Crazy vs. Dedicated

We've had our fair share of people call us crazy. But we like to frame our passion as "dedicated." Dedicated . . . to what? To fitness? Why not just take up Yoga and go on a low-fat diet then? Why not just start jogging daily? Why not just make a New Year's Resolution? Why endurance racing?

For one, it's FUN. Once a person has passed that threshold of unfit to fit, from out of shape to in shape, the distances, the workouts, the activity is FUN. We went out on a Christmas Day run for the first time in our workout history. What a blast. We ran the State Park loop (about 2.5 miles), busting through drifts and burning off the holiday energy that had built up after days of cold-weather-induced internment with the three blessings at home. 

It's social. We have the blessing of having several people around us who enjoy the same activities. They like to bike (obnoxious amounts of) miles. They enjoy running (for an hour or more). They voluntarily swim ( lap after lap). Sometimes they do these activities solo, but often they log miles or laps together, pushing each other and smiling along the way, because sometimes a burning chest and pumping heart just feels better with someone else enjoying the misery. 

It's a whole new way to see the world. God made this incredible world, and when we ride bike or run, He shows us things we'd never seen if we sat on a couch or even just rode in the car from one place to the next. We have this cache of "war stories" in a way that prove this theory repeatedly. There's the day that Jason almost hit a deer . . . with his bike. Then there's the time that Jason and two his running buddies helped push a car out of the snow in the local State Park. There's the evening my friend Christine and I were almost hit by another cyclist riding on the left side of the road. He rode right in between us. There's the one summer night that my friend Lori almost hit a skunk with her bike or the early summer morning that I saw one waddle back into its den. We see beautiful sunrises, colorful leaves, and frosty trees. We hear the thump of our feet on pavement, the crunch of snow, and the crackle of dry leaves on the trail. We see, hear, smell, and just experience life in a way different than if we had never laced up our shoes or pumped up our tires. 

It's an adventure. While we'd like to think that every workout is a predictable one, it's not. Fitness allows us to tackle new adventures we never would've dreamed of. And it allows us to dream big too. Take our friend Mathew, for example.

He's a former Marine who moved back to good old Madison, SD after spending much of his tenure in Southern California. He lives to cycle. And he discovered that the cold weather doesn't have to stop him from finding a new adventure, thanks to the invention of fat-tire bikes. Mathew inspires us all to be a little more crazy dedicated. 

It's an accomplishment. We have an entire wall in the basement dedicated to what we've spent the last few years doing. The pictures, the bibs, the medals--they're all these fantastic memories of what we have been blessed to have accomplished. 

With the new year quickly approaching, we Troxells have a few resolutions to implement as we continue in the crazy. The payoff is worth the sacrifice. Stay tuned for Operation Nooga  Nutrition. 

The boring updates: we both continue with our regular workouts. This week we had a first: a swim date. We had a sitter come over the day after Christmas and watch the kids for an hour and a half while we swam. The conclusion: we need to do that more often. We also, for the first time, went on a Christmas Day run. The weather was just too perfect to NOT go for a run. We've both begun to increase our runs this week, and we'll fall into a structured schedule on January 1. I think we're both pretty stoked for the structure. 

Beating the Boredom of Indoor Training

December has brought with it shadows of sugar-laced treats and long, dark days indoors. Cold snap after cold snap persists in our area of the world, with temperatures so low that even we, who have typically run outside all winter long, refuse to put ourselves in harms way. 

When the windchill is nearly -40F, we draw the line. 

At this point in our pre-training, two enemies assault us hard: boring workouts and poor eating habits. The eating habits will resolve themselves in a couple of days when the holiday season has passed and the real training begins. We've heard and briefly experienced the negative reactions that come from fueling poorly, and we've witnessed the positive results of fueling well. Sugar cookies out. Bananas in. 

As for boring workouts, well, it's time to get a little creative. A few different strategies have mitigated the boredom for cycling. Friends, in particular, help pass the time well. I tried to cycle the other day while Jason watched football and the big kids played. That was the longest fifteen minutes of my winter so far. Just two days previous, a friend came over and pedaled beside me. I genuinely think I could've cycled for an hour. It's amazing how just having someone there to visit with can make a big difference. 

