Sunday, October 31, 2010

Making Plans For a New Season

It’s helpful for me to look back when looking forward…this week a year ago, I was finishing up a nearly-18-hour training week, my last big one before the taper to IM AZ began. The body and mind just adjust to those volumes as normal. And adjust right back the next year, as I can’t quite imagine squeezing all of that into my life at the moment.

Beginning to train again for a new year is in some ways the most exciting part of the experience – full of hopes and dreams about races yet to come! I have played around with this schedule for several months now, mostly trying to find some things to keep me entertained over the winter, work on my weaknesses once racing season starts, and build in the best way possible to my biggest goal of the year. I appreciate all the help my coach gave me in tweaking the schedule for the best chances of success.

  • Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 5K, Nov 25 – Come Thanksgiving morning, I’ll be lining up with half of my extended family and a cast of thousands for our local turkey trot. This will be my back-to-training run test, so it’s bound to hurt a bit.
  • Jingle Bell Run 5K, Dec 18 – I miss winter running races and especially small local ones, so why not?
  • Tritonman Sprint Triathlon, Feb 20 or maybe the Stanford Treeathlon, late Feb – 1st tri of the year!
  • World's Shortest Triathlon, mid April – The distances are impossible to resist.
  • Catfish 1-mile OW swim, late April – Time to work on the open water swimming.
  • Tempe International Triathlon, May 15 – Hello, Tempe Town Lake, we meet again, see you in 6 months.
  • Splash & Dash, June 2 – 1500m swim, 5k run.
  • Silicon Valley 1/2 IM, June 12 – Though *still* not formally announced on the race website, we are told it will happen. This race falls in the category of “too local to pass up” i.e. the start line is within running distance of my house.
  • Splash & Dash, July 7 – see above.
  • Catfish 2-mile OW swim, late July – see above.
  • Santa Cruz International Triathlon, Aug 7 – Now that I’m no longer scared of ocean races…
  • Big Kahuna Triathlon, Sep 11 – Once upon a time, when I was just a runner, I said “Someday maybe I will do a triathlon and maybe even a 1/2 IM and I’ll do Big Kahuna.” Well gee, I guess I should finally do this one!
  • Catfish 2-mile OW swim, mid September – see above.
  • Lighthouse Century, Sep 24 – Going back for the 100 mile distance since we loved the 100k so much this year.
  • And finally, there’s THIS, Nov 20 – Oh YES, again!

I suppose I’d better stock up on Recovery Socks and bags of ice now…

13 comments:

My Life said...

That looks like an exciting year especially the IMAZ part!! Awesome! I remember seeing your IMAZ posts on Barb's facebook last year. Can't believe I'll actually (kinda) know what you're going through this time! :) Looking forward to training with you!

Maria said...

Yay! The Ironman returns!!
What a busy schedule you'll have but it looks like it's going to be a great season!

San said...

Wow, a whole season already planned out that's amazing. Best of luck for this new season.

Thank you for your kind comment. Have a great new week.

beardies3 said...

2 big ones! Wow. Good for you!!!! As always, you impress us. We will be cheering you from the computer! My dream is to actually SEE you cross the finish line. Some day I'll be at a race. How about IM Australia? Hmmm? Or more likely IM BC.

Meredith said...

Yay! It's going to be an awesome year for you. I'm hoping to get some spectating in this year!

Kathleen said...

Wow, that is quite a schedule!
I am volunteering at IMAZ this year and plan to be in line the next morning to sign up. Sometimes I can't believe I am going to do it. Very scary. I am not mentioning it to anyone until I have the paper work saying that I am in. I read your race report from last year and got inspired though the video of the swim caused much anxiety.
Best of luck in 2011!

Molly said...

What area will you be volunteering in? I'm wetsuit stripping. I remember all those same feelings 2 yrs ago when I was going down to sign up but watching the race was so exciting I knew I wanted to do it!

Wes said...

I'd like to plan for next year too. *yawn* Just not ready yet ;-) Your year looks busy!! Looking forward to following you.

Sherry said...

What an exciting 2011 schedule. Lots of variety! I like that!

D said...

Booooo! I was so happy reading your race plans and not seeing an IM (though I knew you had been planning another for next year) ;P

Not gonna lie, I really love that I can plan my races about a week out now. F a year in advance!

Kathleen said...

I am working at run aid station #4.
I am very excited about watching the race. It is all the suffering that some people experience that I don't want to see :)

TriGirl Kate O said...

ooooh! I wanna sherpa for you in Nov! Let's see if I'm even state-side, but I'll try REAL HARD to make it happen.

Enjoy the vaca and let's chat when you get back.
xo

Jen said...

IM AZ take 2?!?! NICE! Tempe Town Lake is looking GREAT! We'll see ya soon :)