Benefits to a Late-Season Race

I am learning that the holidays are the perfect excuse for an extended hiatus from training. It's not that I don't want to train.  I do, legitimately.  In fact, I swam a whopping half-hour, ran three miles and spun for a little more than an hour this week.

Of course, I used to do that as a warm up in Ironman training, but hey, let's not be too harsh right now.  I have a delicate ego at the moment.  Steph teased this morning that she found lint in my belly button (TMI?), and the only thing that ran through my mind was, "That means there's a belly now large enough to have lint again!"

We triathletes are a messed up bunch, aren't we!?

But thank goodness for the holidays.  The timing for Ironman Arizona really couldn't be much better.  You run the race, you recover, you eat a lot of turkey, you catch your breath, light some Hanukkah candles, light some birthday candles (happy birthday, Stephanie!) and BAM!  Christmas is around the corner, along with all the year-end holiday parties.  So, with such a schedule to keep, it's easy to let training fall by the wayside a bit.  Could you ask for a better excuse?  Our significant others, friends and families have put up with so much crap from us for the rest of the year, a year-end race has a built-in recovery period that forces other priorities to take their rightful place atop the life podium.

The holidays also provide an opportunity to socialize with our spandex-clad warriors in arms sans swim, bike or run gear.  Last night, for example, Fortius teammate, friend and massage therapist David co-hosted a 1920's themed birthday party in Los Angeles.  Several teammates and LA Tri Club members showed up, the vast majority sporting period-appropriate costumes.  We looked uniform, as usual, but with a different flair and lighter attitude.  It was nice to unwind in a different setting, and it actually helped boost my training batteries indirectly since it's obvious other folks are going through a bit of the Winter Training Blues like me.

So, if you're considering which Ironman to sign up for, I'd definitely recommend a late-season race.  Don't make me cut you.

Trust me, you're going to need the recovery period no matter what.  Might as well make it a merry as can be.

192 days and counting...slowly.

PS: With two birthday parties, an awards show and a company holiday party, there's no working out today -- for two days in a row now.