Ok, here we are the end of another season for most. Maybe some of you had the season of your life. Maybe some got injured or limped along. All that’s in the done pile, folks. And in true Slowtwitch tradition I pose the question …
What race are you most looking forward to next year? And what are your goals? Doing your first IM, or your 100th? Let the dreaming begin …
I’ll start. Since I’m about 3 miles from the start of EagleMan, that’s what I am looking forward to most. Not because it’s my A race - June is too early for me - but because it gets me jazzed to think of 1800 triathletes and their fans coming to my home town. And I get to participate with my wife, brother, training team, and all the other fine folks who come down to the beautiful Eastern Shore of Maryland. Let me be the first to welcome you to EagleMan 2004. May the wind stay away!
Next year, going pro, winning the gold medal at the olympics, being swept away for a couple of monthes to a tropical sland where all the local female population (who happen to all be supermodels) need advice on which triathlon bike to buy. I’d come ou of hiding just in time to do Hawaii (and win of course) I’d set some sort of record time (like six hours) and then be wisked away to spend the rest of my days starring in my own movies and getting free stuff in the mail.
I’m seriously considering the CaliforniaMan 1/2 May of '04. However, this is a very busy year for me academically, so I have to weigh that in. Then there is the idea of a totally closed bike course! Gotta love that. Perhaps the 1/2 Vineman one day 'cause the course sounds really nice. Other than that, mostly the local race scene, which is prolly the most fun of all based on atmosphere.
You can’t win Hawaii. I am going to. I am going to win some ridiculous contest put on by a cheap anti-perspirant and get a new bike, top notch coaching. I am going to quit my job and move somewhere warm to train.
I will set a new swim record, easily winning the new $50,000 swim prime. I will have the third fastest bike (behind Larsen and Lance - who decides after winning his 6th straight TdF to give triathlon a go) and will then run a 2:30 marathon to finish in a record 7:45.
Seriously, I have a new baby. If I can do three races next year and bring my bike up to a 25km/h average in an oly - I will be very happy.
Ralph’s Half IM–definite time goals, which I don’t want to put out there at this time.
CaliMan–finish the damned thing! Not end up in the medical tent.
Do some bike races and see how I like it. (especially on the track)
Race I’m most looking forward to? Not sure. Ralph’s to see if my training is getting me to where I want to be. CaliMan to see if I can get that DNF monkey off my back, and, I might get to race with a friend, which would make me very happy. Half Vineman cause I love that race.
Event I’m most looking forward to? The TOUR baby!! Belgium beer, French wine, Aussie cyclists and LANCE going for #6! I can’t wait!!
I’m also doing Eagleman. It will be my first big race out of state, really excited about the trip with some of my tri buddies. Hoping for a 5 to 5 1/2 hour finish.
Ironman Florida will be my other big race. I went back and forth about doing an Ironman my second year but I knew if I didn’t sign up for it I would regret it. Just hoping to get under 12 hours. That should really cap off the season for me.
I took a new job in Feb. Big job. Fancy pants, I’m the boss kinda job. By June I was so skinny and stressed out my girlfriend was begining to worry about my health. Hadn’t raced a triathlon since burning out three years earlier. So, I figured I’d do a sprint and maybe get inspired. Since the race was only two weeks away, I thought it best not to train at all. I called it my “taper.” Raced. Got my ass kicked. Loved it. Remembered why I loved the sport so much. My “season” began a month ago - the offseason. Working it hard to get in good shape for spring. Can’t wait for St. Anthony’s. St. Petersburg is where my tri life began. I can’t wait to swim in the home waters, bike past my old house off Coffee Pot drive, run with new legs through the neighborhoods I grew up in. I will be one happy triathlete. Then I will race sprints in Miami and Clermont. Then I will do the 1/2 IM in Clermont. Then I will drink beer and smile.
