Winter Challenge

Need a goal, otherwise known as "an event".  I've struggled to decide on doing an off-road triathlon in February.  It seems like a different and fun event. It is a 7 mile trail run, 6 miles of paddling on a calm pond and 10 mile off-road bike ride.  I already have a modest mountain bike that seems well suited to the course. I just bought and installed cleated pedals on the bike.  Had off-road shoes for several years that my brother had sent me. Been practicing with this setup at trails near my apartment.  It involves paddling so either a kayak or a canoe will be needed. It is a foreign subject to me so I'm trying to educate myself about it.  I can rent a boat, but feel I should do some practice before the event. So the expense of multiple days of rental may justify buying a boat. Been looking at boats at Sunrift and online for used ones.  Several times a week swimming  at the Y. No more than a mile per session. Doing dumbbell curls, pull-ups and pushups to strengthen the arms. All this exercise should serve as good conditioning (transfer over) to the paddling.  Not much running lately but some. Treadmill runs up to 3 miles. On Christmas day I pushed myself and ran 8 miles in the cold.  So this event I just registered for is out of my comfort zone and that may be good. It is in Springfield SC down south of Columbia. Winter Challenge is the event name. I will be camping there the night before with some others I guess. 

Mid December

So the entire month of November was a washout for exercise as I recovered from a sinus infection. Some exercise but not much.  December 7th I peddled my road bike over Paris Mountain (altamont rd.) over to Furman. As I rode up the mountain I saw many runners on the Paris Mountain road race half marathon. I strongly considered doing the 5k (a flat course) portion of this event but did not even feel fit enough for that. I parked a while at the finish line and saw some finishers, including the Messicks, and chatted with them. Shopped for running shoes in Timmons arena.  Dec 16: Rode about 1.2 hour on the seldom used mountain bike. An hour on wooded trail by apartments. Just got cleated pedals for the bike so I'm getting used to that. Wiped out a few times but only a scrape. Felt good to ride the trail. May go over to Paris Mountain State Park for even bigger trails