Jason also introduced our cycling group to Spinervals, these evil DVDs with a pleasant-sounding man chirping out orders for a group of sweaty, indoor cyclists. The videos range in time, with our longest one currently at a little over an hour. The workouts challenged just about every rider in the group, and the time went FAST. 

I'm also on the lookout for some motivational pictures and sayings. These type of things keep us moving and smiling. After all, if I can't have some fun during a workout, I don't want to do it. We both had big silly grins on our faces when this came in the mail this past weekend:

In November Mr. T., (aka Mr. Media), noticed the group of professional triathletes participating in Movember, a global charity that raises awareness and funds for men's health. These triathletes participated in Movember by growing some (pretty gnarly) mustaches in November. Near the end of the month, the triathletes decided they hadn't raised enough funds, and so in a last-ditch effort, they put together a "Men of Triathlon" calendar to top off their funds. We bit. The pictures were just too hilarious inspiring to not have in the house this long winter season.

I have a feeling that several inspiring pictures and quotes will find themselves in the most unique of places in our home these next few months. But for now, we're reminded daily as we open the fridge of exactly how much time we have left until the big day. Merry Christmas all!

Injuries Happen--Just Deal With It

It started just before Thanksgiving. Many athletes call it a niggle. It starts in the calf, the hamstring, the back--anywhere really. One or two workouts later, a few dozen squats to pick up a toddler, and before a person knows it, the niggle has turned into a full-blown, take-your-breath-away stabbing pain.

At least that's what happened to me.

I woke up Thanksgiving Day with the inability to lift a child inaudibly. Sharp, intense pain hit the middle of my back. I'd heard about these types of injuries, but I thought that certainly they would never happen to me. To make matters more interesting, we had just finished paying the chiropractor's home mortgage for November thanks to some piriformis issues Jason had dealt with (which can be a real pain in the rear). I wasn't about to fork over more for another injury.

Thankfully we have smart people in our circles.

I tried ibuprofen, Tylenol, and heat. When I talked to Mr. Ironman, he told me to try ice three to four times a day and to take Motrin to reduce the inflammation. Oh yes, and do not do anything that makes it hurt, but don't cease activity. Do things that don't hurt.

Now, I know this next part of our little narrative is going to really reveal my ignorance, but if my stupidity can help someone else avoid the same problems, I'll lay it out for the blog-world to see. I never knew that ice could make such a difference on a back injury. I iced religiously for one day and saw remarkable improvement. I kept the regimen up for a few days (not even a week), and the pain disappeared completely. Ice saved my back and my mood.

When I texted Mr. Ironman to say thanks and let him know how I turned out, I expressed my great displeasure for injuries. His response was telling:

"Injuries will happen, Nikki. You need to learn how to deal with them."  (or something like that)

Life lesson after life lesson echo to me as I read this message even now. Setbacks happen. Bad things happen. Life will not be fun sometimes. It hurts. The key to succeeding lies not in (just) avoiding these bad things, but learning how to deal with them. So we do.

Training continues for us all as much (more like as little) as we like in December. We're definitely still low key here with a countdown now on the fridge to remind us that in 285-ish days, we'll find ourselves with arguably the biggest physical challenge we've ever taken on voluntarily. Tuesdays and Thursdays are still bike nights, and Wednesday night is a swim night for Jason. I'm resuming my early-morning swim sessions this week, and we'll both try to find time for runs here and there in the midst of single-digit temperatures.

Christmas certainly will make training more interesting and definitely more fun. More on that next week, though.

Cycling for Hours . . .and Going Nowhere

I'm pretty sure if we had tried to spit outside this week, we would've seen crystalized saliva hit the ground. We saw single digit highs. I have often surmised the ridiculous nature of calling "0" high, but I digress.




Tuesday Night's Boy Bike Crew (pic credits go to five-year-old Sammy on the couch)

Training here continues to stay inside for the most part. We find ourselves blessed with a treadmill, bikes with indoor trainers, and an indoor pool just minutes from our house. Other than the obligations of real life like the laundry that grows exponentially with each workout not to mention the never-ending season of potty training and the occasional stomach flu, we have no real excuse to not workout despite the weather.