Looking forward to our local “Peaks to Prairies” Run,Bike Kayak. Thenthe beartooth run,8.8 miles up the swithbacks of the beartooth pass here in Montana(not sure the final evelation,though the very top above 12,000ft)Maybe the iron horse bike race(5,000ft of climbing in Colo.)Then my “A” race. IM Couer d’alene.Goal of 12 hr. Then some trail runs. But IM is where all my focus is for.
The last two seasons for me have been a bunch of “firsts”. Did my first sprint tri (nearly drowned) and first oly 2 years ago. I did my first 1/2 IM at Wildflower and my first IM at Vineman this past season. Now that I’m done with all the “firsts” at every distance I actually want to race the distances. With the impending birth of our second child in February I had to accept that I won’t be able to get in 6-7 hour long rides this year (without risking divorce), so no IM in 2004, but I am going to do the CaliMan 1/2 and the Big Kahuna 1/2, and 5-6 short-course races. Like Cathy, I have a time goal in mind, but I don’t know that I’m ready to share it yet.
What I’m really looking forward to is seeing the cumulative benefit of 3 years of base training, plus the effects of several changes to my training plans and equipment for 2004: 1) swim lessons, 2) Powercranks, 3) more offseason weights, 4) New Renn disk and (hopefully) Renn front wheel 5) New Cervelo P3, and most importantly 6) 6:00 AM rides on the trainer EVERY morning- after all, Gordo says it’s all about the cycling volume and frequency. That last one took several weeks to get used to, but with some really strong coffee I think it’s becoming tolerable now. I really hope that last one pays off because I’m really missing sleeping in.
I can’t wait to get started mapping out all my plans for next year. I just finished IM Fl two weeks ago and on Sunday will resume training. The 2 week break is the first time in about 12 or 13 years that I have taken more than a week off of training. My wife is anxious for me to get back at it because I’m grumpy My main goal comes as the result of the Hawaii slot I got in Florida so after qualifying a few times and not going I’m finally going to go to the big island in October. Everything else is preparation but I went just over 4:20 for a 1/2 last August and would like to break 4:20 someplace next summer to let me know I’m ready for Hawaii. I’m also setting high expectations for myself for Hawaii since all this “go once for experience” stuff will cost me far too much money to be there just to finish
If anyone is in the SF bay area I’d be happy to send you my all inclusive calendar of events. I scoured the internet and magazines for days to compile the list. It is in Excel 7.0. Drop me an email at yellowdog@astound.net and I’ll fire it off to you. And if you find any errors, please let me know!
After getting throughly thrashed at Wildflower on the Oly course (my first Oly) this year. I’m heading back to tackle long course (my first 1/2 IM). Hopefully this time without the rain, don’t want blazing heat either though.
-SJ International, transition is 3 miles from my front door and I train on portions of the course almost every day, thought I should try it.
-Some local sprints maybe some olys
-1/2 vineman towards the end of my season and some local sprints
-Probably some bike racing too
I’m just beginning to find out that I can push much harder than I did this past year. Next season should be good.
All this is a backup plan to being in DC and having no clue if I’ll even race.
Eagleman - My first triathlon in a long time. Was training for IM CDA last year and lost a battle between myself and a car. Goals beat a friend of mine (need a little under 5:00hrs for that.) Stretch goal if the moon a lines correctly sub 4:40. Its all contingent on remembering how to swim.
Finally upgrade to a 3 on the road. I’ve been close before but the plan for last season fell through. See above.
Win the first annual Tour de Chimay. A race series between myself and two other people. 4 Tris (Eagleman, Wilkes-Barre, and two to be named), a bike race, a running race, and a swimming race.
I have a couple of goals and races in mind for next year:
IMOO will be done for the second year. I know I had a better race in me than the temperatures allowed, so I have to give it another shot. Super course, super support and just plain fun.
Dairy Land Tri. Ya gotta love that cold Lake Michigan swim! With the bike course change this should be even a more spectaculor race - I just need to race a few more times before hand. With it being the first of the season got way to hyped which caused poor times.
