I restarted training at the very end of September after hitting a lifetime high weight (ouch). The one thing I am legitimately proud of is that I took the most time off since I really started seriously training on any level back in senior year of high school, summer/fall of 2006. Yes, that is five years. During that time period, my longest voluntary hiatus from training was about 5 days. On a couple occasions I had injuries that rendered me unable to workout in any meaningful fashion that typically forced 2 weeks off. Since I began collegiate XC I became accustomed to and comfortable with: very few rest days, minimal rest post-season, and working though injuries. I am sure you are not surprised that from fall of 2007 to fall of 2009 I was constantly either injured or recovering from lost fitness due to injury. This is why my collegiate running career only presented me with PR's in the 8K, in which I had never competed in before college, and the 4 mile, which I competed in once before college.
I quit track in the winter of 2010, took a full week off, and began my quest for an injury-free and high-performance triathlon/running season. I worked up from 10 mile exercise bike rides, 0.5 mile swims, and 2 mile runs in February 2010 to 60+ mile hilly rides, 3+ mile swims, and 10+ mile runs in August 2010. All without any semblance of injury or pain. All with personal best performances, and many high places at events in triathlon, cycling, and running. During this period I placed 9th (tri), 2nd (du), 9th (5K), 1st (cycling), and 3rd (tri). Setting PR's in 5K and 10K, and nearly PRing in a 3mile at the end of a duathlon. This recalling of that summer's success is not to revel in the long-past 'glory' of it, but to state that I had great success for but one reason: I listened to my body and only did what felt beneficial. In a mere 8 months, I went from injury-prone and nearly cut from the track and field team to my greatest overall fitness ever. (Actually the only reason I was not cut from the team was because I tried out for the 500m rather than the 800m. Had I gone for the 800m, I would have been about 3 seconds away from the cut...given my best possible performance). I finally learned that the most critical part to fitness and success was training smart, something that I plan to neither lose sight of nor forget.
"Training smart" conveniently leads me to my current training status. Following much debate, and even after accounting for the concern of my extremely low income at the moment, I hired a cycling coach. The coach I hired is someone I've been considering for quite some time, whether it be triathlon or cycling. Doug Welling, of The Sustainable Athlete, is both extremely smart and personable. Many coaches are brilliant with their knowledge of the sport and/or great athletes at their own right, but to me balance is the most critical attribute. From cerifications, Doug is an Expert Level Cycling coach, has coached multiple collegiate crew teams, is CTS certified, etc...you get the point. He's competed at Kona twice, was a collegiate rower, and has various other athletic accomplishments, so he clearly knows the game from the athlete's side. And he's flat out a great guy. I've worked with him for a couple years and, if you didn't know him, you wouldn't believe it is true how highly he is regarded by his athletes, friends, colleagues, and customers. I really couldn't think of much more I want in a coach.
This spring he gave me much advice and told me "Please don't hesitate to shout with any questions as they arise, no worries there", in response to an email in which I told him I was going to be racing for another coaching company's Tri Team. When I was still up in the air about committing to hiring a coach, he helped me grasp my current fitness and helped analyze results from a cycling field test. Even after one week, I know I made an excellent decision and that this is going to put my past results to shame very quickly!
Going forward, I am getting back into the swing of training, being surprised at how insanely effective directed and smart training is, and excitedly looking to how I will grow every session, every week.
Upcoming checkpoints: Cycling Field Test 10/13 and SRM "Chat", back to 10+ hour weeks (!!! :-D), maybe even a new J O B!
Next entry: SRM 'review' (moreso just me drooling over its awesomeness) and Field Test Results
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