off season wrap-up

I'm a new athlete. Not just new, but I only accidentally tripped into this world of fitness and cycling. I've been making music since before I spoke my first words; I've only been moving my body for 4 years. I approach everything as if it is music, and that has worked so far: practice the basics, set goal, practice new skills, seek assistance, practice, practice, stay focused, practice, practice, practice, keep the intensity up, practice more, perform, practice, repeat.

Before now, I was so unfit that I NEEDED to keep the consistency up all year round (like in the music world). I did that for a couple of years, lost a bunch of weight, and created a base of fitness for endurance sports. Got healthy: Check.

But being an endurance athlete is NOTHING like that. There's all this stuff called "rest," "active recovery," "testing," "work load," "periodization," "off season," etc.

You mean, I can't just stay on a straight, consistent trajectory from here to where I want to be?
Mind. Blown.

My first off season was lots of fun and I'm eager to go faster, be stronger, and have fun now that the weather is above freezing.

Here are a few pictures from my very fun first off season :-)

The last race of 2013: Beach to Battleship Full Triathlon. 

This Ship Just Got Real team: Kris the fish, Me the pedaler, and Jason who runs like the wind. 

Our team got 3rd place in our category :-) Placing in a sport event was a first EVER for me. 

I did the bike portion. 112 miles. In a headwind. In 6ish hours. In my VK Kit. They took my bike from me, and I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself, after cycling THOUSANDS of miles over the course of that year in prep for this.

Off Season has officially begun!!!

Lots of sweating happened at the YMCA. Here, Lauren convinced me to join this huge 2 hour group class. She said, "Come on, it'll be fun!" But really, this was a death payback from several months earlier when I made her do a dozen hill repeats with me.  We're even, now, right???

I took up Aerial Silks! Super fun, really cool people, and a great core workout

I even tried cyclocross. One of our superstar juniors needed a girl to be on his relay team - I was the only girl around who wasn't already racing. I told him that if he found me a bike, shoes, and a helmet, I would do it. Less than 5minutes later, he shows up with all the gear and great big grin on his face :-)  I couldn't say no.

Hiking in the redwoods in California with my brother John and at Bays Mountain with my John.

Lots of fun cold rides with my buddy Kim, and one little mountain bike ride with Lauren. (You might actually call it hike-a-bike because I spent more time walking my mountain bike than riding it.)

 I did a little traveling. I went to visit family in Georgia (and stopped by the Goats on the Roof attraction along the way) and San Francisco, CA to see my brother. I also went to visit friends (and my fur friends - Tillie May loves when I bring my bike to her house) in Charlottesville, VA and went to a music therapy reunion (10 years!) at Tennessee Tech.

 There was a lot of music making this Winter, too. Had my first symphony solo that I didn't trash in performance, and shared music with my athlete friends. That was the BEST feeling in the world :-) Thanks for coming to hear us play, Kim and John!

 And the best part of all was being selected to be a Vanderkitten VIP!!!

Climbed my first three mountains of the year, yesterday. I'm ready to get off the trainer, out of the gym, and into the sunshine :-) Let the ONseason begin!!!