Welcome to my 2nd Annual Base Building Extravaganza!

Looking over the last two months in my online training log at www.beginnertriathlete.com (BT), I noticed something that became quite evident to me on yesterday's 5k run.

Sucking air should not come at 11:30 minute miles while running on the most perfect of fall days in my favorite city to run in... unless I am running a half marathon. Certainly not in a 5k unless I am red lining... which I was at 189 BPM... at 11:30 minute miles... for real.

Somehow, someway (yet again might I add) I got way off track in my training and I need to find my way back.

ACK!

Sure, I ran two half marathons, the Detroit Relay and a 5k in the meantime. However... I ran on those four days and only those four days.

I have been ACTIVE, but not CONSISTENT. And I will be the preacher to out-preach all other preachers on this one folks. CONSISTENCY... is king.

One of the nice features of the training logs on BT is that they are color coded. White = no activity, yellow = blog with no activity, peach = tri related workout, dark peach = sports activities, and green = race.

I hate seeing the colors of inconsistency and laze. White = nothing, a void. Not good. Yellow is at least better than white in that you thought about something, even if you did not do it. Looking at the logs of the good little triathletes, you see peachy goodness all around.

L9ooking at my logs you see peachy goodness until September then I apparently decided to go on a hiatus and only race on weekends. Or rather, every few weekends.

Breaking down in only the way a numbers nerd such as myself can, September looked light... 13 days of training, 7 days of blogging, and 10 days of nothing.

Awesome.

October looked worse... this month only 3 squares were colored. 1 yellow, and 2 green - my half marathons. Nothing more.

Not a stupendous effort, yet I yeilded two personal records in the half marathon distance. Two!

November, however, now that is a different story. November has only had 1 official day pass and it is peach. Today will be day 2 and it too will be peach. My goal is for 30 colored squares, all of which peach.

Run, swim, bike, weights all count. Every single day I will do something this month.

I am now officially in the "off" season. But this does not mean rest and taking breaks. Oh no... actually this is the part of the season when I work hardest.

Last year around this time I embarked on a super base building extravaganza to make sure that I was ready for my 2009 season. Now while that season went down in a big flying heap of rediculousness, it was not due to my lack of base building.

In fact quite the opposite. I am still feeling the positive effects of putting so much into my base last winter, nearly a whole year later.

I am definitely stronger than I have ever been. I am faster in running than I have ever been. My swimming is stronger than ever and I ended the season faster as well. Only my cycling took a dip in speed however my strength and endurance has risen off the charts.

So this "off" season, or rather the 2nd Annual Base Building Extravaganza, I am focusing on three distinct things.

"Weight-ing around"
Weight loss to get healthier, as well as adding strength training back into my regime. Muscle is good and I am a very muscular person by nature so why fight it, right?

"Consistency is king"
I need to be more consistent in my training. And not only in running and cycling, but in swimming. I tend to go all out, burn out and then fizzle out. Not this year. I am going to start a solid swimming focused routine in November, switching to bike focused in December, then focusing on running in January.

I will be swimming, biking and running each week every month, but I need to spend some time honing in on different skill sets in each sport and alternating the focus will help keep the fruits of my labor on the other activities, while creating new fruit in the focus sport.

Or something along those lines. ;)

And, finally:

"Balance Act"
Finding balance with home life, my life, and work. It is an art form really. It shall happen.


I like looking at my 2nd Annual Base Building Extravaganza as an opportunity to learn new things, bond with new friends over new activities and take lessons into the new year.

While I am happy that 2009 is coming to a close, I am happier about the next leg of this journey. 2010 is the start of not only the next decade... but in the next chapter of my life.

What a wonderful chapter this is going to be... I can just feel it!

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