Pondering Goals

For the past couple of years, I have had very specific goals for my race season.  Last year it was to finish my first Olympic distance race, which I did at Nation’s Triathlon.  This year it was to finish my first half-Ironman distance race, which I did at Timberman 70.3.  I have no idea what my goal for next season should be.

I’ve tossed around the idea of doing a marathon, but I’m not sure that’s really what I want to do.  I feel that it is the next logical step in my fitness journey, but do I really want to commit to the training for it?  By the end of this training season, I was so burnt out from the volume of training for Timberman that I couldn’t even think about doing another HIM any time soon.  I think the time commitment to marathon training would be comparable and I’m not sure I can commit to that.

My other thought is to continue racing tris at the Sprint and Olympic distance next year, aiming for PRs at all the races I’ve done in the past and add a couple of new races.  This is the “easier” route.  Training for these requires no more than 1-2 hours per day and I know I would aim for that with any workouts anyhow.

The one thing that I know I will not be doing is a full Ironman.  I am definitely not ready to devote my time to training for an event of that distance.  I will complete a full Ironman at some point in my life, but it is not going to be next year.  The funny thing is, I no longer question whether I can do an Ironman distance event.  I KNOW that I can with the proper training.  I think it was during the Timberman run that my perspective of what I can do completely changed and I realized that my body was capable of anything I could throw at it as long as I put in the time and effort to train for it.  My self-motivation is my only limiter.

I will be thinking about my goals for next year a lot over the next few weeks/months.  I’m going to try and come up with a plan that is still challenging, despite not increasing my distances across the board.  Maybe I’ll do a bunch of Sprint/Oly tris AND a marathon.  Maybe I’ll do just tris.  Maybe I’ll do nothing and go a different route entirely.  Sorry for the ramblings…just trying to sort through my thoughts.  What are your plans for next year?

In other news, I was terrible about running last week.  In fact, the only time I ran was when I last posted, for shame!  I had big plans to do a local 5K on Saturday, but after a busy week including tons of studying for two midterms, I just didn’t have it in me.  And when we found out that the entry fee was $40, Curtis and I decided we’d rather take that $80 and do something else another time.  I did manage to convince myself to run yesterday, and took the dog for about 6 miles.  Considering the overall lack of running lately, I felt pretty good for the whole run.  Neither my lungs nor my legs were a limiter even if I was going very slowly.  I did have a bit of a fight with myself about whether to keep going at several points along the route.  Somehow I managed to convince myself to just keep moving my legs, one step at a time.  This week I am supposed to taper for the 8K on Sunday.  I’m not sure how much of a taper it will be if I actually put in more days than I have been.  Here’s the schedule:

Monday – Off

Tuesday – 3 mile run

Wednesday – 3 mile run

Thursday – 4x400m with 400m walk/jog recovery

Friday – Rest

Saturday – 1-3 mile run easy

Sunday – Race Day!

Boring blogs

My posts have been pretty boring of late.  I’ve been writing nothing but a blow by blow account of each training exercise I do, and I know it can’t be terribly exciting reading.  I’m going to try and start blogging about the experience more than the facts and stats, although I must admit, it is a whole lot easier to do the usual.  I’ll still record my workouts, but it will be a much shorter and quicker review and any tech-y info I’ve got for the session.  For today, I did a 4 mile run mapped out on Gmaps pedometer.  It was pretty hot, but cloudy so no blaring sun the whole time, which was a nice treat.

Stats…

Duration: 42.54 (10:43 pace)

Average heart rate: 174

Maximum heart rate: 188

Calories: 492

Today was supposed to be a biking day, but I have dinner plans tonight and I just didn’t want to bike.  I don’t know why lately, but I’ve not been wanting to do anything other than run.  There was a time when I absolutely loathed running, and now I can’t get enough!  I’ve been looking into some possible running races after the tri and in the spring.  There’s a 5K the weekend after the tri at my high school that I’d like to do.  I was reading up about it today, and apparently it draws a pretty interesting crowd of elite runners from Kenya.  This year will be the 10th anniversary of the first race…I don’t think I even knew about it when I was in high school, but apparently it’s a pretty big deal.  I might just sign up even if I don’t feel up to running it a week after the Oly.  It benefits the program in place there for mentally challenged students to help them through a mainstream high school.  The other race I’m considering is the Charlottesville half marathon in April.  It’s supposed to be a beautiful and really challenging course.  And I try to take every opportunity I can to get down to my alma mater!

I love multi-sport, but I really feel the need to mix it up a little bit and try some new things.  I’ve gotten a little bored with my training schedule lately, particularly the long bike rides as I mentioned before.  I think a big problem is that I just don’t like to ride by myself because with the higher mileage, I end up so far from home and alone.  I love riding with Curtis on the weekends, but he doesn’t usually get home early enough on weekdays to ride with me before it gets dark.  Especially now that the days are getting shorter again.  (Side note- I am SO excited for fall and cooler weather to come!!).  I’m beginning to wonder if I have the mental determination to stick with training long enough to do an Ironman, which is my eventual goal.  I guess I’ll just take it one stepping stone at a time and see how things go.  Speaking of goals and stepping stones, I don’t think I’ve ever shared my long-term racing goals, so here they are:

1. Complete an Olympic distance triathlon in Fall 2009

2. Complete a half marathon in Spring 2010

3. Complete a half Ironman in Fall 2010

4. Complete a marathon in Fall 2011

5. Complete an Ironman in 2012

I’m not trying to rush things on distance progressions, clearly!  I do eventually want to complete an Ironman, and I think three years gives me plenty of time to attain that goal.

What are your long term fitness goals?