2008 wrapped up with some relaxed time back here in Finland. Less than two weeks after being home, we got our first snow storm and the xc skiing was good for a week or so. Then the rain came...
South west Finland has a funny weather pattern affected by the nearby ocean, which makes November and December to be just above freezing while receiving volumes of precipitation. The result is the darkest, nastiest weather I have experienced. The sun comes up about 10-11AM and is gone by 2:30. Some days you never see the sun at all, just a dark glow in the sky behind the rain clouds.
BUT, I still love living here. The break in routine the seasons dictate, create a better balanced approach to sport. Naturally during the late fall and winter months, the training focuses on swimming, power training, and running. Cycling is replaced with xc skiing when ever possible, and the cycle cross bike with studded tires for ice, is also a key training tool.
This year, I took a sizeable break from serious training after the world championship. The body and mind was in need of a different routine, plus I have been busy building up my free lance copywrite business that pays my bills. I kept the training to non-structured activities for about one month until near Christmas time. Then I began the new training season with a ramp-up to normal volumes over a couple weeks.
Currently I am back in full swing and have been developing my run base as well as my key focus on swim development and power development. Dispite a few days off from the normal winter flu season, training is progressing well. Looking forward to the season to get going!
First events will be Ironman 70.3 Austria and 70.3 Switzerland on May 24th and June 7th respectively.
Be in touch more soon!
-Darby
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