We've had inquiries about indoor trainers and their idiosyncrasies. They vary so much, and we're learning along with the masses of people who find themselves stymied by lousy weather, domestic obligations, or environmental hazards, that they offer a great alternative to pedaling outside. Our knowledge is limited by our research. Here's what we do know :

Trainers limit our excuses to squeeze in a bike ride. We've taken on a trainer before 6am and after 10pm before, depending on our schedules. I've ridden while our then-three-year-old colored a massive Dora picture right next to me, and JT has packed the trainer up so he could fit an easy spin into a hotel room and stay loose the day before a race. It really is a marvelous piece of machinery.

Trainers vary in price and style as much as any other piece of equipment. My first trainer was a magnetic trainer, purchased for under $150. It's one of the least fancy pieces of equipment out there, but it's so functional that I still use it. We have a friend with a fluid trainer, which goes up in price a bit beyond the magnetic, but it's equally as functional and arguably quieter. One of the higher end trainers, a Computrainer, actually connects to a laptop and not only provides feedback but also allows a rider to take on a specific course. In the course of a few months, a cyclist can ride anywhere from Germany to the Tour de France to Ironman Florida's course. The trainer provides varying levels of resistance to mimic the hills in a given course.

Really, the choice of what to purchase depends on a cyclist's goals from what we can tell. If a person wants to just ride and get a workout in, keeping his legs and rear conditioned, then a magnetic trainer does the job nicely. Jason found a nifty deal on Amazon for one about a month ago when mine appeared to be headed downhill. The coffee addict he is, he figured he would have to give up a couple weeks of java love to pay for it. I'll let you do the math.

The uber-serious cyclist who loves numbers and wants to improve his efficiency and has some extra cash lying around would definitely benefit from the fancy compu-trainer. I'm not sure if we qualify in any of those areas except for maybe the desire to improve efficiency. Still, Jason found a way to purchase a compu-trainer a couple of years ago. We've never regretted this purchase, and neither have the friends who have hooked their bikes up to this trainer on an occasional basis.

We obviously have a love for our trainers unlike any other piece of equipment. With days like we've had lately, witnessing windchills of -35 degrees Fahrenheit, our trainers have not only offered us a chance to ride our bikes, but they've given us some wonderful endorphin releases and prevented a little cabin fever that happens so easily this time of year. Our kids thank us for them as well.

And, as you may know from previous posts, they offer us a social outlet unlike any other, when friends with bikes and trainers sidle up next to us for a while in the evening. Sure, the room stinks when we're all done, but we're all a little happier.

I apologized to a fellow cyclist who came over to ride a couple of weeks ago for being irritable. Her response: "I understand. You have three little kids, and that's hard. Plus, you were a different person after about ten minutes on your bike."

Yep, trainers, they're saving us (and our kids) in so many ways.

295 days . . .

Holiday Blahs: We Cut 'Em Off at the Pass

Early on in this crazy life of working out I learned to cut the holiday blahs off at the pass. Five years ago shortly after we moved to this little community, a friend and I started hanging out at our local Community Center. We discovered contests the fitness director created. One in November particularly whet our appetites for fun: Holiday Survivor.

Basically, the contest went as such: all contestants received a list of tasks to complete over two weeks. We completed the tasks, signed off on them, and handed our sheet of torturous activities in. Then at the beginning of the next cycle, we'd receive another set of tasks. Every cycle, the tasks increased in difficulty. We went from "walk or run three miles" to "swim 50 laps in the pool with no assistance (no pull buoys or fins)."  The once-benevolent trainer who ran the contest turned a little invasive and Nazi-like on us when he began to toy with our nutrition. He started throwing things in like, "No sweets." What?! And "no snacks after 8pm except low-fat yogurt or veggies." If we did not complete the tasks, we were "kicked off the island" so to speak and went back to life as we knew it. The contest persisted until only one "survivor" remained.

This little exercise (which incidentally lasted until February) taught me a really important lesson: use holiday time wisely. It isn't just about sipping eggnog by the fire (though we do that at our house too), but it's about using the extra time to keep moving and "get after it" as my role model Carrie Tollefson would say.

