It’s that time of year again…the holidays are upon us and getting me in the pool is near impossible! In Southern California Winter doesn’t really mean that much to us since we are still enjoying temps in the 80’s in November (we would be better off judging our seasons by the flavor offerings at Starbucks). But, regardless of the temperature Winter and the holidays means an end to triathlon season, a decrease in training and a mixed bag of emotions.

I would NEVER be accused of over training, I am probably the laziest triathlete I know (a theme you will notice as you get to know me better 🙂 ). Even at my most dedicated I am still one of those athletes that likes to move their workouts around to make them feel better about the dreaded RED on their Training Peaks schedule. However, I am guilty of something just as bad – training through it! We’ve all been there…you have an ache or pain, it’s not serious but it’s not going away either so you just keep at it. I for one have been running with an annoying pain in my hip for nearly 8 months now. It hurt a fair bit, but the thought of not running was probably more painful than the injury itself. I finally realized though that it’s not going to miraculously fix itself, and it will probably get worse if I don’t do something about it. Sooooo, here I am on week 2 of 6 weeks without running…and, I am missing it SO badly! Healing takes hard work and dedication too.

With running off the table, I have been using this time to switch things up a bit. I am doing some mellow cycling but I am also doing more strength training that will probably serve me really well once the season kicks back into gear. Who knows, not being able to do the thing I gravitate towards the most might actually make me better at it in the long run!