Off season break

One of the most challenging, yet enjoyable times of the year for me are the 4 or so weeks after my last race of the season. It's not easy for an endurance athlete to take time off, but it's very important if you're hoping to progress a bit further each year. Now, by taking time off I am not talking about 4 weeks or so of no training at all. Sure I'll take probably a total of 7-10 days completely off during that time, but I have found for me it's better if I don't take those days all at once. Doing it this way allows me to get back into things quicker and not feel so horrible those first 2-3 weeks of real training. This year it worked out nicely because I took 3 full days off at the start of deer season and then over Thanksgiving break. After the 2nd 3 days I finally feel completely ready both mentally and physically to get back to work. The mental component is huge so you avoid burnout. Triathlon has a bad burnout rate where people get into the sport for 2-3 years and then get burned out so they quit. The guys who are crushing it year after year typcially say it takes a good 10+ years in the sport to come even close to potential. Most say they hit their endurance peak in their mid 30s. I am very hopefuly this is the case because if it is I can plan on seeing more improvement for another 10 years or so.

From a physical standpoint it's important to take a good break each season. Even if you feel 100% there are always a couple of small niggling injuries that have been hidden throughout the year. If you train hard during the year, something is not 100% with your body. I very rarely get injured and have never actually had an overuse injury (touch wood) that has sidelined me. I firmly believe the break at the end of each year keeps my body happy. A smart thing to do during your break is to keep up on some recovery methods...chiro, massage, cold/hot baths, compression, foam rolling, eating well, etc.

A lot of people think I'm nuts starting my training for the next season the first week of December. Those are the same people that will be behind myself and any of the athletes I coach. You are not killing yourself in the winter. What you are doing is very gradually laying down a fitness base that will allow you to do the race specific training you need to do once March/April rolls around. These are flat out THE most important months of the year. If not done, you will be playing catch up all year and your race results will suffer. I probably only truly average 10-12 hours of training a week for the first few cycles, but I am consistent and do the correct work to set me up for the specific prep that follows. I typically will swim, bike, and run 3 times each during the winter. That, with 2-3 strength sessions plus 1-2 xc ski sessions a week and come March I'm ready to get after it. Most of the winter is spent indoors. I'll get outside to do most of my runs and every now and again if the roads are not icy I'll head out on the mtn. bike. I utilize a treadmill for my faster run sessions. For the strength work, I've gone back to traditonal weight training the last 2 years. I really find this to be huge as I go through the season. Gains are made until about March and then as the s, b, r training increases I just look to maintain that strength. I do one day of TRX work as well.

The fun part for me is putting the training puzzle together. Taking what has worked in the past and then adding in a couple of new things each year so I don't get stagnate. This year I plan to do a little more volume in all 3 disciplines and then dial back the intensity a bit. I will always do some fast stuff year round, but last year I skimped a bit too much on the run and cycling volume. This had me going very well on the shorter stuff, but I was a little undertrained for the half ironmans. With stepping up to Ironman this year, that volume cannot be missing. I have laid out a very solid program that I am confident will put me in the best shape of my life for Lake Placid. For now, it's all about easing the body back into some consistent work. I am pumped to start back up and I suggest you do the same if you want to have your best season yet!

Iceman, #2 on the way, and much more

I can't believe how long it's been since I've written a blog on this site. I am really going to try and be better about it in 2013. Things get busy when you're trying to be a good husband and father as well as teacher, coach, and athlete. Let's just say blogging hassn't been a priority. I have had a few people ask me recently to start it back up so I'm going to take another shot at it.

Where to start...it's been an awesome year watching my daughter Kennedy grow and mature (she's now 16 mo. old). It never ceases to amaze me how much of a personality such a little girl can have. We are also expecting #2 in May 2013 so we are prepping Kennedy to be a big sister. She was asking for a training partner more similar in size so we thought we'd deliver:)

Triathlon wise it really was a good year (All-American for the 4th time). I started off by winning the Starkermann in Gaylord. I got taken off course by the motorcycle while leading the Bayshore 10k, but was on sub 34 min. pace so I was happy with where the body was at. I won the Bass Festival 5k after riding 60 miles beforehand. Syracuse 70.3 went well. I was 6th age grouper overall and at one point in the race was in 1st. The run is still my achilles heel. I need to continue to find ways to drop time and get in that low 1:2x range off the bike if I'm ever going to be 1st amateur. I repeated at East Jordan and took 2nd at Mark Mellon to Aaron Bachman. I gave him a run for his money (literally as we brought some prize money to Mark Mellon this year...going up for next year so join us!) and led off the bike by a little over a minute. I had probably my best race of the year again at Petoskey Tri. I was firing on all cylinders and finally broke 36 min. off the bike for an Olympic distance race running a mid 35. Steelhead was another high age group finish, but ran 1:29 instead of the sub 1:25 I had planned on which would have had me top 3 overall amateurs. From there I pretty much called it a season and started prepping for the GR marathon and Iceman. Both of those races went well considering my lack of preparation, but it just gets to be a long season once school starts back up and now that we have Kennedy and with coaching and all. No complaints here thought as life is great! Rachel continues to be wife/mother of the year (not to mention her job as a funeral director) and I couldn't do anything I do without her support.

Basketball practice starts on Monday so I'm really looking forward to that. We have a very good shot at winning the league so it's going to be a fun year. I am doing some very light training at the moment and have been sprinkling in some roller skiing to get ready for the xc ski season. I'll also be playing a decent amount of basketball once we get rolling. I have decided my first day of 2013 training will be December 17th. That way I can get in some solid work over our 2 weeks of Xmas vacation and that should set me up for the real work to begin after that. The whole goal of 2013 is simple...Kona!!! I will be qualifying at Ironman Lake Placid the end of July and everything I do training and racing will have that race in mind. There is no doubt in my mind I can accomplish this task, but it is going to take a lot of work...work I'm prepared to do.

Lastly, I have a couple more open slots for coaching in 2013 so if interested please email me at dave@jrmtraining.com

Please follow along...it's going to be an exciting year!