Dilemma Continues

24 hours later and still thinking about next season. I feel I need some early season races of some sort for motivation to train. I find it too easy to take time off. With my genetics I can gain weight quickly-- well, that and the fact I have little self-control with eating. Training consistently lets me get away with that, but the off-season can be dangerous for me.

I could think about increasing my running this winter and spring and enter some road races. I would really love to run some indoor track races but not sure if there are any divisions for me. The indoor track meets at the University of Washington are mostly college kids and some really fast post-collegiates. In my mind I feel I can compete with them, but the reality is probably not. I've haven't trained just for running in 5 years. I wonder if my body would hold up with a big increase in running volume and intensity? Possibly, if I did it sensibly. But body holding up, and being competitive at a mile or 3km or 5km is a whole other factor.

I guess I have a little time to think about it. But, like I said, I could use some motivation to train. When I was planning on doing Oceanside 70.3, my coach, Kainoa, and I decided that I would increase my base training on my own in December, and she would write formal workouts for me starting January 1st.

I did get to the gym on Wednesday- it felt really good to lift a little and I swam easy for about 15 min-- the first since my Kona swim 5 weeks ago. Today, I have that "good" soreness in my chest and arms from lifting. I've been trying a little yoga since Hawaii also which I really like. I haven't done a class yet- just some home DVD's. I finally got a Seattle Public Library card with the goal of checking out more Yoga DVD's. They have a fairly decent collection but they all have large waiting lists. I'm 15th on one queue, 19th on another. If everyone holds onto them for the allowed 2 weeks, then it'll be summer '08 before I'll be touching my toes. One video did come in on Wednesday: Yoga for Beginners. Perfect. But I suppose it won't make me strong and limber until I watch it and try it. Plus, I need to get it back to the library so I'm not one of "those" holding onto a DVD for the full 2 weeks.