Time.....dark to dark

Getting all of your training done this time of year is difficult. Training for an Ironman this time of year is even more of challenge given the weather conditions and lack of daylight. I can not imagine how my friends who just finished IMFL and IMAZ did it. They were much closer to peak training hours in these conditions. The feeling of not enough hours in a day is ever present but this takes it to a new level. Currently, I am at about 6.5 hours training per week. That is not a huge number and rather inconsequential compared to when I will peak at about 17-20 hours about 3 weeks out from the race. Let's look at this in a little more detail to get a real feel for the predicament. First you must take into consideration of the pre and post times to get a more complete number. For ease of math we will use a half hour on each side of my workout. This time is used for things like a post workout shower, gear prep, getting to the workout site, etc. Therefore, my 6.5 hours actually becomes 12.5 hours based on my 6 days/ week schedule. The good news is that that 6 hours will never increase unlike the the other number that will climb in time. Anyway, that puts me at just over 2 hours of training 6 days a week. Here in Indiana, in the week prior to Thanksgiving we are currently down to less than 10 hours of daylight each day. That is roughly 30 days prior to the least "lit" day. Therefore we have about 100 days that are rather short in terms of day light. For me, my work day is usually on average 9-10 hours. Yes I know, the dreaded going and coming in the dark. Then let's tag 2 hours of training onto this. But how? I am learning you go subterranean and nocturnal. You also learn to focus your weekend time for longer workouts in the light of day. You learn to eat at your desk and do some treadmill rather than catching up,with coworkers over lunch. As for subterranean and nocturnal, I am now swimming at 5:30AM when it's dark, I hit my bike in the basement when it's dark, and I do some treadmill work early and late back in the basement. The cruddy part for me is that these are not short 30 mins workouts. These are 1 hour plus long as we discussed. That much time on trainers and treadmills again tests your mental persistence and are boring. Some more training huh for this event that is a real challenge mentally. The other aspect of this is the weather. It is very inconsistent this time of year. Its marginal on a good day and requires a degree in Eskimo dressing. Therefore, often time regardless of light, nocturnal and subterranean is your only chance because its 28 degrees with a 15 mph wind. Those conditions are often just more brutal than the treadmill in the basement. So, the next time you see that guy running in the dark, a woman loading a swim bag in their car at 5 AM, the guy carrying an impatient look on his face while waiting in line at the gym, ask them, "What ya training for?" You will probably get an initial quizzical look but then beware as one of things triathletes like to do as much as train is talk about training. Got to go.....I am burning daylight