I would like to see...happen in 2011

Well we are 20 days into the new year, and it is finally time that I state some goals that I will be chasing for the upcoming year. Last year I had three goals, and three goals only. They were all time related, and while they required some great effort in training, I feel they left a lot of potential on the table in me. This year I am taking a new approach to my goals for the year. First, I will have goals in training that I would like to accomplish through the year. The main idea behind this is that my training goals will help propel me to reach my racing goals in 2011.

2011 Training Goals
1a. CONSISTENCY
b. Hit 95% of all workouts throughout the year
2. Volume: Swim 350,000 yards, Bike 4,000 miles, Run 1,000 miles

The first goal is a two-part goal, with consistency being the driving force in all my goals this season. I decided to put consistency into my goals for the single reason that I lacked much of it last year. This time last year I was not able to swim, was just starting to run again, and spinning in my trainer was not requiring hard efforts. Once summer started, my run training faltered during the month of June, while I smashed a lot of miles on my bike. Some weeks I was able to hit all my workouts, and sometimes I was so busy with work that my hardest weeks turned into easy recovery weeks. Things finally got on track in August and I had my first 100 mile running month, along with putting in great swim and bike volume as well. Then after Ironman it appeared on was on a breakup with my bike while I focused on training for a half-marathon, and soon after that, got back into the pool to prep for 2011. All throughout the year it seemed that my training had more ups and downs then the IMWI bike course, and that I was never putting out one consistent week after another, which is key to this year. I realized that this was a huge fault in my training, and if I wanted to have any chance in reaching the success that I feel I am capable of in 2011, I would have to be consistent. With this stated, my goal trainingwise, is to hit 95% of all my workouts throughout the year. That equals out to 19 every 20, or in better understanding skipping 1 workout about every 2 weeks. Doing this, will keep my weeks productive, and I will rarely have to do any restructuring as I seemingly did every week last year. I am planning my training over the race season right now (April-October), but will mostly write 2 weeks into the future with details of each training session.

Volume is my second training goal and is really only a goal to make sure that I am putting in the time that I feel is necessary to the net the results that I would not only like see in 2011, but to set me up for a successful 2012 and getting back to the Ironman distance. Going back to consistency it's important that I spread this volume out correctly and not putting in 400 miles of running in the final couple of months to make sure that I hit my goal. This numbers for volume do not necessarily mean I will be training more, but again, training more consistently. I feel that I will keep the same training weeks as I did last summer, maybe a bit less, but over the course of 12 months I will have greater volume. For example I only really swam 5 months last year and put in about 110,000 yards which comes out to about 22,00 per month. This year if I swim 350,000 yards over 12 months I will average just under 30,000 yards a month, or just under 8,000 yards a week. This is still a lighter volume and something that is very attainable. Running will peak through the second half of summer through fall, but my months will average just under 90 miles a month. This will be a big jump from last year, but again, with consistency easily attainable. I would like to put on about another 500 miles biking and as long as I don't take a vacation from my bike through the fall this should be rather easy.

Racing Goals
This is where goal setting gets a bit tricky. How hard do I make the goals that I want? make them too hard and you might set yourself up for failure, and overtraining. Too low and you lack motivation and the feeling of success when you accomplish your goal. At first I did not want to make any goals based on race times, but have decided that is really the best way to measure my improvement. If I want to finish top 10% for a race and the nations top elites show up it would make it almost impossible suddenly. That said I have two time goals for the year:

Race Goals
Sub 5 hours at Racine 70.3
Sub 1:35 at Haunted Hustle HM

In reality if I beat my Racine goal the HM goal shouldn't be too hard. After all, if I want to go under 5 hours at Racine I will have to run close to a 1:50 split in the HM which should correspond to about a 1:35-1:40 time in an open HM. I have no specific reason for my Racine goal other then I see that I hold the potential in me to reach that time. After the race (Racine) last year I felt that I held back a little bit on the run and could have beat 5:20. Mix in a bad swim, and the chain coming off my bike twice and I could have been near 5:15. Also this year is really about running, getting a solid base of miles and getting my pace a little faster off the bike in the longer distance since this is something that I struggled with mightily last year. My goal time at the HM is simply to get me to train hard for the race and hopefully build a strong run in me. Both of these race goals are building blocks for my return to Ironman next year and erasing my horrible marathon time, and becoming more competitve in the race in general. Of course the only way that these goals can be met is through...CONSISTENCY!

While I am at it I would like to see a few things happen this year...
Podium one race
Have an epic smashfest weekend
Become a more proficient bike mechanic
Discover trail running
Move up a lane in Master's

Oh and the Packers are gonna win come Sunday!

BC