Three mile thursdays

My new workout for Thursdays is either a set of 3 one mile repeats with 6 minutes easy in between or a straight out 3.1 mile TT. I'm going to try to do this consistently over the next 3 months and track my progress.  Today, a did the 3 one mile repeats on a very tight 12 laps/mile track at about 6:20 /mile pace.

Duathlon Nationals in just over 3 months!

I just entered the 2018 Duathlon Nationals! Only a little over 3 months out!  Suddenly it all seems so close now. Can I really get it together by then given the crappy weather here in Chicago? I'm not sure, but I'm going to give it a try. I'll be at that start line and then we'll see how it goes...

Off season

I've read several articles by pro triathletes who all say that you need to really rest up during the off season and do minimal hard workouts. I get it: you want to feel refreshed, both physically and mentally, to take on a new season of training and racing. But, most of these athletes who recommend getting a lot of rest and doing few hard w/o during the winter months are younger.  I have only moderately decreased my workout load over the winter months for last decade because I feel like, at my age, I can't afford to lose conditioning because its too hard to regain it!  So, again this year I'm faced with the dilemma: take more time off or try and retain a higher degree of fitness through the winter months. Then there is also the matter of mentally, how do I back off?  I NEED to workout for multiple reasons, one of which is my sanity!  What to do?   

Getting into the holiday spirit

We had a bit of snow over night and it does look kind of Christmasy out there!  Can't wait to get out XC skiing and ice skating!

As I was going through old photos and videos last night I came across lots of great pics of the kids and a picture from 2014 when I did nationals in Milwaukee, WI.  Mikaely is meeting the Bernstein Bears at the book show in Chicago at about age 3 or 4 and Lance is finishing his first triathlon (Batavia Tri) at about age 5.  I'm with Chrissie Wellington at registration where she was signing autographs.  On the bottom is one of my favorites: Michelle Jones (my daughter's name sake) meeting Mikaely Evans at the now defunct Women's Triathlon in Naperville, IL. Mik must be about 1 year old and that was the last year that Michelle Jones raced (She had won Kona the year or two before). Good memories!   

Swimming TT on Wednesday, 12/6

Did a 1650 swimming TT yesterday with a time of 31:07.  That's pretty slow, even for me, but at least it gives me lots of room to improve!