Stepping Forward

So, Here I am. Trying to figure out how to lay out next season. How do I best set myself up for success? So many different directions one can go, and right now I'm pretty much frozen in fear of making the wrong choice. The truth is I'll probably be fine no matter what direction I go if I put in consistent work, and also lose most of my extra weight. Yet, it seems like such a make or break kinda call.

I guess the first step is to not really have an off-season. While most people just dial it down a few notches over the winter I have a bad habit of dropping training too much, and then spending months and months trying to re-gain ground. I already feel like I've been entirely too inactive already even though Ironman was a mere 6 weeks ago. I've done a few runs, and a few swims, and sad to admit I have not even been on the bike long enough to wipe off the Power-Bar-Perform drink off the handlebars from Ironman. Sticky!

So, I am looking into all of my options. There is one thing for sure this year though is I'm going to listen to my gut and not feel guilty about adjusting things along the way. I've had good advice from good people, but one thing I think I've confirmed is I'm not your typical athlete. I have a very a-typical background, and maybe that requires not so typical of a plan.

Step one though is making weight loss a rather large focus. This is the time of year to do that. You would think one would lose tons of weight training for an Ironman, but for most people, especially females, it just doesn't happen that way. There is lots of "fueling" for 6 hour bike rides and 3 hour runs, and you have recovery nutrition to worry about, and your body is generally hungry. It's not impossible to do it later in the season, but doing it now sure makes life easier.

So tonight I ordered a bodybugg. I've used one in the past but I somehow lost mine. It's one of the best tools I've used for keeping track of a deficit.  It's rather eye opening to see how much one does NOT move around in a day until you see it all graphed out in front of you. In the past it's been useful for trying to make sure I keep active when I'm NOT exercising... and therefore burning a lot of calories throughout the day. It's just a tool... but a useful little bugger.

I have a lot to post about in the future. A little about my weight loss history, my race reports from my two "Almost-Ironmans", and Oh yeah... and there was that little race I did 2 weeks ago called the Chicago Marathon... A race which I didn't even know I was doing until a handful of weeks beforehand!