By Melanie McQuaid

Dec. 10, 2007 — November and December are finicky months. Here in Victoria we can get anything from torrential downpours, to 60mph winds, to gorgeous, blinding sun. What we do not have is snow — ever (well, maybe for two days every four years). For some athletes living in Victoria, the temptation to keep training all year round is strong. However, too much training in November can lead to sluggish mid-summer results. Other athletes have no problem pushing triathlon activities to the back burner and find it difficult to get moving when the weather is gloomy. The sweet spot would be somewhere in between the two, where you are motivated to train but are “hurrying slowly” towards fitness by incorporating a variety of other activities. As we are not “snow” people, to get away from our favorite triathlon activities on a regular basis we need to find other fun things to. I think the two most popular winter activities for athletes in Victoria include riding cyclocross bikes and “run/hikes”.