Next Steps

First a quick look back:

1. Last year at this time (roughly) I did my first ever sprint triathlon, the Kirkland Carillon Point event. I was hooked.
2. Shortly after that, I switched jobs, into a much more time intensive and mentally challenging (and fun!) role that involved some travel as well as 4-5 nights a week of late night efforts.
3. This year I struggled to get some fitness back, but signed up for the Issaquah Sprint Tri as a 'motivator'.
4. I then did the Seafair Sprint Tri.
5. Then the Lake Meridian Olympic.
6. Then the Mercer Island Aquathon.

Now some takeaways:

1. I really like being fit. I feel better than I did when I was 30, and that makes me a much better father,  husband,  co-worker, etc. I think there is a huge net benefit to training for tris because it's almost daily, and provides regular stress relief.
2. My attitude towards swimming has improved dramatically. I've gotten comfortable enough in the water to look forward to 2000 yard workouts. That's not a ton of distance, but it's a huge milestone for me. 
3. My overall running speed has increased, I'm now running a 6:40 mile, and intend to get that much lower. 
4. While my cycling has probably not gotten all that much better, it is the place where I make up the most time. Which bodes well for:
5. Longer events. I think I'm much better suited to olys, and maybe 70.3s, than I am sprints. I manage to keep the same pace as I do during a sprint, I just tend to feel much better with more distance.

And some 'external' factors:

1. My kids are getting older. This is good (they're more independent!) and bad (they're more independent!), but time is not stopping and I need to continue to be there for them now in less of a 'caretaker' role and more of a 'activity leader' role. 
2. My job is hard, but it's not immediately leading me in the direction I want my career to move in. A 'reprioritization exercise' at work means that I'm not going to have as much opportunity to learn about machine learning at work. So I need to start doing that kind of work on my own, in my own time. This will require some rebudgeting of time -- not so many late nights on work projects, more on my own projects -- but I think that I can use the vast amount of data I collect running and cycling as inputs, so I'm marrying two passions (triathlon/endurance training and machine learning). Still, time is time.
3. Lopa is going back to work. She'll be working as a substitute teacher, but wants to leave the education field behind and get back into a better paying, hopefully part-time role. I've had a great, great run as the sole income provider, getting free meals, relying on Lopa to do the bulk of the child care during the day, etc. The kids are older (see above), but the scale is going to tilt back towards a more equitable distribution of work and effort, which will definitely impact my ability to train. 

Finally, my immediate goals for the next 4-6 months:

1. Become a faster runner. Nothing beats speed. If I can go faster on the run, it can only help. 
2. Become a faster swimmer. I'd like to be able to swim with the same effort, but at a much faster pace. I think at this point, given my (slow) speed, this is mostly a matter of efficiency, gained through drills and reinforced through intelligent application of distance. 
3. Increase leg and core strength. I really think that my lack of leg strength is a key limiter to both running speed and cycling power. 

And how I'm currently planning to get there: 

Running Speed: I'm going to start with the level 2 5k training plan from Brain Training For Runners. I'm going to modify it to do 4-5 days of running /week + 2 resistance training sessions. A lot of workload, but not a lot of miles, which is good right now. I'm going to use the base and build approach to recalibrate my leg strength and leg speed. This is a 16 week program, which should keep me going through the late fall.

Swimming Speed: I'm going to try and get into the pool 2x/week, and build on my current swim fitness/form in an orderly progression, trying to get up to 3000 yards comfortably. My approach with swimming right now is 'form = function', and I'm going to continue to take the Total Immersion tack towards more speed/greater enjoyment.

Right now this plan contains no 'off' days, which means that climbing is on hold. I'm not entirely sure about that decision, because lead climbing -- even indoors! --  is pretty important to my mental health during the winter. I'm also not sure about maintaining a super strict regimen right now. I think I'm going to further adapt a plan that will allow for more flexibility while building strength for the next season.