Let the Off Season Begin

After my break from hard, regimented training, I have recently started what I call my off season. My off season is structured in some ways, not too structured in other ways. My schedule from now through the winter is pretty much spelled out. The structured part follows this schedule:

• Monday morning swim
• Monday evening Yoga
• Tuesday morning Cycling Class
• Tuesday evening Track
• Thursday morning Cycling Class
• Saturday morning Cycling Class

The main goal of these off season training sessions is to work on my form. Each of the workouts on my schedule is done under the corrective eye of a coach. While I have not officially signed on with the coach, I will be meeting with her this Saturday to go over a few things and hopefully become a part of her Pro K triathlon training team.

The cycling class is being taught by Craig at the Richmond Cycling Corporation. Here is a snippet from their web site:

RICHMOND CYCLING CORPS (RCC) is a prestigious non-profit organization that provides leadership and personal development to Richmond’s urban youth through the sport of cycling. The corps connects highly qualified staff and volunteers to provide cycling opportunities, outreach, academic support, and fitness towards our youth participants in a knuckles-down, all for one environment. We obtain funding through Richmond-area business partnerships and individual supporters all over the country to provide these opportunities to Richmond-urban youth at no cost.

One of the way RCC raises money is through cycling classes. Karen arranged for her Tri team to get a group discount. We meet on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the RCC at 6 AM for a one hour session with Craig. Craig was a little reluctant at first to schedule such early sessions because he was not convinced the class would be consistently well attended. Little did he know that triathletes are committed to their sport and will make sacrifices to improve their fitness and abilities. So far the class has been full.

On Saturdays, Karen will lead a longer class that will be more laid back and less structured. This morning when there was a discussion about what time we were going to start on Saturday, Craig was again surprised that we would be starting so early, at 7AM. He asked if we ever slept in. One guy on our team said, "What is sleeping in?"

During the class, Craig is teaching us some physiology, some technique, and helping us train more efficiently. We do lots of drills, including one-leg drills, low-cadence drills, high-cadence drills to a metronome, biking to exhaustion (all-out drills that last 10 to 15 seconds), as well as some mental training. We have only had two sessions but I can already tell that I am going to love this class and get a great benefit from it. The bike portion of the Triathlon is the longest and takes the most time so training smart on the bike is very important. Also, as I learned in my first year of Triathlon, my bike skills need work. There are a few words and phrases that describe my abilities on the bike: Low Power, Inefficient, Low Endurance, and as a result of these things, Slow. I know this class will help me improve all of these things.

Track practice has also been fun. I have been attending the track practices for several weeks. Since it is the off season, the coach is really taking it easy on us. She is trying to get us to learn how to pace ourselves evenly. We do lots of timed 1200s, 1600s, and 800s, as well as some drills. There are two guys who are faster than me but I have about 10 years on them so I feel pretty good about that.

The last discipline I am trying to perfect is my swim. My swim stroke is horrible. Let me let the video do the talking:

Video number 1

http://youtu.be/qM6jo1YUc8U


Video number 2

http://youtu.be/rwyDiZ_iAKM



I am not sure how I am going to get my stroke straightened out. I understand what I am doing wrong but it has been difficult for me to get my hips and shoulder to cooperate and I have a very weak kick. There are so many things to fix, sometimes it is hard to remember all the pieces of a good stroke and get it all to come together. My overall swimming fitness has improved. But I am still slow and inefficient. I know I will get there eventually.

Now to switch gears a little, I must talk about Yoga. Our Yoga instructor is the best. Her class is intimate and delightful. Kelly's class is the perfect pace and the vibe is so cleansing for both mind and body. For every move she teaches us, there is always a slight variation to make it more or less challenging. She knows how to gently guide us in and out of poses so we get the benefit of strong poses as well as rest in between. I have really come to love the class.

One of the best things about this entire schedule listed above is Melissa does it all with me. Being able to train together has been a great treat. I know that the training is going to help improve my time on the various courses next season and I know it will allow Melissa to enjoy the races even more. I am looking forward to the spring season. Now we just have to find a good destination race for next year.

Well that about wraps up my discussion of my off season training regimen. In addition to these scheduled practices, I will also be doing some trail runs. Last Sunday I ran 7.5 miles on the trails in about 1 hour. It was a beautiful day for a run in the park and I had a great workout. Also, I will be ratcheting things up a bit in anticipation of the Gobble Wobble 5K on Thanksgiving. The course is hilly so I will need to get some hill work in between now and then. It is all just for fun but if I run well, I could be in the top 10 in my age group.

Thanks for reading.