So that's what this long weekend looked like for us. We had the following activities in the midst of the typical turkey/dressing/pie festival:

Tuesday: spin with the spin group in the basement
Wednesday: JT's regular 9pm swim; Nikki strength training at home and swimming with the kids (yes, this was a workout)
Thursday: Nikki's solo 5K trot in the early AM; couples spin with some friends at 8:30pm
Friday: 8am swim for Nikki; Jingle-Bell 5K for Nikki with friends in the evening
Saturday: 9am swim for Nikki; long-run for Jason with friends
Sunday: spin for both in the basement

All of this either took place or will take place in the midst of enjoying a holiday family gathering on Thursday, attending a parade of lights with friends on Friday, spending time with family on Saturday afternoon, and going to church and Christmas program practice on Sunday.

There's one more thing to note: we did NONE of these workouts alone (except Nikki's 5K on Thanksgiving morning, but that was to retain some sanity after potty-training all week). As they should be in the off season, every single workout was a social workout. I seriously don't know what we'd do without our friends and each other. Working out would be a sad, solo affair.

I'm excited to see what the next four weeks of holiday fun will bring us. We have our own busy-ness with work, church, and family obligations. And furthermore, we plan on some pretty purposeful family time. It should be a fun, FUN season. Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Cold-Weather Running: Ain't Nothing Gonna Stop This Bus

Winter has finally arrived here in Madison, South Dakota, and I think it's going to stay. The snow started falling before Halloween, but last week we saw some of those nose-hair-freezing lows that call for all-night fires in the fireplace.

We learned to run outside regardless of the weather a long time ago. Call us a little crazy, but few meteorological circumstances will make us miss an outdoor long run with friends. We usually log an outdoor run once a week on the weekend. Our daytime jobs force us back to the dreadmill on weekdays. When a person leaves for work in the dark and returns home in the dark, he doesn't really have much of a choice, which is why we value those outdoor runs with friends so much.



this past Sunday's cold-weather crew

JT's first 5K took place November 25, 2010. Historical records say the high was 19 degrees and the low was 2 degrees with wind around 10 mph. We ran a Turkey Trot in Mitchell, SD with several layers and much determination. Jason's second 5k was on January 8, 2011, and the average temperature was 12 degrees. So we cut our teeth pretty early on winter running. And we've learned many things along the way. Here's some of the wisdom we've gained over the last three years of winter running:

1. Layers are your friends. You can always shed one if you need to.
2. If you're comfortable outside in the clothes you're wearing before you start running, you're wearing too much. Take off a layer. You're going to warm your body up running, remember.
3. Run with the wind. You're not trying to squeeze in a resistance workout in the winter. You're trying to run outside and get a little vitamin D. Around here wind is a huge factor. Rarely do we have a day without even a breeze, and more often than not, wind contributes to the real-feel temperature. One of my girlfriends and I have driven out of town just so we could run a point-to-point with the wind (and then the one with a vehicle in town gave the other a ride back out to the stranded car.)
4. Keep your head, hands, and feet warm. They act as the temperature regulators. If I'm too warm when I'm running in cold weather, I'll start to cool down by stripping my gloves off first. It's amazing how much heat can be released (and held in) just with gloves.
5. Use sweat-wicking materials. The dryer you stay, the warmer you stay. I prefer cuddle-duds, which came out with an athletic form of their under gear a couple of years ago. Jason and the dudes seem to really like UnderArmour's cold gear. Whatever it takes, a base layer can make a huge difference in staying warm and dry.
6. Anticipate a slower pace. My running buddy and I noticed the slow pace this past week, and we rationalize that our bodies are working hard to stay warm, so they can't run fast. Plus we're running in several layers of clothes, and the joints just don't move as fast with that much material.
7. Fuel up with warm liquids ahead of time. I learned this last year. I started drinking a cup of warm chicken broth before a particularly cold outdoor run. Basically, my thought was to try to cut the cold off at the pass by starting out with a warm core. It worked well for me as I trained for a marathon in particularly cold weather last spring (we had snow on the ground until May!).
8. Stay off the icy patches, but if you're running in light snow or slightly icy weather, wear some kind of gear on your shoes. We are big fans of Yak tracks, sold at the nearby gas station for the local ice fishermen. They work fantastically in helping us run with a little more confidence.
9. Strip as soon as you get home. You'll be wet, and the cold will catch up with you.

