16 weeks

I've started looking at my extended schedule to see what I want to train for and what my new goals will be.

There is Boise, obviously, in sub-6 hours as I keep repeating. For that to happen, I need to swim with a Master's group this winter, bike enough to keep fitness until I'm back outside, and run. Lots.

There is Psycho WyCo. That would be my longest running race by a factor of 2.37. I started looking at the calendar to see if this is not a reasonable goal. But the race is a little over 16 weeks away and I think I can safely ramp up my running miles in that amount of time. (This is where being married to another runner is definitely a good thing)

But now I am entering unchartered territory. I currently am at about 20-25 miles per week. For a 50k race, what is the appropriate milage to shoot for? I think swimming one day, biking one day, and running 5 days is reasonable. What about a rest day? Maybe double up the swimming and biking and then take a complete rest day. What about long runs? Does the 70% rule apply? Too much, too little? At least the course is close and I run there every week. I see that as a definite advantage. And then there's nutrition. I'm not even going to touch that one right now.

What will be interesting to watch is my knee. I'm hoping that biking once a week and running (mostly) on trails rather than pavement will keep knee pain at bay. It's never an issue while tri-training, but I had problems when I was training for my first 1/2 and did nothing but run on pavement (I didn't know any better, I swear!)

If nothing else, it should be a good strategy to keep the holiday pounds off. More time running means less time sitting (and eating).

I really can't think past Psycho Wyco and Boise right now. Maybe as I get closer, a 50 miler or a tri AG top-3 will show up on my radar, but one thing at a time. I have a few questions I need to answer before I bite off more than I can chew.