Training is all over the board right now. I parted ways with my coach in mid-November and have been “winging” it since. A break from structured training is very welcomed but I am ready have some structure focus and start working toward 2015.
I have been running nearly every day but sometimes 20 min and other times 90 min. All in the trails with the dogs and often with John- some days easy and others we race to the finish. It was great for a few weeks but now I have some deep fatigue in my legs and they are heavy and not too responsive, so the joy is not quite there. My brain and body tell me time to back off…. Which I have significantly.
With that the NCC swim challenge has begun and I logged 22,500 yards last week and have a realistic goal of 80,000 yards this month and a reach goal of 100,000, BUT it is Thursday of week 2 and I have only logged 6000 due to travel. So…. If can pull off a BIG swim weekend I am back on track, which I can. Riding is coming back too….I have returned to the weekly GWL and it has been humbling…but had a few good days out there. Only riding 2x a week right now and that is fine for now, but that needs to and will ramp up sooner than later.
And with 2, yes 2 new bikes coming!!! I will be riding a lot…. New bike sponsor Cervelo and the deal was just too good to pass us. So I have a rocking new P3 with Di2 and a new road bike coming any day now. Yeah baby…. Sold my Felt on eBay for a great price so cannot complain there.
I spent the last few weeks interviewing new coaches.
1- I know I need a coach
2- I like to see how other coaches coach
3- I need a different approach- at 48 if I want to continue to approve we need to mix it up, really attack my running and get my cycling back to where it was. My cycling has slipped in the last 2 years and that I cannot afford. 2014 was about returning to Ironman and racing successfully, which I did in Canada, but 2015 is about reaching my potential.
4- With my last coach I did not thoroughly interview coaches and made a decision based on what a few people said, what I had “heard” and what I wanted to believe.
a. Don’t get me wrong- I had a great season but there is more to triathlon than results for me anyway) It is about a relationship.
b. It is a relationship and needs to feel right to both parties
5- This time I took the time to really figure out what I need from a coach, what kind of coach I am looking for and did some research. I asked each coach the same questions, asked for references (this was key) and then did some recon on my own. I had dialog for a few weeks with random questions, comments etc. to see who was also a good personality match. It was pretty easy and I am excited!!
So decision made! We “officially” start Dec 15 but have already engaged in some really good dialog, went through my 2015 race season and I filled out the longest form ever. 16 pages of background information – really interesting and detailed.
The first few weeks will be flexible, I hope, with a pending move and the holidays my schedule will be a bit up in the air. Planning the Jingle Bell 5K on the 19th and then the Holiday ½ Marathon. I have ZERO speed but both will be good benchmark races. I will be doing a 5k a month- this is new for me and frankly guess my first one will be ½ my 10K, but we have to start someplace.
We close on our new house on 12/19! So by then end of 2014 we will be Encinitas residents! The house is perfect for the dogs and we love it too. I am beyond excited and will save $100’s in gas once we are in the city I spend so much time in now.
We still need to sell Gainsborough and are trying to do that on our own…The FSBO (for sale by owner) is great in theory but in reality means fending off, hitting with a stick, hanging up on hungry, aggressive and condescending Realtors who are calling to ask “why do you think you can sell your home vs a qualified real estate professional” “what makes you think…” It is amazing… if they are calling to berate me then great but if their hope is to get the listing, I say try a different approach. This aggressive, I am the King or Queen, and you are a moron approach frankly does not lend well to working together. We. HAVE a Realtor who we vetted and will list with come January, we just wanted to give this a go.
Toward the end, before I switched out my number for Johns- he wanted to “take the calls”. I took a new approach to the aggressive ones. I would reply with “what makes you think you can be a complete ahole?” Or when asked “did you thoroughly vet the Realtor you selected” I’d reply “no I collected 10 business cards and picked the prettiest one.” Yes you condescending xx we researched and interviewed potential Realtors and we chose a qualified representative. YOU MISSED OUT!
Ok done with my RR (Realtor rant. See I LOVE and respect Christine who found us our new house that was not even on the market. And our potential Realtor Dolores is great. Professional, nice, normal but good business people. We interview a few males and they were often very condescending…. Not sure what that is all about. But I taught sales training for a while and I can tell you – aggressive and condescending were not in my manual.
So we are still getting Gainsborough ready, packing – well not really but I should be, finalizing our loan, which is the most time consuming and hope jumping experience I have been trough in a while. If anyone defaults on a loan these days I’d be amazed. The lender has every detail about every penny and where it originated. When asked where X fund originated for the 10th time I wants to say the mint. When the 100th email said, we need “proof of X” I was waiting for “please submit your last physical exam and blood test results” I mean really…. Okay so LR (loan rant) is also done.
When people say “are you ready for the holidays” I laugh…. My house has 2 Poinsettias and 1 red flower in my garden. Yes- ready. Gifts…fortunately we are not beg gift givers but for those whom I give to…. Let’s just be clear here- amazon? Apple? Or name the gift card of choice. Annual family calendar, right- I have pictures of my nieces and nephews but none of my kids. This will get done ….they too have overnight shipping- so I have a few days.
Traveling 12/21-23 for work is really ideal too J December used to be fairly quiet for my HPN business but I am busier than ever. So with HPN, Coaching, Loan Expert, and Realtor – I have 4 jobs and all getting done!
Last year at this time I had 3 athletes as many take a few months off, I don’t, but many do. This year I have 7 through the off season and it looks like 12 as of January/February. I am capping my coaching clients to 15 – that really is the max I can coach, the way I want to coach, which is individual and personalized. I don’t want to lose my approach to take on more athletes. So it will be odd if the day
San Diego simply does not suck...no surprise there! There just some days that San Diego amazes me... 12/19 was one of them. The sun was out, 68 degrees and Les and I rolled up to the 25th Red Nose Run in Del Mar on the beach, on the sand! 5k at 2pm. $50 fundraiser for SemperFi (wounded military) and you get a stunning run, a red nose and a buffet at Poseidon that puts Ironman pizza to shame- veggies and hummus, mixed green salad, nice fruit salad, assortment of creamy 