I'm sure other people have their methods for staying warm, but these things have kept us pretty comfortable throughout the past three winters, some of which were real doozies. Because our neck of the woods only sees about eight to nine hours of daylight this time of year, we value whatever time outside we can get. Maybe that's why we'd rather just bundle up and listen to the crunch of the snow under our feet than the thump of our shoes on the dreadmill. The temperature rarely factors into the decision of if we're going to run or not. It just determines our wardrobe.

On other news, JT finished up his treatment at the local chiropractor and is seeing gradual improvement (and increased feeling) in his hip and leg. I'm still finding my groove with my eye on January, knowing we're going to have to get much more serious and structured. For some reason, the turn of the calendar makes me feel like discipline is far more in our grasp at that time. I can't imagine planning this journey all alone, that's for sure. Having someone else in the house with the same goals, well, there's just no comparison to it. Triathlon, for us, is a team sport.

Stay warm all!

Year Round Group Riding . . . South Dakota Style

When my parents had little kids, I remember them shooing us up to bed with the promise of an unpleasant consequence should we dare venture down the stairs and back towards their domicile. On many a cold, snowy South Dakota night we would hear cars and pickups pull up and the laughter of neighbors fill the first floor of our farm house. When we felt especially brave, my sister and I would slowly sneak down the stairs with the hope of getting a peak of the card party Mom and Dad often held to maintain their sanity.

Meet our card club
 

Tuesday and Thursday night, we put our kids to bed with similar promises, and then our friends sneaked into the house and crept into the basement with their bicycles and trainers, and we threw down some winter miles, South Dakota style.

I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad's people didn't wear spandex or smell quite like ours, but the intentions are all the same. We laughed. We visited. We rebooted. We brought our own drinks.

I'm pretty sure we would all agree with one thing: miles on a trainer go much faster when there are people to train with. We're hoping to make this a routine with regular rides on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the basement . When we bought this place five years ago, neither one of us could've imagined using our space for this, but it's well worth it.

As far as the rest of training goes, we're still inching our way back to the normal we want to be at. Jason has found some great relief from the PT the local chiropractor is giving his piriformis, and I'm just about done with the second monster cold of the season. I'm planning on sucking on an orange every day until April and wearing a mask around the walking petri dishes we call children. Yeah right.

Meantime, we'll continue to find some element of solace regardless of the weather in knowing we can spin and sweat with people who love to do the same thing.

Focus on the Now

Blogging this journey has forced me to reflect on a weekly basis as to a) what we're doing with ourselves physically and b) what lessons we're learning as we prepare for next September (which feels like an eternity away). So .  . . here goes with the lessons and the cataloguing for this week:

 First, the cataloguing. I hit the pool a few times this week, biked, and lifted. JT swam and biked, and then he doctored. A night-time swim session left him with a numb leg, and the people-smarter-than-us told him he needed to seek some treatment.

One chiropractor visit, some x-rays, and some kind of funky electronic treatment led to the discovery that his pelvis and his back didn't line up. He said the x-rays pics were revealing and interesting to say the least. The chiropractor also gave him pretty strict orders to do nothing this weekend--no biking, no running, and no swimming.

Rest came pretty easily to him considering we are away visiting family for the weekend. So the foam roller took the place of the running shoes in the back of our beloved Ellie (the family vehicle). JT's biggest nemesis is the seat of the SUV he had to sit in for 700 miles. And this is where we once again thank God for small children. They can't sit for 700 miles either. So we stop. A lot. And we do laps around the vehicle at toddler/pre-school pace.

 Now, about those lessons . . .

 I keep thinking that triathlon--all the training, the awards, the finish line--has zero value if we can't take something away that helps us in the life that really matters.

 Several  times when I am in the middle of a workout, I cannot help but fast forward and put myself churning along in the Tennessee River or somewhere on a Georgia road gliding along in aero or pounding some pavement in Chattanooga.

 And then I stop.

