Last update of the off season

In the past few weeks I’ve went through my past training and goals and attempted to make some sense of it. Last week I took the time and put all my goals on paper and stretched them to the appropriate time frame. It’s very hard because part of my goals involve getting my kids into tri as well. I see a very small window of opportunity for me to succeed. So I need to go after it. Looking at last year it’s evident that I had no real training plan. I was a very progressive athlete and never really had a concentration on anything. I just went with it. I was able to identify more issues and now my training is taking a new turn. I have a detailed outlook that should be pretty easy to execute. My goals are set for 3 years/seasons. I need to hit a few milestones to reel in my end achievement. I see so many people set a goal then publicize it then fail and I feel this is totally the wrong way to look at it. For IMKY I had the ultimate goal to finish in good standing, a secondary goal of 11hrs, and a dream goal of 10 hrs. Well, I went and worked hard and had a good day. I see people so serious on race day. That’s a mistake in my book. Go out and do it, if you took the time to prepare the execution should be easy. I taper well and I know so I draw confidence from that. Mines new goals are just that…Mines. The biggest set back so far has been the “Gimmie’s” you know, Gimme’ a beer, Gimme 3 hot dogs, Gimme a pounder of Haribo. The good news is that I’m stabilized at 171 lbs. I race long at 157 and was in the low 180’s last yr. this time. I have a horrible diet right now and it’s affecting the workouts so naturally it will change on its own.
In other news, I originally thought that I was going to be a part of a local elite tri team. Unfortunately it’s rolling back into a club like gathering. With that lost motivation I was a bit bummed. On the positive, I started posting some swim instruction and have been well received with a few people that are pretty fast. I see a few people helping and pushing each other well above elite status. The desire to achieve some big things is coming. These are a few people who have no problem dropping someone on a long run or hard bike. Maybe on the next ride you get dropped. No ones going to get better if we all just lollygag a 60 miler together except for that guy in the back. Yes I said lollygag.

So I thinks that’s all for the off season summaries. Training is picking up. Speeding up. Everyone has their goals set and everyone has an eye on the competition. Time to grab some equipment upgrades…ya right, not with 3 kids. Well just shine up what you got and get after it.