January 2nd ~ goals and such

Really, my goals for this upcoming year are pretty simple - continue with what I've been doing for the past year or two, and build on that. It's been working for me!

I am constantly adapting my goals to match reality so I am pretty flexible but I have to start somewhere so today I will outline my rough plan for the year, and start figuring out my training plan for the next month or so.

If you read my blog, you probably know that last year, my goal has to been to gradually increase my running mileage after my triathlon so that I could run a half marathon in the fall. Well that just didn't happen - my body still fights even small increases in speed and distance, and I'm just not going to be able to focus on a half iron triathlon for 2009.

I did a lot of thinking over the past 6 weeks and have decided that my strength really does seem to be in the shorter races - 5ks, and sprint triathlons. If I move to longer distances, I will be able to finish them but I won't be competitive. I figure I only have a couple of years to be competitive in racing so maybe right now I will focus on getting faster instead of going further.

It hard to believe that I will be able make any dramatic gains as I have the past few years, but even cutting off a few minutes would make me hapy at this point. Although it would be nice to podium, I'm mostly interested in just improving my time from August 2008. Making the podium is beyond my control - it really just depends on who races next year.

If I had done the same time for the sprint in 2007, I would have been in first place in my age group (the winning time for my age group in 2007 was 1:37:09.) In 2008, my goal was to do 1:35 and I surprised myself by coming in at 1:30. But the winning times for the 45-49 age group in 2008 were 1:13:20 (and she came in 4th overall!) followed by 1:17:01 and 1:27:26. There's no way I could come close to the first two times, but I might be able to be closer to 1:25 if I worked hard. Anyway, my goal is to PR the race, regardless of who will be racing against me.

So - I want to do 2-3 sprint triathlons next summer - possibly the Oliver Sprint in May, and maybe one other as a warm up. My "A" race will definitely the Apple Triatlon at the end of August.

I will also do a few 5-10k running races throughout the season, some to race and some for fun as a training run. They are always good to help work out the nerves.

As far as health and fitness goes, I need to lose 5 lbs again, and get back into my healthy eating habits. That's not too hard to do. I try to eat healthy all year long but I relax and enjoy life when I'm on holiday - March break, Christmas, and on and off throughout the summer. I also allow myself one day a week to eat out or have less healthy meals - because I think mental health is just as important as physical health.

The Nitty Gritty

1. Focus on increasing speed and strength. PR in sprint triathlon.

2. Continue to work up core and upper body strength, as well as balancing out my leg strength by doing some of the exercises my PT recommended. Do pushups, crunches, upper body weights at home, core (plank etc, stability ball, yoga), squats and other lower body exercises.

3. Swim 2-3X a week. Take another set of lessons. Focus on form and start to increase speed. New pool opens in April. - can't wait! Get in the lake earlier.

4. Run 3X a week. Follow a roughly similar to Galloway's 25 minute 5k plan. More on that later.

5. Ride the trainer 2X a week in zone 2, as well as intervals and drills until end of February. Get outside on mountain bike as soonas weather allows and back on road bike as soon as roads allow.

6. Eat mediterranean style diet - fruits, veg, whole grains, lean meat (more fish and poultry, less red meat), nuts and seeds, good fats.

7. Drink more water and green tea. Wine on weekends. One cup of coffee per day (with cream and sugar)

8. Take Vitamin C and E, glucosamine, calcium, and fish oil.

9. Enjoy life!

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Today - I'm feeling pretty good after my ride yesterday but my knees are a bit sore so I don't think I'll run today. I'm also stiff in the shoulders and have a sore butt but all are survivable. I'll do some kind of workout later today - probably upper body strength.


"Podcast"

Update: OK, I didn't get around to working out but I did do a one-shot podcast recording tonight. I just sat there and talked steady for 25 minutes with a little intro and outro (?) music. I was tempted to cut and paste and re-record but decided that once I started trying to 'fix' things, I'd never stop. Hopefully, most of it is tolerable and hopefully, if I do more 'episodes' later, they'll get better.

For this first episode I just talked about who I am, where I've come from, and a little about where I'm going. I guess I'm thinking I'd like to do a podcast with a woman's perspective on triathlon, fitness, and life in general, and yet still interesting enough for male triathletes or runners to listen to as well.

I listened to it once and didn't cringe too much so I guess I'm just going to throw it out there and see what happens.

Oh, and the sound isn't perfect. I need to learn to stay closer to the mic and I have to figure out the volume settings a bit better because sometimes I fade out a bit. Sorry about that. Maybe first time podcasts aren't always that great right? LOL...

To download, just go to http://drop.io/kelownagirl (note it's kelownagirl with an "i". Just to be confusing.)

(There I go, scaring the crap outta myself again. :)

No use putting money out for libsyn or podbean until I know this is something I can actually do. LOL...