My last excuse for getting off the couch is now gone.

I haven't posted regarding personal training or triathlon or indeed any sports except for sprint-distance bug-chasing for some time. I'm not injured; the holidays just made me lazy. This New York Times article, though, is completely worth sharing even with my non-athletic readers. It makes the research-supported suggestion that keeping moving (rather than complete rest) actually heals some injuries faster:

When It's O.K. to Run Hurt

Now that I've thrown away the leftover holiday goodies...

I'm still thinking through my fitness goals for the season ahead. So far, I'm back to running three times a week, and my running goal for the year is to be able to finish a 5K in under 25:00 by late summer. (So, circa an 8:00 mile pace.) I'm already taking baby steps toward that goal and working toward a nine-minute pace by February, an 8:30 pace by April, and so forth. My fastest 5K last year was 25:17, so I think the sub-25-minute goal is attainable if I focus on taking a gradual route to it.

I was running regular 9:15 miles for much longer distances by the time I did the half-marathon, so we'll see if I've set my goal too low or too high as the season progresses. I doubt I will ever see a winner's podium given my average speed, but perhaps if I persist in running into my 60's and 70's that might change. :)

I plan to add yoga into my workout schedule and I'd like to take formal classes at least once a week, but I haven't started that yet between weather, my husband's travel, and my own travel plans. I'm going to try out a heated yoga place near our house, and see if I like it or not, in the next few weeks.

As for triathlon season goals, I don't know what I want. I see four options ahead:

A. Aim long, and try to complete an Olympic-distance tri by the end of summer. (Big obstacle: limited training time. I have 45 minutes maximum on weekdays under optimum conditions, and only have time for one long run on weekends. And that's just running, let alone time on the bike or in the pool. Big payoff: something I have not done yet, so cool in goal-setting terms.)

B. Aim fast, and stick to sprint tri's but try to improve significantly on last year's finishing times. (Better possibility, since I've already got the basic gear and basic plans to speed up in at least one sport in place. Big obstacle here: I need swim lessons, and time is a limiting factor. I can't take a master's class at my rec center this spring because none of them work with my work schedule. I can fit in a weekend-only master's class by summertime, though.)

C. Perhaps I should go back to single-sport and focus on running for a season, with some cross-training in the pool and weight room. (Tempting as the easiest approach with no perceived obstacles, but I really liked the tri's I did last year and it's such a cool community of people...)

D. I could do some different sprint tri's than I did last year, with nontraditional structure, like the ones with some mountain-biking and trail-running thrown in. (A second appealing approach--my husband's been trying to get me to mountain-bike for awhile now and I'd prefer it to road biking, I think, given my intense hatred of four-wheeled morons.)

I'm trying both to set some relatively intense goals, and to be realistic about the time commitment I can make and still stay balanced as a mom, wife, worker, etc. Really, I've got about six hours a week max for training/stretching/exercise, mostly in half-hour chunks, and that's unlikely to change this season. Thoughts, anyone? Which option would you choose, given my constraints?