The picture here is from one of the mountain peaks from Winter Park Colorado. That will be my home starting next spring. I flew from the heat of Kona Hawaii and 3 days later I am at 9000 feet looking at snow. That is one big change. It felt nice to not have to worry about sweating while unloading the luggage. However I was very tired and I felt as is something big had just happened and my motivation to train was low. That only lasted a few days and today my training was fine. My case however is different from all the folks that had a real triathlon season. Particularly if your life revolved around your training for the last 8 months or more and your big race is now over.
I would say that the majority of my work with athletes now deals with when to start training and how to cope with unrealized goals. There are folks that need to train as their life has always been that way and it is hard to just take time off. Then there are those who lost all motivation and lost focus. Some have to be pulled and some have to be pushed. Then there are some which are good about taking time off and refocusing. As you can imagine there are all kinds.
Kona was a great experience for sure. But when I got home I was exhausted and although I got some training in, it was sluggish and slow. The time away from my family was tough on my wife and kids. So it took some adjusting when I got home. But as I said it is all back to normal including my training and my wife too. Without me at home she could not get workouts in as easily.
Here is what I did last week.
Monday arrived from Kona and did 2000 yard swim
Tuesdays 3 mile run on treadmill
Wednesday 30 mile bike ride
Thursday 7 mile run
Friday 3 mile run, 2000 yard swim, weights
Saturday OFF, way too tired from Expo all day
Sunday 40 mile ride, 2 mile run
Today 4000 yard swim, 4 mile run, all good
I am looking forward to training in the cold weather actually. Call me crazy but I like to go out when it is the nastiest. There is absolutely no one on the trails when it is snowing and miserably cold. I feel like I have the trail all to myself. I will bring my camera on one of these and show you some photos.