2009 Goals

Here we are, nearly two months into the year and I haven't set my goals for the year. Yeah, I am a big procrastinator. However, I have been thinking about what I want to accomplish, usually during long runs. The reason I returned to triathlon was mainly for health reasons. However, the sense of accomplishment after finishing a race, regardless of the time, is truly gratifying.

Because the health aspect is primary, the first goal is to get my weight below 200 lbs by the end of the year. Last year I lost about 25 pounds so losing another 18 or so shouldn't be difficult. (Yeah, right!) Eventually, I would like to get below 180 but that will take a lot of work and may take a few more years. Oh yeah, I'm getting older too so that will make it even more difficult.

Swimming has always been one of my stronger segment in the past and is fairly strong now. My stamina is coming back and my time relative to the field has been good. Still, I need some goals to push myself to become an even stronger swimmer. Therefore, my swim goals are to complete the swim leg in pool-swim triathlons faster than a 1:35/100m pace and complete the swim leg in open-water swim triathlons at 1:45/100m pace.

To help with the open-water swims, I finally purchased a wetsuit. I remember when wetsuits were the exception and the debate the sport had regarding wetsuits in the 1980's. I didn't think I needed a wetsuit since I was a relatively strong swimmer and I thought wetsuit were for wusses. However, during the Naylor's beach triathlon, a friend of mine who I usually swim faster than in the pool bested my swim time by nearly three minutes convinced me to get a wet suit.

My cycling is starting to come back although hills still crush me. That will come back as I continue to shed pounds. Also, I am competing on my nearly twenty year old antique bike. It was a great bike when I bought it; a nice Columbus SL/SP frame Italian style frame made in Canada with Mavic Groupo, and it had the latest development at the time, indexed shifting! Right now, the bike is not slowing me down much since the motor (me) is still underpowered. So my bike goal for this year is to complete bike legs in sprint and Olympic distance triathlons faster than a 20mph pace (unless there are a lot of steep hills, then all bets are off!)

Running has always been my weakest leg, even twenty years ago. And today is no different. During the winter, I have been concentrating on my run, running much longer distances and trying to work in some speed training. Still, my running goals are modest and are: complete triathlon 5k run legs in less than 27 minutes and complete triathlon 10k run legs in less than 56 minutes. For running races my goals are: complete a 5k run in less than 25 minutes and complete a 10k run in less than 53 minutes.

Last year, I only completed sprint triathlons and did the aquabike in an Olympic distance tri. This year, my goals are to complete an Olympic and a half-ironman distance triathlon (or at least the aqua-bike)and if I do only the aquabike of a half-ironman, the goal is to complete a half-marathon run.

Well, these are my goals as modest as they may be. I would welcome any comments or suggestions you may have.