off-season planning!

I have been racking my brain to come up with activities to do during my off-season, which starts Sept. 20th and ends Oct. 31st. I know that everyone thinks that I am a freak because I plan this far in advance.. I cannot WAIT until off-season where nothing is structured, however, I need some sort of daily physical activity. If you don't know me well, there are several ways that I can accurately describe myself: anxious, impatient, high strung, etc. These are just a few adjectives (hopefully there are some better ones also). If you DO know me well, then you know Alexa needs to avoid getting on the bus to crazy-town. I need to exercise to maintain a grip on my sanity. I am actually ALREADY worried about what I am going to do during my off-season and it's a freaking month away and I have a freaking race to do first! But, if I can't occupy myself with some daily cardio I am going to gain 30 lbs and end up watching 6 hours of LOST on my couch every night while popping Valium and Oreos. Maybe that is an exaggeration, maybe not. Either way, that needs to be avoided. I know that losing fitness is inevitable and I am trying to come to terms with that, however I cannot lose my mind also!

BUTTTTT.. I do NOT want to train anymore. I AM DONE.

So I am working on coming up with alternatives to the daily grind of swim, bike, run, then swim some more, bike some more, run some more.

Some ideas I have come up with are lots and lots of trail running. This is way different than regular road running, which right now is just running for the sake of getting the miles in because I have a race in 3 weeks. I can trail run during the week (around my work scedule), there are trails close by, I don't have to wearing my f-ing HR monitor. I can get muddy! I can look around at the trees and the deer! No worrying about Zone 2, no Garmin, NO TEMPO!!! Real running! I might even trip over something and fall down! Maybe I can run with other human beings!

I would add mountain biking to this list but since some douchebag stole my mountain bike, I cannot.

On the weekends I can make day trips to places such as Ithaca, Watkins Glen, and Letchworth Park where I can do some hiking/gorge playing/photo taking.

One thing I have been wanting to do for a while is do an overnight trip to Niagara Falls on my bike. It would be a fun ride and then I could do sweet Canada touristy stuff like go to the falls, check out some strip clubs (haha) and more! I'm not sure how far it is but I don't think it's too bad. I mean, come on, I am Ironman fit people! I would love to do a border crossing with my passport on my bicycle! However, I do not really have a suitable bike for this. The plan was to buy a road bike - either a Trek Madone or a Specialized Ruby - this fall so I could do some light touring but it turns out that Ironman is wicked expensive and I just don't have the money. I suppose I COULD make the trip on my Cervelo but I would have no way to bring things with me. Not that I would need much, a change of clothes, shoes that don't have cleats on the bottom, my wallet, camera, etc. but it's still enough that I don't know where I'd put it. Also, I don't really want to do this shit by myself because that would be LAME.

Adventures aren't nearly as fun when you are going solo.

Maybe I shouldn't be worrying about what to do during my off-season, but rather trying to find someone who wants to participate in off-season shenanigans with me!