The fear that ensures, moreso than the curiosity, has the potential to paralyze me mentally. And to press on, to endure a painful experience, we must focus on the now. Looking ahead does little good, save avoiding pitfalls that might lie ahead. But if we're in a place where we do not know the future, then looking ahead is a futile act.

 Insert real-life lesson here.

 When in the middle of a painful experience, we need to focus on the benefits, the now. Looking ahead does little good except to know that the pain will not last forever. 

 I read last week a profound quote by Teddy Roosevelt: "“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

Ironman and triathlon in general puts us in a place of effort, pain, and difficulty. It forces us to grow, to overcome an uncomfortable position. My hope is that someday, maybe even now, that we'll overcome uncomfortable positions because of this training.

 
For now, we're dealing with discomfort of a sore hip and just general inactivity. And yes, that is uncomfortable. Time to focus.

Off Season--Time Management Practice

We often get the a repeated question when those who don't know our OCD tendencies find out we both tackle endurance events: how do you find the time to do that?

(Before I go on, let me say we're no expert. All things I share in the blog are just simply how we do what we do. We don't do it perfectly, but it's how we're functioning (and succeeding to a degree) right now. Now, back to the question--how do we find time?)

I have one answer: spreadsheets.

I'm beginning to see the off-season as not only a time to practice our base building but also to practice time management. I've long acquiesced to the color-coded-spreadsheet method of managing time. It began quite innocently in college when I realized the amount of studying required for my perfectionist-personality to feel fulfilled. So I budgeted my time. Little did I know how this would prepare me for life as we know it today.

Much of managing time with two triathletes that have real jobs and three (awesome, little) kids in the house means using the time that we have creatively. When we started off-season training, we coordinated schedules. For us, that means we emailed each other what we'd individually like to accomplish each day, and then we compromised. Obviously we can't both go swimming at 5:45am. Someone needs to stay with the sleeping children. So we take turns, and in the end, four to five mornings a week, a Troxell is splashing around before 7am at the local pool. Just about every day will find one of us being the mom or the dad while the other one completes some sort of focused workout.

We've also learned that managing time means not whining about the restrictions life has on us now but instead embracing the blessings. Jason's job requires him to clock in by 7am four days a week. Then he sits in a cube until at least 5:30pm with a 30-minute lunch break. This type of schedule, however, affords him the blessing of a three-day-weekend every week.

My job is fairly flexible. I work from home, and while I do have some non-negotiable set hours, the rest of my work can take place when it works on the spread sheet (but it has to still go on the spreadsheet so the works gets done).

With that said, we basically both have the three-day-weekend to work with. And we capitalize on that as much as possible. Right now I'm swimming and running on Fridays, biking Saturday, and running long on Sunday. JT is swimming on Fridays, biking long on Saturdays, and running long on Sundays. In between time, we recover by hanging out with awesome kids and having them drive toy trucks on our sore legs and backs.

This upcoming week will really test the spreadsheet. October has expired along with Jason's self-imposed "off time." He jumped back on the wagon Friday morning with a mile swim and will continue long ride and long run this weekend (after a Christmas light-hanging and one last mowing session).

One more thing: I've learned that much of managing time is also recognizing that we simply cannot do everything we want to. We need to prioritize. After all, some things just do not fit onto the spreadsheet. Meet No-TV-November. I'm unplugging social media (for the most part) and the television for the month for myself. The peace that comes with the quiet evening is better than I could've imagined. More on that some other time, though.

Basically, for us time management means using the time we have to accomplish the tasks that we want to. We have three little kids and jobs that require 40 hours a week (and sometimes more). We still need to eat, do laundry, and keep the domicile maintained. Thankfully, it's winter and the off season, so we're not talking about a five-hour workout right now. We're just talking about finding time for an hour-bike ride here and there or a 45-minute swim.

We do not claim or pretend to have time management figured out, not by a long shot. We do know what works for us. The biggest key to succeeding at working out and having a spouse who does the same is simply being willing to compromise and know that you have each other's best interest at heart. It also might mean going to bed at night and setting the alarm an hour earlier than normal.

Balance--Part 1

Tackling one more "short" run with my favorite running buddies in our favorite running spot: I can barely believe we get to run in beautiful scenery like this. Go South Dakota!

