Vegas & the Return of IRONMAN Training....

Vegas and Brett Michael's in T-minus 2 days. I am excited! After much discussion and suggestions regarding my my plan of attack for Sunday's marathon, I have decided to start out with the 3:10 pace group and just hang on as long as I can. Even if it backfires, it's not like I don't have other marathons to try again, so I might as well give it a whirl.

I woke up this morning and December smacked me in the face. How did it get here so fast? The arrival of December doesn't make me nervous because I have yet to do any Christmas shopping (but I haven't); it makes me nervous because Ironman Texas is approaching and I need to start training again. Meaning, I need to start logging some serious miles on my bike and start upping my swim workouts. Also meaning bye bye to my free evenings and weekends sleeping in and having the entire day to do what I want.

I am both nervous and excited to be entering a new season. I am excited because I love having a goal, but nervous because I know the hours and tired afternoons from early morning workouts that are just around the corner.

I've been thinking a lot about my approach to my second Ironman. For my first Ironman, the fear of the unknown was a fantastic motivator and in training for my first iron distance race that fear got me through every grueling workout. With it though, I sacrificed a lot of other things along the way. Things that help to balance me and keep me more or less sane and happy (time with Dan & my friends, plenty of sleep, to name a few).

I poured a lot of my time and resources into Ironman last season. I had (have) a very able coach to give me workouts which I did, then ‘augmented.’ I started pushing mileage. There were times in my training when suddenly 100 mile weeks weren’t good enough. Two-a-days weren’t good enough. My road bike wasn’t good enough. It's very easy to get caught up in all of that.

The last two months of IM C'ouer D'Alene training, I was easily burning 5000 calories a day and working out 20 hours per week (on top of working 40 hours a week). I literally couldn't sit still; I couldn't think of anything except my next workout; Ironman training consumed me.

So, I decided that this season I will take more liberties while training. Stick to Coach Shawn's schedule he gives me (no augmentations), but also not fret or feel guilty if I have to miss a workout. Do not obsess over this race; after all, it's only a race.

So that brings me to my goals for 2011:

Goals for 2011
1) Achieve balance of family first, work second, fitness third. This means that there is no way that I will ever give up family over fitness or jeopardize my work success for fitness. However, I will never give up fitness just because of work. I simply prioritize, plan, and execute. Just like I would at work.

2) Finish Ironman Texas with a smile on my face. I will not set a time goal for this race other than finishing, as I know heat/humidity will be a big factor. I do not want to stress myself out to hit a certain time.

3) Take a 2 week vacation from workouts at the end of the season.

4) Work to help people be active in ANY WAY possible.

I will slowly start adding in some bike and longer swim workouts over the next few weeks and meet with Coach Shawn over the holidays to set our plan of attack for Ironman Texas!