My purpose for this blog was to verbalize some of the thoughts that were bouncing around in my head. Over the next 9 months, I would like to change it to a log of my progress in training. As I get closer to moving up to the next age group, I am hoping I can be more competitive.
What needs to done to be competitive next year.
With my training year done, a vacation done and my body rested, now is the time to start thinking about next year. First, the races that I want to do. I want to be ready to race the Big Fish on Father's day. Second, I want to race the Running fit series of races at Island Lakes. What are my top three goals going to be during the season? For these I need to look at my weaknesses.
First I need to look at my mental toughness. Why is it that I don't push through on races? Is it that I am not competitive or is it that I'm not willing to be competitive? Well, I do believe that I am competitive. It gets to me when I see people passing me on each of the legs. That leads me to not willing to compete. The question then becomes who am I competing against. The answer is myself. I need to set a goal for each race and work towards that, not only during training, but during the race.
The swim is probably my strongest and I don't get passed too often there. Next year I will start closer to the front of the pack and try to hang with the leaders. I should be able to start towards the front, but on the side and not have an issue.
The bike is my next strongest event. There I feel that in the years past, I was strong, but this year, the course got in my head. Either that or I was saving it for the run. It has been my experience that when I get off the bike, it is very difficult for me to run. Maybe I saved too much. The know how and experience are there, the motivation in missing.
My toughest event has always been the run. This year I want to complete a race with out walking the majority of the run leg. For that I need to build a good base. That brings me to my second goal: to build a good solid base that will allow me to run an entire 5k.
My last goal is going to be the enabler for the second. To lose weight. My current weight is almost 30 pounds over what is should be. Therefore I need to lose 30 pounds.
How am I going to accomplish these goals? As they always say, "How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time" I am not going to layout an entire season of training. But, if I layout 4-6 week blocks, the task isn't as intimidating. Keeping the long term goals in mind, 2 or 3 blocks will be looked at a time. This will give me the opportunity to change as I go.
With that said, on to the first block. Being 9 months before the first event, the plan is to start out slowly. The first 4 weeks I am going to work on building core strength. Not only will this benefit me in the long run, but it facilitates blocking out a small chunk of time, starting with only 15 minutes a day.
Hopefully I can make updates on a weekly basis if not more often. So lets start my journey.
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