It’s been just over a week since Ironman Chattanooga and the end of the 2017 racing season, for triathlon at least! So far the offseason is going well. It’s no secret that I was getting tired by the end and really looking forward to some quality time off. Typically this would mean consuming a lot of terrible food, alcohol, exercising zero, and sleeping very little, basically a giant F-U to my athlete life. Of course this would also lead to me wondering why I was even less productive despite exercising 15 hours less and I would begin to panic whether I could survive as a normal person after triathlon.

So the day after Chattanooga I ate tons of fried food then skipped dinner to save room for more ice cream, slept for about 6 hours and woke up feeling awful. Sadly that’s where this story ends. On Tuesday, I went back to my normal routine, eating my normal food. I’m not sure if I’m growing up or maybe I really have grown to like my regimented life. Don’t get me wrong, I still have ice cream and beer in the house and that is still being consumed, but I’ve actually settled somewhere around moderation, go me! AND I’ve continued to exercise more than just picking the remote control off the couch to change the channel.

I’m actually working out regularly too albeit much less, and I’m in fact swimming which is normally the first sport to fall off the table. It helps that Nate is still training a lot, so I am able to join him on whatever sessions I choose. Swimming is the only thing that I can keep up on when the set is hard, otherwise I have to wait until he’s either running or biking real easy but I’m also happy to go out and do those alone. It’s yet to be seen what happens when both of us have “choice” weeks, but I think we can make this sustainable.

As for the offseason, I’d like to set some goals to help improve my 2018 season, I just haven’t figured out what those are yet. Nate told me his primary goal for the offseason is to get ripped abs, unclear how this fits in with his ultimate goal of becoming a fast triathlete…he followed up by saying this was a lifelong dream. So who am I to stand in his way? Maybe I’ll also have a lot of planks in my future?