Tue, Wed: the start of a new routine

[Photos: My middle daughter is a budding photographer - so today I have pictures taken by her of my Granddaughter enjoying the rain.]

My riding season has officially come to an end. My riding now is for fitness rather than a future riding goal. 

This was my first full year of road cycling: and it was pretty eventful due to the May 6 Day ride and all the preparation for it. By mid-May I had logged over 3,100 miles on the bike. To date I'm at just under 4,900 miles for the year. I'm hopeful and curious to see what next year holds. I'd like to be more fit and be a stronger rider.  

Tuesday: 45 minutes on the trainer before the rest of my family wakes up (excluding my oldest son). The last 4 minutes are doing the 20 on 10 off for 8 repeats - a nice way to end any workout. Then at lunch I went for a run. It was the first time in many weeks that the run was enjoyable. The pace was close to what I was aiming for (8 min miles, but averaged 8:18). So not to fast, but not as slow as I've done recently either. It was nice to enjoy the 4.7 miles this time.

Wed: 30 minutes on the trainer - the last 4 minutes doing 8 intervals. My left knee is bothering me just a little, so I fought the urge to go for a run during lunch and sided with reason: start back up slowly - not running day after day.

So, tomorrow I hope to run again during lunch. For now it looks like I'll get 30-45 minutes in the morning on the trainer and then work in and build up running during the afternoon. Maybe there's hope of a half marathon this fall ... we'll see.

I don't have any real goals for next year - but I do have some ideas ... the TX time trials or some other type of 24 hour time trial, or maybe 48 hr time trial, RAAW, ...?!! All that to say I hope to use the trainer during the off season. I also hope to run. And I'd like to get on the weights again for a bit. So, no goals but lots of thoughts and ideas.