on strength and high-heart rate agony - and the results have been humbling. I guess I'm not a kid anymore, and it's going to take some serious training to get back into the game, triathlon-wise.

But, I'm trying to look at the bright side, and think that it's better to realize this now - before the New Year - rather than be shocked when the training schedule starts in the Spring.

As such, I'm thinking of following some sort of pre-season training plan that will get me to April. Not sure what I'm going to do - I thought about a personal trainer, but I'm not inclined to spend the money. I'll probably keep taking the ass-buster fitness class, and add some other non-triathlon-ey stuff so as to not get burnt out before the real work begins in the Spring. I've been taking a day to row, walk the incline machine, and walk stairs, which I think has been helpful. And I need to run more outside. I've been lazy about braving the winter weather, but that needs to change.

In other news, I think we're close to choosing a couple more races for 2011 - Galena (http://www.facebook.com/galenatriathlon) and Steelhead ( http://www.ironmansteelhead.com/). We've done both of these races before, so I know that they're quality events, and the timing is great as far as IM FL is concerned.

Now, if I can just get down to shaking off the rust....