Much of what we accomplish at our house has to do with balance. And this off season in particular feels like practice for what looks like a really busy summer in 2014. But first it means figuring out what we need to be doing now and then doing it.

Yesterday I talked to one of our experienced friends and a trainer--Mr. Ironman himself. He has completed a handful of Ironmans and qualified for the World Championship three different times. We call him Yoda (for obvious reasons). Here's what I learned:

Offseason looks a little different for Mr. T. and myself right now simply because we have had different on-seasons. Mr. T. completed four half ironman distance races (70.3 miles each), while I ran a marathon. In June. Let's just say my summer looked more like an offseason than a race season. My "base" just simply doesn't exist. 

So we have different goals right now: Mr. T. needs to dial down, take a break, and give his mind and body a chance to recover; I need to build a base, which, according to both Yoda and the other experienced people in my life, means frequent but short sessions biking and swimming with running and strength training mixed in. This means a high frequency of my weaknesses with a focus on technique the entire time versus just putting some junk mileage in. So instead of a few medium-length workouts, I changed my schedule to include several short-length workouts.

Nutrition makes up the fourth discipline of triathlon, or so the experienced athletes say. In the world of triathlon, when people say "nutrition," they're basically referring to two different things: what they consume during a race and training session, and what they consume in regular life. Race and training nutrition do not matter at this point in the season, and I wondered about everyday nutrition as well. At this point in the conversation, a melody like the hallelujah chorus came from Yoda's end of the phone: don't worry about it right now. Clean it up after Christmas.

It's nice to know that Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners won't suffer from our absence.

This doesn't mean that we shun vegetables and ingest all things batter-dipped-and-deep-fried. But it does mean we don't feel guilty for the occasional cookie (or Jason's seasonal kryptonite: corn candy). As with all of this lifestyle, this fourth discipline rests on the concept of balance.

Last weekend also illustrated most likely how we'll accomplish training in season come May. On Friday early afternoon, with a boatload of my income-earning work to do, I left home. I retreated for an evening and a day to a secret place where no small children could bother me, and I came home with the weight of the world off my shoulders and a smile on my face (and arguably a better mom and wife as a result). Jason, meanwhile, uncharacteristically let the kids take over the house. He had important things to do as well: Kona was happening. I came home so relaxed that the toy debris scattered from one end to the other did not unravel my nerves. I had accomplished some great things.

Additionally, taking a break away from home made pumpkin painting the next night that much more enjoyable with the little blessings. Family time definitely feeds us more when we have other things we've taken care of first, and I couldn't have taken care of the income-earning job without Mr. T.'s sacrifice of time as well.

I am pretty sure this kind of give-and-take relationship has brought us the success we've had so far as parents, spouses, and athletes. And I anticipate this give-and-take relationship will help us survive and conquer hard training days come next summer. At this point I cannot imagine tackling such a big dream alone. The added bonus is I get to share it with my best friend.

Painful Reminders

Ouch. That's really the best way to describe this week. Mr. T. began the week unable to sleep thanks to nagging pain in his hip. I began the week wanting to do nothing but sleep thanks to the bug the little blessings are passing around the house.

We each treated our maladies accordingly. After realizing I was no longer nursing or carrying a baby, I indulged in the treat of over the counter cold medicine for the first time in six years. Words cannot describe the relief that this little white pill brought. Oh how I've missed you, OTC cold meds.

Mr. T.'s remedy didn't come quite as painlessly. I'm pretty sure he'd welcome relief in the form of a white pill. Instead, he nearly shed a few tears and stifled curse words as he lay on the simple but effective foam roller. For those who've never used the device before, just do this: dust off your rolling pin, put it on the ground, and then sit on it with the meatiest part of your butt. Roll your rear over it, repeatedly. You might just cry too.

