Mediocre start to the new year…

My motivation wasn’t on the top in the first week of 2010, but it is coming back slowly. Motivation at this time of the year also has to come from within. And when I look outside I do not get more motivated! Freezing temperatures, slippery roads and snow… Come on… Not my cup of tea. Had planned a short tempo run today, but it felt like -15 degrees. This weekend they say it will feel like -20 degrees... Also went to the beach today with the family dog… That must go into my personal history as the coldest experience in my life…

I hope and I plan to get close to 18 hours of effective training in the book this week, so it is not the worst possible start to the year. When my motivation isn’t fantastic, then I am disciplined enough to always get in close to 1½ hours of training, and I should get out of the first week with a good feeling.

My swimming has been going decently. I will end up swimming 4-5 hours this week, which is around four times more, than at the same time last year... My technique has not been great, but I am working hard on it, and I am definitely improving. My head is still moving too much, but it is not easy to change such an important part of your body. I also have the problem, that I can’t use my snorkel everywhere, as the swimming pools lifeguards doesn’t allow it for some reason. And the snorkel is the best training tool to keep your head steady and heading forward. But I should be able in the future to get in a pool at least once a week, where I can use my snorkel.

I am not riding outside on the road at all this time a year. And to be honest then it is to me a waste of time. I will rather do 1-2 hours hard inside, than the same hours outside freezing my ash off, which will keep my body cold the rest of the year... I sincerely take my hat off to the athletes, who ride outside this time of year, but that will never be me. To me that is not quality training. But that is one of the reasons why triathlon is so fascinating – there is not one way to do it – there is not one specific recipe – there are endless ways of training methods and paths to choose to get yourself in the most optimum condition and to continuously keep you motivated – and which by the end hopefully will make you peak at your top priority race.

I do have some MTB sessions plan for next week, and that should be a good change to the indoor sessions. But it will depend on the weather. I was in the forest yesterday doing some post bike running with poles. That was bloody hard and the surface is difficult to run on at the moment. The ground has completely turned into ice, and then there is snow on top of that, which makes it hard to use the poles to get a grip in the surface. But without the poles it would probably be almost impossible. I will do 45 minutes indoor tomorrow on the ellipse trainer and am hoping for some more running with poles on Sunday, which will be top priority.

I am almost done deciding on my 2010 season schedule. It will probably include one massive change to what I initially had planned. My main target will for sure still be Ironman Germany. But I may change the rest of the schedule, but I want to be absolutely sure. It is also important for my training, my motivation and my race visualizing, that I have a pretty good idea, which races I will do. So by the end of the month I will have made a final decision.