2012 Goals

Looking back on my short triathlon life I feel like I’ve been all over the board with my goals.  The first year it was simply to finish the swim leg without drowning.  The second year I had a couple of key races, but no real goals.  Last year I had a clear goal of qualifying for Nationals, which I did in my first race.  Unfortunately that left me without a goal for the rest of the season  This year I’m putting together a series of goals, with tier two goals should I complete the first ones too quickly.

Running
I want to run a marathon, in less than four hours, and feel like I want to do it again.  With only one marathon on tap, this could be a challenge.  If I come up short, then I’ll have to look at giving it another go in November.

Swimming
In virtually every triathlon I’ve done, my pace has been the same:  2 minutes per 100M.  This includes my first sprint, my half Ironman races, and even the races this past year.  My goal is to drop that pace.  Specifically, I want to do the HIM swim in 35 minutes, whereas previously it has taken me 40 minutes.  Today I could swim 50, maybe 100 meters that fast, but not much further.

Triathlon

1. I want to put together a complete HIM distance race, like I did at Nationals this year.  When I was done with that race I felt like I had completed each leg to the best of my abilities at that time, and they lined up with my pre-race expectations.
2. I want to break 6 hours in a half Ironman.  Note:  This should be easily accomplished.
3. Tier 2:  In conjunction with goal #1, I want to hit a race a peak conditioning, to enable me to finish in less than 5:45 minutes.  To do this I will need to hit my swim goal time, my best bike time from 2 years ago, and a solid but not crazy half marathon.

If you got this far, you know what I want to accomplish this next season.  I put it here so that it is in writing and I will be accountable.  However, I don’t need to be reminded of them.  So if you see me out there before a race, please be kind and don’t mention them – until after the race is over and I have accomplished one or more of them.

One week, three tests

Last week, as I prepared to get into the serious training, was my first set of fit tests.  Coach uses these fit tests to determine where I am at the moment, calculate my power ranges on the bike, and my run paces.  I’ve never done a swim test before, so I’m not sure what she will do with that.

So these tests are nothing new.  I knew they were coming, and I also knew that I was going to hate myself for losing the conditioning I did over the off season.  All I could do was go out as hard as I could and hope that the damage wasn’t too bad.  Here is what I did, along with a grade I gave myself.

SWIM

I said I’d never done this before, but that isn’t entirely accurate.  I have done swim tests, but nothing of this magnitude.  Coach had assigned me this test weeks ago, and for whatever reason I was unable to make it to the pool that day, or any day before this test for that matter.  I hadn’t planned to take a swim test on Wednesday, but that is what the master’s team had on tap, so that’s what I did.  After the warm up, drills and explanation, I swam 10x100 with 10 seconds rest in between.

I did great on the first one, great for me that is.  Only I knew it was faster than I would be able to maintain for 9 more 100’s.  True to expectations, by lap 4 I was pretty gassed.  I just couldn’t get enough air, and tried to hold on.  By the 7th 100, I was counting down the 100’s until I would be done.  On the last lap I thought for sure I was going to take a big gulp of water and have to stop midway through.  Somehow I miscounted, and I wasn’t at all happy when I figure that out.

I was supposed to negative split the second half, well that wasn’t going to happen.  If anything I did the opposite.  I did save enough so that my last 25 meters was the fastest of all if that counts!

I averaged 2:09 per 100, which is probably 6+ seconds that it should have been, and 15 seconds slower than I want it to be.

Grade:  C

BIKE

Fortunately for me I hadn’t totally blown off the bike.  I’d done some rides, and even worked in several spin workouts on my vacation.  I still expected to be disappointed.

During the warm up I did some short uphill climbs (this is all on the trainer mind you).  With the first one my legs started to burn and I figured I wouldn’t be able to hold even that pace for my test.

The test was 20 minutes of as hard as I could go.  I had an idea from my warm up of what gear I could handle, so I put it in one higher and just started pedaling.  Cardio was again the real problem.  My legs could have gone harder, but I thought my breathing was pretty maxed out.  With a couple of minutes left I went up one more gear and watched the clock.  It was freezing outside but I was dripping sweat, and totally spent when it was over.

I had a feel for what my computer read, but didn’t know what it meant until I got inside and downloaded the file:  I’d gone harder than my training levels at the end of the season.  This is huge for me.  I finally feel like I’m making progress on the bike and maybe this year will be the one my bike starts to improve!

Grade:  A

RUN

This was going to be ugly.  I haven’t run 6 miles since August, and spent a lot of the time in between nursing that darn hamstring.  I thought my legs might have healed up, but I didn’t think there was any way I’d be able to run any where close to what I was doing last year.

The test was simple:  run two miles to warm up, with a couple of 15 second sprints (strides) thrown in to get the legs going, run 2 miles as fast as I could, with the second faster than the first, and then cool down for 2 miles.

I knew with the first stride I was going to be slow.  I was going at what I thought was a pretty good clip, looked down, and saw I was hitting 8 minute/mile.  Considering this was a 15 second sprint and that I wanted to do 7:00 and 6:30 for my two miles, I was way off!

Whatever!  Focus on what you can control, I told myself.  When the two miles started, I just ran, much faster than I had been.  My watch would have told me how fast I was going but I avoided that section of the face, instead focusing on the distance (boy did those miles tick down slowly!)  I was so focused on running (and not being able to breath) that I missed hitting the lap button at the mile mark.  I was only a bit off, but still it was irritating.

I did pick it up for the last mile.  I kept telling myself just to hang on, that it was only 8 minutes or so, and I can do anything for 8 minutes.  Well that wasn’t true as I know I slowed down the last couple of tenths.  I was totally sucking wind.  I hadn’t planned to walk after those two miles, but it was either that or throw up, and I figured the lady walking her dog on the other side of the road wouldn’t appreciate the latter.

I regrouped and was able to start running again, actually fairly quickly, and at a much better pace than I expected.  I made it home, downloaded my pace file, and found I was about 30 seconds slower than I’d wanted.  Considering how little I’ve been running lately I should be pleased.  Of course being the person that I am, I’m not!

Grade:  B-

So that’s where I was last week.  It is what it is, and now it is time to get to work and improve those numbers.  I’d better quit typing and get off to the pool then!

And so it begins

I always seem to be more excited about the season at the beginning than at the end, and why should this year be any different?  I’ve picked a few key races that are pretty exciting to me, and if my body holds up to the challenge it will be a great year!

First up for me this year is a marathon in early March.  I ran one 30 years ago and swore at the time I would never do that again.  It has taken this long, and several decent triathlon seasons to get me to try it again.  If I race any before then, it would have to be a half marathon in January.  Seeing how that is only three weeks away I’m not sure I want to take up that course.

My other two key races for 2012 are both half Ironman.  When and where aren’t so important as the distance.  The objective of these races to me seems obvious:  I feel a climb to the Ironman summit in the near future.  I know which race I want to do, the only question is when.  Will it be in 2014 like I plan, or will I be more aggressive and try in 2013?

Stay tuned to find out…