Seeing Jason's red grimacing face reminded me so much of where we've come from. Jason didn't start running until about three years ago. In fact, he would say that his biggest activities consisted of toting a gun around in search of some kind of game to shoot. And that only lasted for a few afternoons a year. Then we had the second little blessing, took some family pictures, looked at ourselves in the family pictures, and he remembered that he didn't like what he saw. So he did something about it. He started walking. Then he ran in between his walks. Then he stopped drinking Mountain Dew. He had me plate his food so he wouldn't over eat. His pants got looser. His belts needed extra holes. And he dropped fifty pounds. It was so cool to watch until he sustained an injury. Several sessions of physical therapy along with the same red, grimacing face led to relief and more knowledge about how to treat piriformis syndrome, otherwise known as a sore butt.

Incidentally, I saw Jason's physical therapist at the kids' swimming lesson this week. When I asked her about home remedies for the same problem, she basically told me she thought Mr. T. just wanted me to give him a good rear rub. I'm no sadist, so I'll just leave the PT up to Jason and the foam roller.

The Beginning (and the End)

Last Sunday marked the beginning and end of something (I want to say an era, because that sounds so nice, but really, we have no eras yet in our short lives) for us: good bye 2013 season, and hello off season!

Mr. T. finished his fourth (and final) 70.3 race for 2013 while the kids and I held down the fort. He ended with his best finishing time yet, and he had nothing but exhausted smiles for everyone upon his return home, knowing he had met his goals for the summer. We all proudly welcomed him home and all but held a parade in his honor.

Our trainer-friends, the experienced ironmen, tell us we need to take some sort of an offseason to a) let our bodies and minds heal from the regular season and b) find a hunger to workout harder in the next season. Usually this kind of non-activity drives Mr. T. a little crazy (which in turns drives the rest of the Troxells a little crazy), but he mitigated this stir crazy feeling a little by pushing himself hard on his last race. Consequently, he woke up walking like an old man the day after the race, and several days passed before the muscle soreness subsided. Let's just say working out did not appeal to him.

Other than his weekly gab & swim session late Wednesday night, Jason spent the week playing with and watching awesome kids (in between the income-earning job sessions).

The off season offers a bunch of opportunities that regular training sessions won't, and I personally am looking forward to them. It means shorter regular sessions to begin base building for me, and as many "social workouts" to keep connecting with those who share the same love.

Oh yeah, and it means trying a few new recipes as well. We received a gift in the mail today from one of our triathlete friends who happens to be a trained chef (and an aspiring IM himself). Looks like I have some cooking to do in the new few months. :-)

One Year From Today . . .

we, two parents of three (awesome but little) children will dive into (semi-murky) river water and attempt to do something neither of us has ever done before. (I'm wondering if we'll ever want to do it again.) We'll tackle an Ironman and hopefully hear coveted words when we cross the finish line (separately several hours apart).

Some people call us crazy. I've even heard the word "selfish" tossed around in our more remote circles. We like to frame this experience as ambitious (and completely do-able).

It began with a Facebook message from a friend we've never met in person but with whom we share a couple of common loves . "Hey, some of us are thinking about doing Ironman Chattanooga. We thought it would be fun to finally meet you two. What do you think?" That was the gist of it anyway. Three weeks of discussion followed. Mr. T. has done several half-ironmans, and thanks to the three little blessings in our lives, I've had a truncated career as an amateur with single-year hiatuses when my workouts consisted of basically sustaining life. I carry more of a running mantle with a marathon and a handful of halfs under my belt. So a full-on 140.6-mile race makes me quake in my spandex. And that's not a pretty picture.  

September 6 came with great pomp at our house and two items on the calendar: the five-year-old's first day of kindergarten, and sign up for IM Chattanooga. We kissed the five-year-old goodbye, wiped our tears, and headed off to our individual offices to work for a few hours until registration opened. At 11:03 I received the text from Mr. T.: "I'm in!" I finished mine seconds later and received the coveted confirmation email. Within minutes we discovered from our friends what many aspiring IMCH participants discovered: registration filled . . . in three minutes.
 

We still often ask each other how we both got in. But we don't question it too long because, after all, we have some work to do now. The offseason has begun, which means swapping workout times for now and watching JT (from afar) complete his last Half IM of the season.  

We anticipate nothing short of a challenge next summer as we begin the official training. In the meantime, we're loving on the blessings just a little more and mentally figuring how we can workout and still maintain a family life. More of that to come. In the meantime, only 365 days . . .