A new training philosophy

I am now back onto a structured training programme. I have never had such a long block of training before with it still being over 2 months until my first race. I would really like to race sooner but my options are pretty limited. I was considering doing the Phuket 70.3 race in December, but I wouldn't really want to bring a 5 month old baby to Thailand and I wouldn't want to be a part from Benji either so it's not going to happen, I will have to wait until next year, and at the moment we are putting together lots of race plans which is exciting. So I just have to be careful to build up slowly and not to do too much now and be bored with my training by race day.
So I am making sure to train really smart and also make sure I am nice and fresh for my crucial sessions. So it is quite different to what I was previously doing (weeks of 30 hours + training). At the moment I am training around 19 hrs per week and this will be building up to around 23 hr later in the year. I am having to change my mindset from "the more the better" that has been grilled into me since I started this sport and reassess that philosophy, and for me I think it is a good thing. I think in the sport of ironman there is a philosophy that to be any good you have to train yourself to exhaustion and you have to feel like shit most of the time, and I really don't agree with this at all. For myself over the years I have had a battle with my mind and my body. My mind wants to put in huge hours; as it thinks that is the only way and it feels recovery is being lazy. But my body disagrees. My body seems to perform at its best without doing the crazy hours, and the more I train, the more tired I get and the worse I perform. So now that I am with baby and with breastfeeding still being my most important job; I am forced to not listen to my mind, but follow my body. So I have assessed my training schedule and I have got rid of the fluff. For instance there has always been a recovery day in my weeks training which is a 1.5 hr swim and a 1.5 hr bike. Well is that really recovery?! I personally think it is a waste of time. Why? Because after my "recovery" day I don't feel recovered, in fact I feel more tired than before my "recovery" day. For me, I need to recover doing something totally different to what I do the rest of the week, or else my mind does not get the break it needs. So my recovery day now is going to be a long walk with Benji. Over my pregnancy I did a great deal of walking, and when I started training again after Benji was born I felt great. I didn't feel unfit; I felt refreshed, strong and I had a spark when I was training, just the extra energy to push hard up the hill that I don't have if I train those long training hours. So that is important as the day after my recovery day I can do a good hard session and I feel I am getting a lot more benefit from it as I can really push when I am supposed to, where as before I always felt a bit too tired to really push hard up the hill for my hill reps for instance. Anyway I am inspired by people like Meredith Kessler who I read trains 17hr per week while holding down a full time job and has won and podium in numerous ironman races. Also I am inspired by my old coach Greg Fraine who also held down a full time job, and trained around 15-20hr per week and won his age group in Hawaii. So it can be done, that is for sure, and I am sure there are numerous other examples. Of course everyone thinks their way is the right way, but really there is no right way, it is what works for the individual and their lifestyle
So it will be interesting to see how this new training philosophy effects my racing. I am still building up my long bike and run each week (currently up to 4.3/4 hr bike and 1 3/4 hr run), so that will be no different than before. The only difference being that I am doing only one long bike ride a week instead of two. The second one I am now splitting into 2 more specific bike rides on the same day (which enables me to breastfeed Benji in between). I am excited to be trying something different and if it doesn't work out well then I can always go back to what I was doing as Benji gets older and I can afford to be away from him for longer periods, but for now this is the best for both my body and mind.
Benji is now 3.5 months old. He has perked up a lot in the last few weeks; is grabbing and shaking toys, likes to squeal with laughter and is full of smiles. He is a determined little boy, trying so hard to crawl. He will also lie on his stomach and hold both arms and legs up off the ground like some crazy core session (he looks like a sky diver). I'm not sure what he is trying to achieve but he does it over and over again. In a few more weeks he's allowed to start eating if he wants and is ready to (they actually recommend not to give any food until they are 6 months, but of course all babies develop at different rates). He takes great interest in watching us eat, and I guess as soon as he starts trying to grab some too he is ready. Here's a pic of him in his new highchair, practicing for when he can start eating.