Getting Into The Routine

During my first week I had 4 flats. 3 due to
sub-par rim tape. 1 due to this giant nail.

     Believe it or not, it is now 2013. I've been training in Clermont, FL since the first week in December and it has been fantastic. Quite a few professional triathletes make Clermont their winter training camp and I can see why. The weather is fantastic which makes it possible to swim outside at the National Training Center everyday. For me this is a big win from a mental standpoint. During the winter I want to get in some great training, but I also want to start the season mentally and physically fresh. Since starting to train down here I have started to look forward to the swim each day more than my run (This is blasphemy coming from a runner, and I apologize to any non-triathlete runners for admitting it). I know that I'm not going to have to worry about mid-season mental burnout because I'm not “grinding” through training right now, instead I'm making steady progress and feeling fresh. The old schoolers out there would say that grinding it out during a long cold winter makes you tough, and they may be right... but I'll trade toughness for speed any day.

Swimming with McLarty and Rhyner Outside in January

     To be fair I'm probably enjoying swimming so much because I've made some very big improvements in the last 5 weeks. I'm fortunate enough to swim with some really fast people every day like Sara McLarty, Lauren Goss, Sarah Haskins (these girls are smoking fast), my fellow northern ex-pat Jake Rhyner and Romain Guillaume. The bottom line is these people are usually swimming on a 1:15 base without even really trying. With some stroke pointers and a lot of chasing after feet I've gone from killing myself to swim 200's in 2:35 on a 3 minute sendoff to swimming 200's in the low 2:20's on a 2:30 sendoff. My number one priority for the winter was to make improvements swimming, so this has been very encouraging. To put it into perspective, my race pace last year on average was around 1:17's so even with rest in between intervals I'm usually swimming faster each day than I could race last year. Extra bonus: I have a really great speedo tan which may or may not come in handy this year depending on race kit choices...

     Each day is part of an overall routine blending swimming, biking, running, aerobic work, speed work, strength training, stretching, rolling out, eating, resting, sleeping. I know what I'm going to do every day and get it done as best as I possibly can, making sure to focus on the details. It sounds a bit boring when I say it out loud, but I really enjoy the routine. I'm always hearing about breaking out of routines and ruts, but if you ask me, having a routine is a great way to get work done. When you know what you're going to do every day, you find a way to get it done. Whenever I don't have a routine I always find really good reasons to not do my second workout or to skip stretching.

Claire, still fresh and smiling after running 10 miles on the clay trail.

Hopefully you're having a great winter, even if you are stuck in the snow. If you're on the Twitter be sure to follow all of us training down here in Clermont, sponsors love that sort of thing.

@D_Hedgecock, @jakerhyner, @Lauren_Goss, @SaraLMcLarty, @trialsyorke, @TriCoachK and even though they're back in the arctic, @ClaireBootsma and @dpalmertri.

Thanks for the support!