Starting over from scratch

It’s officially the off-season for me, or depending on your point of view the rejuvenation/transition phase of the 2008 triathlon season.

That means it’s time to get "fat", and out of shape.  I’m convinced that doing nothing for 3 weeks after Hawaii accomplished that goal brilliantly.  It also means that as far as training is concerned it’s time to slow down, evaluate where I’m at and enjoy working out.  This next year I’m going to try two new things: execute my run training based on my Daniels’ VDOT, and execute my bike training using similar principles based on power numbers (once I purchase a power meter, until then I’ll be using approximations based on my Kurt Kinetic trainer).

From a running point of view I will likely be running a lot slower in training then I have ever in the past, although there will be times where I will run much faster then ever before in training.  It will definitely be a leap of faith, but I think using a more objective measure in both running and cycling, rather then my subjective feel and desire to be fast will ultimately lead to faster times.  At least that’s the hope.

Yesterday I did a 15k race, my second run since Hawaii.  I did a short 30 minute run the day before because I felt a little nervous about a 15k run being my first run since Hawaii.  It went good.  I crossed in 1:04:17, about 3 minutes faster then I did the same run last year.  This equates to a VDOT in the 49-50 range, so that’s where I’m going to base my training until I do the Turkey Trot 10k in Kenosha in a few weeks.

The paces suggested by that VDOT are depressingly slow – 8:30ish for a long/easy pace!  I haven’t ran that slow in years.  I immediately questioned the brilliance of this plan, until I looked at the equivalent marathon time – 3:12.  Considering my marathon PR is a 3:06, having an VDOT equivalent to a 3:12 (not that I could actually do one that fast now) – and I have logged very little physical activity more strenuous then walking up two flights of stairs to go to bed since Hawaii, I’ll play along.  Plus it’s only three weeks until I do a 10k and can (hopefully) earn the right to train faster.