Do a couple of shorter races to prep for the big races.
Lots of base building w/ low heart rates and working the strength training. Haven’t done either like a lot of the training guides indicated. Already starting to see a difference with both.
Continue to have FUN with all of the great people in triathlon. (This is in reality my #1 goal!)
Wow…some pretty elite company in this board. All these halfs and IMs have me a bit awestruck. I’ve been at this game since about 85 and I’ve yet to go as long as a half. Not sure if I should applaud you all or send out business cards to therapists. Seriously though…after getting hurt as bad as I did at work last spring and being told by my doctor that I should be thankful I can walk again getting back into the game again this past summer and proving her wrong good enough for me. As for dreaming about next season…I lucked out at the season ending draw for prizes in our local race series and won three months of coaching from Barrie Sheply (the Canadian Olympic team coach). Now that my aches from this past summer have subsided I’m looking forward to seeing how far back I can come (not that I was much of anything to begin with) under his coaching. Most of the stuff I do is short anyway so goals are limited to repeating my age group champion status in the try a tri series and beating some local friends. Best of luck to all of you (especially those planning on sub 8 Hawii and living in the lap of luxury thereafter) and if you ever get the urge to race north of the border drop me a line.
good question and good timing as I am sure a lot of people have visions of a great off season of training in anticipation of an even better 2004.
I have started really working a lot on my run in hopes of returning back to having that part of a triathlon as my strongest leg. I have been gradually raising my mileage over the past 5 weeks and am currently at 60 miles per week, all easy running. Plans are to keep building through the end of the year. I start adding back some riding next week.
I am still putting together ideas for next year and nothing is for sure yet, but some of the events I have peniciled in so far:
Desert Classic Duathlon in Phoenix in February
Powerman Alabama
Baker to Vegas Relay
Lake Tahoe Relay (with Team Slowtwitch again if Dan gets un-injured)
several Dannon Duathlons
USAT Duathlon Nationals
and for something very different I am thinking about doing Ironman Revisited. If you are unfamiliar with this event, it is the full Ironman distance on the original course in Oahu. It normally just has about 35 entrants and is a fundraiser for the Challeneged Athletes Foundation. http://www.challengedathletes.org/caf/template.asp?id=91
I hope to make that decision in the next couple of weeks and then I will be hitting you all up for a donation
We’re waiting for the race schedule here in Norway, but next year will probably look something like this, after I have managed to avoid illness, nicotine and overdoses of coke and sweets all winter through:
April: Half marathon in my home town. I have done my home work and the result is a PB (It’s still veeerrrry slow, but…)
In may or June, marathon in Stockholm or Cöpenhagen. Pb with a couple of min.
Last of June “The little trail of strength”: Bike race from Lillehammer to Oslo, approx 190 km. Goal: finishing togethe with my friends.
4.th of July: My club arrange for the first time a triathlon that starts from a prison island (It’s still a prison there, and maybe the guards and some of the prisoners wil participate) with 2300 m swimming, 20 km mountain biking and a 8-10 km run. Goal: 80 participants and some publicity for triathlon.
First week of August is the second time we arrange the Norwegian Xtreme triathlon, and this year it’s my turn to be responsible. Goal: A fantastic race for 125 triathletes.
Also in August: Our new- started triathlon club dominates the result list if your read it backwards. At least 10 to the start.
But most of all: Having fun and trying to make our club grow from 30 to 50 members!
My main goal comes as the result of the Hawaii slot I got in Florida so after qualifying a few times and not going I’m finally going to go to the big island in October. Everything else is preparation but I went just over 4:20 for a 1/2 last August and would like to break 4:20 someplace next summer to let me know I’m ready for Hawaii. I’m also setting high expectations for myself for Hawaii since all this “go once for experience” stuff will cost me far too much money to be there just to finish