2017 Update! Goals and Vision

Hi Everybody! It's been a great start to 2017. It began with me still being in the middle-east on my military travels, which began in July of last year. But I returned in mid-January to much hoorah and fanfare! 

We are all pretty much ecstatic.

Also, when I was away, I was able to log some pretty decent training. I rode a couple thousand miles on the trainer, ran a fair bit until October (then I just focused on cycling and gym strength), and - believe it or NOT - I was actually able to SWIM on occasion! (But that ended in October as well.)

Then one of my buddies, John and I decided that we were going to create and ride our own Tour of Sufferlandria while I was gone. That was 9 days of cycling with no rest days, and all of them were very intense sufferfest workouts. Also, we made Blender day 8, and It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time (aka ISLAGIATT) as day 9. It was tough, terrible, and terrific all at the same time. It also helped me get into super good cycling shape. So I hope to carry that into this next year... Here is a picture of us starting the first day, complete with a Sufferlandrian Flag. (And yes, we were doing it in December in an unconditioned expeditionary structure. So it was very cold on some mornings.)

So now that I'm back, we are still here in Charleston, SC and I'm going to continue to train and make it the best year I can. It's been interesting. As I become a more experienced athlete, I realize that I should try to stress less about training, and stress more about making sure that I'm putting my relationship with God and my family FIRST before training and work. When I do that, I enjoy my job and my training much more; and I can still remain competitive.

Here are my goals this year, in priority order:

1) Win the Elite category for the Charleston Sprint Triathlon Series.

2) Complete the the Festivelo with at least two of the days the 100 mile route.

3) Run a sub 37 minute 10k by the end of the year.

That last one may be a bit of a pipe dream, but I think I can actually do it, if I'm smart about my periodization this year. I think I can probably do it in August/September. We shall see.

My periodization plan will be to continue enjoying the next few weeks with the family and just doing whatever I feel like. When I start back to work, I'll pick back up with structured training, mostly focusing on Swimming (if work allows) and cycling, and reintroducing some brick runs. I'll stick to this for a couple months, and then start introducing some tougher running stuff in March/April.

When I get into the thick of the Charleston Sprint Series, I'll even out the training hours across the three sports. (Because that's where I shine as a triathlete. I'm not the fastest in any one of the sports, but I'm fast enough in all three that I can usually fight for the overall win.)

Then as soon as the final series race is complete, I'll simultaneously try to run that sub 37-minute 10k and up my bike trainer volume to try and finish the Charleston Vestivelo with at least two of the days being the 100 mile route. The event is across Veterans day weekened and is four days of consecutive riding. Some people manage to do 100 miles every day!!!!