The Long Season ends, The Long Season begins...

Well I vanished for a while on everyone. I missed you all greatly, I hope you missed me as well. I must admit I was glad to see the "season" come to an end. I only recently started thinking of my racing as belonging to a season. This past year I had "A" races, "B" races, goals, peaks, valleys, surprises, disappointment and felt like I actually did this for more than just "fun". It was quite an experience.

The Recap:

Training started off badly last year as I was swamped by work. I managed to get in enough training to head into my first race, St. Anthony's Olympic distance triathlon, with a good idea of my level of fitness, but less confidence than I would have liked. My goal was 2:59:59, my time 3:06:59. Grade B-.

My first goal race of the year. The real challenge I thought would be the swim. This is clearly my weak leg. I was shooting for about 38:00 minutes or so. The tide would be an obstacle as I made it to shore in 41:36. My goal on the bike was 1:15:00, I rolled home in 1:15:44 so I consider this a success. I left the transition at almost 2:00:00 on the nose knowing I had to run a 59:59 10k to hit my goal. I imploded somewhere around mile 2 from a combination of inadequate calorie intake and the Florida sun. Lesson learned, I gotta eat more on the bike.

Mountains of Misery: 100 miles , 10,000 feet of climbing. Grade A. I finished, nuff said.

Tri-to-Win Sprint Triathlon: Grade A-. A replay of the first triathlon I ever did. While I improved on every leg over the first time I was hoping for a faster swim for the 400 meters. Other than that I rocked. I was actually able to push on the run, something I haven't been able to do in quite some time.

So now I was supposed to rest, which I did for a little while until I decide to hop into some bike racing. After such a long layoff from straight up bike racing I wasn't expecting much but I was competitive and managed to snag 12th place at one race. Overall a great experience and lots of fun. Grade B.

After July I began to turn my attention more and more toward running. I began preparing for my first 1/2 marathon. My goal was to break 2 hours. To push myself a bit I entered a contest to guess your own time. I guessed 1:56:56 and ran 1:56:50 good enough for a $25 gift certificate.
The long run training was probably the toughest thing I did all year and I can see how it will be beneficial next year. Grade A-. I actually think I can run this race faster next year, and I intend to try.

After the 1/2 I pretty much did NADA.... In fact I did so much NADA I gained 5 pounds in about 2 weeks. I'm not worried though, as I begin to ramp up for next year I'm sure I will shed the extra five.

Lessons learned:

You can't eat too much during a tri!
More long runs and swims.....
Preparation is better than desperation.

I had planned to try the move up to the 1/2 Ironman but I am putting that on hold until I master the Olympic. I also want a few more 1/2 marathons under my belt. I plan to kick off formal training on December 1st for the Columbia Olympic distance triathlon. I picked this as my first "A" race of next season for a few reasons. First it's later in the year so I have longer to get ready. It also means no travel which is another level of stress avoided. In addition, I ride part of the bike course fairly regularly, so I know the bike course. I probably wont break 3 hours for this event since the bike and run are both pretty hilly, but I will try to make a reasonable estimate before the race rolls around.

Other news:

Whenever you get a chance check out my new website Clarence Cycling. It's devoted to all things cycling including triathlon. I'm looking for feedback so all comments and suggestions are appreciated. Now that I plan to be back on a regular training schedule, I should also be back on a regular blogging schedule. One passion drives the other is seems.....

Until later...

Peace and keep training.....

Rob