December 28th

Workouts in the past two days

December 27 - 5km run in 41:22 (snowy roads)
December 28 - upper body, situps, crunches, plank.

Past Goals

I've been thinking a lot about my goals and training plan for 2009 and I plan to post them sometime in the next few days but right now, I'm looking back to where I was time last year and reflecting on what I've accomplished this year.

It's funny but I found an old goal list the other day that dated back to 1996. It was the same goal every year, and only the date was changed at the top. In fact, I just crossed it off and tried again every year. And I never seemed to actually meet my goals. Yet in the past two years, I have been able to accomplish so much - what is different? - I really do not know. Time to reflect.

My Goals for 1996 2001 2002 July 2002 January 2003 August 2003

1. To eat, exercise, and sleep properly for at least 21 days and establish a new habit of healthy eating, sleeping, and exercising.

I tried hard every year btu never seemed to make it stick. Then I started biking in the spring of 2006 and the following December, I set some goals for 2007.

In 2007:
1. Do a century ride.
2. Ride to Vernon and back.
3. Climb Anarchist Mountain as fast as the boys.
4. Climb Gordon Hill in less than 4 minutes.
5. Beat my previous TT Route time of 33:50 minutes, 28.3 km/h.
6. Do a 5 km running race, goal to finish in 30 minutes or less.
7. Do some long rides - 200+ km at least 2 times this season.

In December 2007, I reflected on those goals and noted that I:

1. Rode 100 km several times this summer. May 27, 2007 Metric Century in 3:47
2. Rode to Vernon and around the lake - 162 km, 100 miles on August 24, 2007
3. Anarchist Mountain 46:35. Beat Yogi, beat Erik's 2006 time.
4. Gordon Hill in 3:30 on June 16, 2007
5. TT Route in 32:28, 29.6 km/h on May 11, 2007
6. I started running last January after spending years thinking I could not run. In June 2007 - ran my first 5km race in 26:17. Came in 5th in my age group and 23rd overall. Followed that with severe shin splints and didn't run much for the rest of the year.
7. Didn't get to do any long rides but did cycle 340 km over 9 days in Provence, France.

Then, I set new goals for 2008:

1. Return to running asap. Start slowly, build slowly. Work my way back up to 5 km, then 10 km, and hopefully do half marathon in October.
2. Do a duathlon in May.
3. Start swimming in January.
4. Do a triathlon in August.

Reflecting on these goals now:

1. I built up my running again with physio, massage, orthotics, and perseverance.
- 5k race June 10, 2008, 26:26 3rd in my AG
- 8k race July 9, 2008, 46:17
- 10K Zen Run for fun, Oct. 10, 2008,. 1:08:00 (leg pain, had to walk lots)

2. Did not do the duathlon in May. My running was not strong enough yet.

3. Took swimming lessons in January and swam 2-3X a week all winter/spring. Overcame a huge fear of open water during the summer and managed to do the triathlon without a wetsuit at the very last minute. (OMG)

4. Did the Apple Sprint Triathlon on August 17, 2008. I came 4/12 in my age group (55/113) and did awesome on the bike split coming in 16/113 overall in the bike. My run was my weakest event because I'd had a lot of shin problems all summer and hadn't run much in the two weeks previous. I was ecstatic about my results and exceeded my goal of 1:35-1:40 with a time of 1:30:04.

So now I have to decide what my goals are for 2009. The long term plan was to do an oly or a half iron in 2009/2010 and maybe IMC in 2010 or later. What will I do? Stay tuned.