Training Logistics

Moving to a new city means several things, but most importantly (at least to me) is how I’m going to train. In Cedar Falls, it was super easy to swim, bike and run since I was so close to campus and campus was on the edge of the city. I could bike about a forth of a mile and be on county roads in any direction. Although Cedar Falls didn’t have sidewalks all over, they were the hub of the Cedar Valley bike trails so I could run on those. And I had access to the pool on campus which had decent lap swimming hours.

But in Huntsville, things are shaping up to be different.Different as in not convenient. Which sucks because if my motivation to train is low and I can’t just walk out my door to train, the chances of me training dwindle massively. However! Have no fear because I got me one of those coach things, so I’ll have to train no matter what! Man, its a good thing I got a coach! (I’m super excited to start with him in 2 weeks if you can’t tell!)

Anyway, although I’m still figuring out the exact logistics of training, here’s what I’ve got so far:

Swimming:
From what I understand, I’ll have access to the campus pool again. I haven’t gotten a chance to check out the hours, but I do know there is a section for lap swimming. The only thing, the pool is outdoors and is therefore closed in the winter. However, I’ll be heading north for holiday break and will be able to swim indoors while I’m up there, so I won’t go months without pool time.

There is also a national forest just outside of Huntsville that has lakes with beaches so open water swimming will be an option when I get more comfortable with the area.

Biking:
This is where I’ll have the most trouble. Because I live near lots of busy, major streets, I can’t just hop on my bike and bike out to county roads (there aren’t as many as there were in Iowa). Which means I’ll have to drive to bike, which I hate doing (it seems counter productive). Some good news though, I’ve checked out beginnertriathlete.com for some routes in the area and found two that I’ll check out for sure:

This is about a 55 mile loop.

This is about a 48 mile loop.

In both cases, I have flexibility options to make the ride shorter or longer, which will be good for next season’s training. And both offer some good hills, which I severely lacked in Iowa. I’ll head out later this weekend or during the week next week to drive the routes before I bike them. Again, just to familiarize myself with the territory.

Running:
The difficulty for going for a run is mixed. Yes, I can step outside my door to go for a run, but again, my options are limited. So, this will be split between short runs (anything under 6 miles) and long runs (over 6 miles).

The short runs will probably consist of 1.3 mile loops around my apartment complex and away from busy streets (since there are no sidewalks). Yes, doing loop after loop will get boring, but with the Texas heat, going by my apartment complex will allow me to easily stash a water bottle (or 2 or 3 or 4) that I can use but won’t have to run with. The good thing though, this 1.3 mile loop has rolling hills, which is nice, because I always ran flat in Iowa.

The long runs will take place in the Sam Houston National Forest since they have 85 miles of multi-use trails. I’ll have to drive to the forest, but at least I won’t get bored doing loop after loop after loop. I’ll let you know how these turn out after I work my way back up to long runs.

Other Stuff:
I have dumbbells and an exercise ball at home for strength and flexibility training. I’ll also have access to facilities on campus, including the track for speed work, and of course brought my bike trainer with me, so I have options.

Winter Training:
This I look forward to! No more sub-zero temperatures! The average temperature around here during the winter is 59*…that’s fall weather were I’m from! Needless to say, I’ll be biking and running all winter long. It just sucks the pool will be closed.

Overall:
I’ll make do, for sure. With the help of my coach and hopefully meeting other endurance athletes, I’ll learn the tricks of the trade while training in Texas!