I’ll probably cut back on my riding until mid-December. In the meantime, I’m committing myself to a 21-day swim program. I normally train for triathlons throughout the year, but I ease up in the late fall/early winter. I’ve long been aware that swimming is my weakest discipline. So I’m going to do something about it this year. I will swim for 21 days straight. I’ll keep the workouts relatively short, in the range of 30-60 minutes. I will focus on drill work and technique. I don’t have to focus on aerobic endurance or top-end speed that much until later in the winter. I’ll get endurance benefits from the swim workouts, whether I try to focus on endurance or not.
While I’m concentrating on swimming, I’ll limit my running to 2 or 3 times a week, with no real long runs. I’ll keep the runs in the 35-70 min. range until mid-December.
For cycling, I’ll ride the mountain bike when I feel like it. No set schedule or program for now. I’ll also take out CaBi bikes for a spin. I also use CaBi to run some errands.
I have to step up my strength workouts. I haven’t done much strength training since last winter. That’s partly because I tweaked my shoulder (deltoid tendon, actually) last year. It’s not a serious injury but it can be annoying. It felt pretty good over the summer. But a few weeks ago, it started to become tight again. (I should disclose that I first injured the shoulder while doing staggered push-ups. Those are push-ups done with one hand placed about 12 inches ahead of the other. The unbalanced position puts more of the stress on one arm. After doing the set(s) for one arm, you switch to the other arm. The problem is that staggered push-ups are tougher than standard push-ups, so you have to work your way up to them. When I jumped back into strength training last fall/winter, I went right into the staggered push-ups. Not a good idea.)
After my 21-day swim program, I’ll switch back to a more balanced routine of swim/bike/run/strength. I still won’t ramp up the training that much, until January. If we get a lot of snow this winter, then maybe I’ll try some cross-country skiing. That’s an excellent aerobic activity. Maybe a few ice skating sessions too, just for a change of pace. It’s easier to cross-country ski and skate than to ride in slushy conditions.
If CaBi has another Winter Weather Warrior contest, I might sign up again. I probably won’t win but I can go for a “perfect attendance” award. I rode CaBi every day back in January and almost every day in February, but I missed a few days toward the end. I was also in the top 20 in the overall standings. For those who aren’t familiar with the contest, people compete by racking up bike trips of at least 5 minutes each. The speed doesn’t matter. Neither does the distance, but you can’t start and stop at the same station. If they allowed that, people could merely undock the bike, sit inside for 5 minutes, and then redock the bike without doing any riding.
.
