Sometimes in the spring time we.....

So I had to travel for work on Monday afternoon, for one night to Atlanta, GA. I went there for a class called "Dealing with Difficult People". It was a very informative class and I left with some good pointers. It was also nice to hear that people from all across the country in all Turner offices are dealing with the same thing. I sometimes thing my job title should be a Dealing with difficult people engineer. What was the most interesting is when we shared stories on how to deal with various difficult situtations and what works and doesn't.

What I hate the most about traveling for work is that most of the time it really screws up my eating schedule. I hate it because when I am in Dallas all week, Mon - Fri, I plan out my meals on sunday and go to the grocery store and buy fresh ingredients to eat. When I have to travel for work, if I go and buy fresh food it usually goes to waste since I am not at home for a few days. It just throws a wrench in my eating. However, also when I travel there are too many temptations for me and I usually give in to eating some sweets or a treat here and there. Because when I am at home I eat really healthy food, a treat every so often never hurt anybody.

Back to the training. I had a good recovery and feel normal after my Half Ironman (HIM). I did a 30 mi bike ride called Tour Dallas on saturday, it was a nice easy slow ride. I also had an unexpected 1200m swim on friday afternoon with Tommy and Mike. This was good, but I could tell my shoulders were still sore from the HIM. Its funny, because it wasn't the swimming 1.2 miles in the race that made my shoulder and back sore it was the combination of running 13.1 and biking 56mi. Believe it or not these activities use your Latissimus Dorsi, Trapezius, and all 3 deltoids more than you think. I mean after my full marathon, my shoulders were tighter than Dick's hat band. They were sore. Its just the running and moving your shoulders back and forth for almost 4 hours that can really take a toll on the body. This is why it is important for triathletes to have some type of strength training in the offseason to help with preventing injury, etc. etc. I began yesterday on the plan to figure out my workout schedule for April, May, and June. This is in preparation for Buffalo Springs Ironman 70.3 I have really tried to make the best of all the traveling that I will be doing for work during the month of April and June. Some of my plans include running hills while I am in NY in April and doing some OWS when I am in Long Beach, CA in June. I actually am really looking forward to these workouts since it will really break up the routine, while providing some great training for the race.

So today I had a 5mi run and it was nice. As I went outside to run, I have begun to see the changes to the foliage and many of the small changes that occur as the seasons turn. I ran at the same time on Monday and it felt like it was already getting brighter out early. The trees a more green and the weather is warm and refreshing. I have never realized that this year I am much more dependent on the changing seasons for my training. I feel like I have an acute sense of the change of the seasons this year as opposed to any other year in my life. In many years past I never remeber feeling such an invigorating sense of opportunity and desire to train outside. It is almost as if as the winter turns to spring, my body is turning from a swimmer, cyclist, and runner, to a triathlete. I feel very optimistic about this summer and spring training and that good things will happen. What is key is proper recovery and making sure I listen to my body and don't get over zealous and try to take on too much to quick. This is why I think its going to be good to take 2 weekends off in April from training and just relax.

The key to a successful triathlon season is finding a good balance between, training, friends and family, fun outside of triathlon sports, and work.

So I will try to post my work out schedules in some fashion for all too see, but don't know how yet.