2018 Race Season - Week 1 on the Road to Santa Rosa

It's been quite a while since my last blog post but well, I've been busy. Raced a relatively uninspiring season in 2017, got through the first year of my new job, went to China. You know, just a few things going on. Good news is, I've stayed relatively active during the off season and feel like I'm in a decent place as I begin triathlon training season.

I like outlining my race season for the world to see because it kind of keeps me honest with my training. Today marks the end of week 1 of my 20-week training plan for Ironman 70.3 Santa Rosa in July. I'm looking forward to a few new races this year and to a 70.3 course at sea level with shade! I've grown to enjoy the process for 70.3 training and it's challenging but also doable for my current fitness level and amount of time I have to train.

Goals for this season:

Boulder 70.3 - 2017

• Swim - just maintain: I'd say that I've lost some speed since my 2015 season, when I had a coach and was swimming 7-8k a week. However, I am extremely comfortable in open water now, still enjoy swimming and feel pretty good about my swim times. For Boulder 70.3 last year, I swam almost the exact same time as Steelhead 70.3 in 2015 (much harder swim course), so I'm cool with that. I'll swim two, maybe three times a week during this training plan but this is not a focus area this year.

• Bike - it's all about the power: I've been really growing in this area since I moved to Colorado and will spend a lot more time this season building strength on the bike. I was consistent with spin class/bike-on-trainer over the winter and saw my FTP increase over several months. If I can stay consistent with this for the next 19 weeks, sea level in CA is going to feel amazing.

• Run - time on my feet: After Steelhead in 2015, I acquired a deep hamstring strain which required months of PT. I basically didn't run at all for like 5 months and then struggled with running for up to a year. During this time, I also gained about 15 lbs, which also made running even more difficult. 2017 race season was better but dramatically slower. I have been very consistent since January and basically if I do nothing else in a week, I get my prescribed runs in. I'm finally feeling some quality, albeit slow, runs and no injuries at all. I'd like to get that half marathon for the 70.3 under 2:45:00. 

2018 RACE SEASON:

• Apr 15 - Horsetooth Half Marathon (Ft. Collins, CO)
• May 5 - AZ Open Water State Championships - 2500m open water swim (Tempe, AZ)
• May 28 - Bolder Boulder 10K (Boulder, CO)
• Jun 2 - Colorado Triathlon (Oly) (Boulder, CO)
• Jun 16 - Denver Century Ride (HALF century for me) (Denver, CO)
• TENTATIVE - Jul 8 - Boulder Peak Triathlon (Oly) (Boulder, CO)
• 'A' RACE: Jul 28 - Ironman 70.3 Santa Rosa (Santa Rosa, CA)

Might add a race or two in the fall, but we'll see how things go. More to come!