Back from vacation

My wife and I have just returned from our glorious summer vacation, having spent four weeks in California and Nevada: goofing around near Lake Tahoe

We really enjoyed our time, but now it’s back to work!

For me, this is also the start of a new “season”. I’ll probably build up for the 26k Ratzeburg Adventslauf at the end of November. I tried that last year, but hurting my knee and thigh stopped that. Maybe this year I manage to get all the way through.

But six weeks after IM Germany and almost no training during that time, my goals are a bit more modest at the start:

• get my weight under control again
  My weight was much too high for the last two to three years to achieve my goals, and a nice, relaxed vacation didn’t help either. I’m up to 92kg by now, and I’ve put up a goal of loosing 10% of my body weight until next summer (i.e. go down to 83kg). My wife and have already started our diet.
  
• get back to regular training
  After six weeks of “off-season” (even if it was the middle of summer), I just want to get back to regularly working out again. Sport/intensity is not important right now, but I’m aiming to get to at least 5 times per week of at least 30 minutes of sports. Once I’m there (and lost some weight), I can then figure out some more performance oriented goals for the rest of the year.
  
• figure out if my knee is okay
  My knee has continued to act up once in a while. There is a sharp pain, then some swelling which takes a couple of days to subside. Not much of a hindrance really, but if it happens again and again I will have to see a doctor to figure out what I can do about it. I’m pretty sure it’s not a muscle issue, probably more a little meniscus problem, so for now I’m confident I’m not putting myself at risk to just go on with my training.

For the rest of the year and also for next year, I’m not sure what A-race I’m going to pick. Initially, we thought we would have an exchange student for a year, but she bailed on us and picked another family to stay at. We may get someone else around October, but for now we don’t know. I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing Vätternrundan again (300k bike “race” in Sweden), but other than that there is nothing fixed on my schedule. But it’s probably already too late for an IM-distance race (Frankfurt and Roth have sold out in a few days), so maybe I’ll pick a running race (e.g. Hamburg marathon with a performance goal?) or just have an easier year and then figure something out for 2012. Still too early to make these decision, I’ll better get started with the second half of 2010!