Winter Blues....

Being a New Englander definitely has its ups and downs, but come this time of season, I just can’t wait for the warmer weather to arrive and to finally start swimming and biking outside again. There is nothing more torturous than swimming in the pool and following that black line at bottom of pool or riding your bike on a trainer inside for hours on end. These past few weeks here in Massachusetts have been horrible; snow, sleet, rain and ice all within the same week preventing me from getting my miles in on the road where I really prefer to run rather than on a stationary treadmill at the gym. There is nothing more fulfilling than running outside and exploring areas that have yet to be seen. With that said these past few weeks of training have been tiring, overwhelming and less desirable. So yesterday instead of getting on the trainer at my apartment I decided to do a spin class at the gym yesterday. Talk about a way to mix things up. It was definitely what I needed to hopefully get out of this training slump I seem to be experiencing and hopefully get me back on the road to more worthwhile training. It also hasn’t helped that my IT band has been acting up and preventing me from running at my full potential. My runs have been less than desirable running at a 7:15 + per mile pace which is far from my potential. My training runs are usually done at 6:15 per mile pace + or – depending on the route I run with my race pace much better than that.

On a more positive note, my triathlon group, TriFury, is hosting its 2nd Winter Clinic this Sunday, Feb. 17 in Methuen, MA at the Guest House Suites. Why something to look forward? Jarrod Shoemaker, 2008 USA Olympic Team Qualifier will be stopping by for a speech along with Candy Angle, 2002 World Champion Xterra Triathlete along with some other guest speakers from the area. I’ll fill everyone in on how it went.