Upcoming Season

I’ve spent the past couple of weeks reading through Joe Friel’s The Triathlete’s Training Bible. The title pretty much sums it up. It provides a ton of details on how to self coach for triathlons. Using the methods from the book, I have plotted out my next season ending with IM Florida. It’s going to be an awesome year. Here is how things are going to pan out starting with Rocket City Marathon in December:

December: Rocket City Marathon (B)
January: First Light Marathon (B)
February: Mercedes Marathon (B)
March: BYE
April: Magic City Duathlon (C)
Music City Marathon (B)
May: IM 70.3 Florida (A)
June: Buster Britton (B)
July: Chattanooga Waterfront (B)
Wet Dog Triathlon (C)
August: Mountain Lakes (A)
September: IM 70.3 Augusta (B)
October: BYE
November: IM Florida (A)

The letters at the end of the event represent its priority. With “A” being the highest, these events are the focal point of my season. The “B” priority races are almost as important, but I won’t be tapering or recovering nearly as long (if at all) for these races. The few “C” priority races are those that will be just for fun. A few more might get added as the year progresses and event calendars are published.

When I started planning out my training, I needed to identify my biggest limiters. Running is by far my worst discipline of the three. That being the case, I decided to push myself and get a lot of running volume during my off season. First up is the Rocket City Marathon on December 12th. This is the first of three races in the 3-N-3 Challenge. The 3-N-3 Challenge is a race where you run all three marathons in the state of Alabama in three months. If you end up completing all 3 races, you get some sweet swag and bragging rights. Although I will be training for the marathons, I won’t be focusing primarily on running. I think a lot can be said for triathlon training as it pertains to overall fitness and weight loss. I’ll be adding a few more runs into my training than I will be doing after Mercedes, but I’ll still be working hard at building a solid base in the water and on the bike.

The first thing I did when I started thinking about this upcoming season was set goals. They are “up there.” It will take a lot of focus and training to reach them.

1. Finish IM Florida (in less than 13 hrs)
2. Finish IM 70.3 Florida in less than 6.5 hrs
3. Finish Mt. Lakes Tri run in less than 23 mins

Everywhere I’ve read, people say not to shoot for a specific time to complete an IM. There are just too many variables that are out of your control. Ideally I want to hit the sub-13hr mark, but will I be upset if it takes me 16 hrs to finish? Nope, as long as I cross that last timing mat still married, smiling, under my own strength, employed, and not poor I will be thrilled. I read that goal in Triathlete magazine and had to steal it. This next year is going to be a blast!

Eric’s Quote of the Day: “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” ~Michelangelo (the artist not Ninja Turtle)