Time rolled along and, like last year, I jumped into the NovOS along with nearly 100 other EN athletes. I was feeling good and really focused. My initial FTP test on the bike went well but the results were less than I was expecting. I had expected to see a 205w or maybe even a 210w but WKO said otherwise - the test result was 197 watts NP. Close enough I could have fudged it up to 200 but I didn't.
Being under 200 watts got me registered in the "Under 200 Club" - not a place to brag about but a great bunch of peeps to commiserate with. All in all, a decent place to start. I was hitting all my bike and run sessions at or just above my threshold paces. No problems with fatigue lingering into the next session at first. But as the holiday season came into view, I started to notice a lack of motivation. Sure, I was doing the work and getting my shopping and planning done but I could tell something wasn't quite right. By mid December I took a break from doing bike sessions and had begun to skip some of the runs. I justified it as OK due to the holidays. Mom was soon to be here and it was much more important to get things ready than spending 'me' time in the pain-cave.
Once mom did arrive, I tried to get most of my runs in but didn't care about the bike. Christmas week I ran every day as part of the EN Holiday Run Challenge. Nick and Sierra made it home too, in part for their cousin Tyler's wedding. Kyle and Maria wanted to come but work-travel-money logistics made that hard to justify.
Now that all have gone home and the holidays are long past, I've been able to get more focused on training. I reset my NovOS back a few weeks and started the marathon hack as well. My next big race is Boston (4/16) and since I am not training for an Ironman (doing a half iron in June) I am free to be more run focused. My goal is to beat my qualifying time and set a new PR. Right now I am thinking 3:25 is possible. We'll see how training - especially hill work goes over the next 10+ weeks before I really know were my fitness will be on race day.
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