Reflecting on 2009

The year is almost over and since Beginner Triathlete keeps track of these things for me, I have some data from 2009. These numbers will be my baseline for future years of fitness.

Here's what I did in '09:
Running - 531 miles
Biking - 650 miles
Swimming - 25, 500 yards
Weight Loss - 10 pounds
Races - 11 (one duathlon, five 5K's, one 5 mile road race, one half marathon, three sprint triathlons)
Smiles - too many to count

Every day I am thankful that I can move, see, and hear. All of my family is healthy and we have a warm place to live. 2009 was a good year! I hope that you had a good year, too.

A Fool for a Client?

I am a self-coached athlete for several reasons. The most obvious is that I'm a beginner, an amatuer, and have little to no talent for the sport. For another reason, check my occupation. However, I still take planning my training and racing very seriously. Last year I used two books: Total Heartrate Training and The Triathlete's Training Bible both by Joe Friel.

This fall I used a training plan from Runner's World Smart Coach to train for my half-marathon. I liked the way that running plan was structured, so I am using a similar one for my base period running training. I combined that plan with what I used last year to come up with a plan for this year. The Runner's World plan had me doing a longish tempo run mid-week which does not work for me when darkness comes right when I get home from work. I kept the Sunday long run, but spread the weekly miles out more evenly. I don't plan on doing another half marathon until the fall, so the longish run seemed unnecessary. Also, all my triathlons this year will be sprint distance, so the tempo run was traded for shorter intervals.

Who knows how this will all work out. Personally, I think that at my level, just getting out there and running, biking, and swimming will show improvement. I'm just ready to tri it again this season!

First Week Back

Training for traithlon season 2010 is under way in rural LA! I was apprehensive after taking two weeks off, but no worries. I had a five mile run, a seven mile run, and a two mile run that all felt good. I rode the bike trainer twice and lifted weights. I won't start swimming until Feb. or March because the pool is so far away. My 7 mile run was faster than my last 7 miler in October, so that is encouraging. Maybe you can teach old legs a new speed. If not, I'm okay with that too. Any day that I am not in a hospital bed is a good day for me. I am signed up for a 10 mile trail run at the end of January. It still blows my mind that I can even sign up for a race like that. That just proves that with dedication and a little faith, anyone can be fit.

On a totally unrelated note, the picture above shows what the inside of my heart looks like!

Break's Over

It's time to start training for the 2010 triathlon season. Two weeks off was fun, but I'm ready to start running, biking, and swimming. I'll ease back into it for a couple of weeks and see what those easy weeks did to my fitness. I'm a little scared to find out. My cousin took a week off after her half marathon and said her first 4 mile run was hard. This is all still new to me, so everything I do is an experiment. I have some easy runs and bikes, a tempo run, and a 7 mile long run scheduled for this week. We'll see how that goes.

Please check out http://www.stridesacrosstexas.org/ If you are looking for a charity to donate to this holiday season, this is a worthy one.