Year Report

Well, now I've had a few days to reflect about the race, here is my year report.  Just a warning, it will be long.

TRAINING
I started my training on 1/1/11.  I rode the Columbia course on my computrainer to see where my bike fitness was.  My plan was to do the Computrainer P.I.G training plan for 20 weeks to work into biking, then the BarryP 3-2-1 run trianing plan.

Jan/Feb went and I was making some progress.  I was increasing my running mileage gradually and feeling great.  Biking was going OK, but I was quickly realizing the Computrainer wasn't worth the money.  Some people love the ERG mode, but I'd rather push my own watts then rely on something forcing me to it.  The 3d software crashed, wigged out, etc.  The real course videos wouldn't register for a month, then Kona had issues and Lake Placid had some "phantom" crazy hard hills.  I was dissapointed because the majority of my training was going to be on the CT with Lauren pregnant.

RACE SEASON
Race season came in April, with my first sprint.  I had a bad bike fit (self inflicted) and an asthma attack on the bike.  I had to run/walk the run...I was not happy with that performance.  I realized that my bike wasn't even close to what I was hoping to be at.  I think I was in better shape the years before b/c I turned in the same time with better gear...oh well!

I did a local 5k race and finished a tough course in 17:40.  I started feeling more confident about my running.  I was still taking it "easy" on my runs compared to years before focusing on building base mileage.  I did a 66 mile ride outdoor with some friends that felt pretty good, but started to bonk b/c of nutrition.

May had more training and a fast 5k.  I ran 17:10 to get 2nd overall.  I felt great and was really happy with my run training.  My swim training had been going great too.  I was only swimming 1-2 times a week, but got up to 3k sets.

June I had a sprint and a 70.3 race.  Both I suffered from gearing issues on the bike.  I was riding 165mm compact cranks with a 12/27 cassette.  I was spinning out on hills and loosing time.  The sprint went well, with another solid run.  The 70.3 had a tough bike course.  I went out too hard and suffered, but had a good run to land me 1st in my AG.

July I started getting PTTD in my right ankle.  I had to back off my run training and decided to ride every day the tour did.  I enjoyed this a lot.  My long rides were on the trainer next to my mother-in-law's pool.  I did a few 3 and 4 hr rides where I jumped in the pool to cool off.  I did a sprint race and had a solid bike, but was still tired on the run.  I missed 3rd OA by 30 seconds.

August came along with Isaac.  We were new parents having no idea what was going on.  Work gave me 1.5 weeks off, which I took advantage off.  I got a 12 mile run, some biking, etc.  My training dropped off, but I focused on my running until the race.

Last month I did a few 2+ hr rides, but a 16 and 18 mile run.  My swimming dropped off, but I was fine with it.  This leads me to the race.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go, as my bike training was well below my target.   I wanted to have 5 rides of 4 hrs of more and only got two.  I wanted to have 4 16+ miles runs and only had 2.  Oh well.

Check out my race report to see how I did.  I'm doing a 15k in December and maybe another 5k, but will start formulating my training/racing plan for next year.  Just waiting to hear back from a few companies about some opportunities.  The big focus may be a 4:30 70.3 and a BQ at Philly.