2012 Goals
Sunday, January 15, 2012
General goals:
Front load the calendar
I will have a lot of things going on outside of triathlon in the second half of the year. Therefore, I am structuring the year to focus around a June half ironman and then will race shorter distances the rest of the year which will give me the needed extra flexibility with training and switching up races if need be.
Race less in the spring to build more slowly
Looking at the past two years I have had a pretty consistent pattern of getting injured once I hit May and June. I think it is mostly because I did a lot of races in April, May and June and it was more than my legs were ready for. This has resulted in running injuries and then taking steps back while I took it easy or stopped running entirely. This has derailed my training the last two years. I will cut out a few weekends of racing while keeping a longer term perspective of racing faster when I hit my important races.
Do more group rides and group runs.
While I did more group rides in 2011 than 2010, it still wasn’t very much. This year, I want to boost the number of group rides, not just after work – but also on the weekends. I also want to include some centuries
Training approach goals:
Build consistency for 2013
With the limited racing in 2012, the goal is to get good consistency on my swim and run workouts during the year. These are my weakest 2 disciplines. With a year of consistency, hopefully I can start with a better base in 2013. In 2013 I want to race 3 HIM’s and an Olympic at the end of April. So 2012 needs to lay a good foundation for a big year in 2013.
Big swim block/winter fitness
I will not avoid all training during the winter. I am committed to swimming all winter 2-3 times per week with the goal of maintaining some fitness year round. I also want to build my mileage to ~10,000 yards per week – particularly before I am juggling all 3 sports. My swimming got very stagnant in terms of speed in 2011, so hopefully the additional yardage will yield some improvement. The goal is to get sub 40 minutes at HIM distance, and be working towards 35 minutes. I need to try to get towards 25 minutes at Olympic distance.
Run easy
Rather than religiously following the training plans in my books, I will run more by feel. I will do almost every run “easy” unless it is at a race. The goal is to keep injury free by doing most of my runs easy. I would like to build the consistency of the runs during the year to 4-5/week, even if some are very short. If I could get to 20-25 miles per week, I should see speed improvements simply due to the volume – this is a well proven approach.
Double swim volume
As with last year, I want to continue my streak of most age group yards at Cornerstone. This year I am shooting for 200 miles versus ~96 in 2011. This will be a big source of intensity and interval cardio work, particularly as I try to limit my runs somewhat to steady, “easy'” training efforts.
Use the midweek race series
Hartford has several great midweek race series. I want to supplement periods where I don’t have races with these options to get in hard brick workouts.
Race performance goals:
Sub 5:50 Half Ironman
This is the most important goal of the year. I will only get one shot at Patriot. After taking two steps back at Providence and Timberman last year, I need to improve from my Miami time. Patriot should be a good course for me, with a flat bike and run and moderate June temperatures.
Sub 21:45 5k (7:00 min/mile pace)
I was very close to achieving this goal last year but stumbled badly within 200 yards of the finish at Somers with severe cramps. There was every indication I had the fitness but it didn’t come together on race day.
Sub 2:00 Half Marathon
I think with more consistent running throughout the year, I should be able to achieve this. I ran 2:08 on totally insufficient training, so shaving 8 minutes should be doable.
Sub 48:00 10k
Much like my Miami HIM PR, my 10k best has not improved since 2010. I am not sure what race I will do, but I will try to find a fall race to log an improvement.
Sub 2:30 Olympic Distance Tri.
This might be the toughest to actually achieve. I only have one Olympic distance on the schedule as of the beginning of the year, but may look for another one. My PR is on a pancake flat Montreal course. I believe the race I have on the schedule has a bike that is about 1.5 miles longer than official Olympic distance which will further stack the odds against a PR. However, this will be the focus in the second half of the year. Read more...
