Running challenge

I'm trying to find a way to get my running kickstarted again and make things more interesting. There was a time last year when I really got into the flow of running and started to enjoy it a lot. I'd like to get back there! One of the really fun events I did last year was the Colchester 1/2 marathon in February despite the brutal cold. I'm thinking there's a way to wrap these two items together.

There are 75 days between now and the 1/2 marathon on February 23... perhaps another challenge to set say 60 as a target number of days to run. That's quite a bit, but it would force me into consistency which would ultimately be my goal. I should probably set a number of miles too in order to add a bit of spice. I need to find a way to get it back into my daily schedule, probably by starting to run during the day at work again.

The best case scenario is that someone else, either a friend or relative, would join me in this challenge. Perhaps someone could pick a different activity, or even a few different folks? Anyone interested? It would be nice to have a bit of competition to keep me going... we could even put a small wager on it. Or not.

Drop me a note in email or a comment below if you're interested...

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Training totals update...

I haven't posted a lot of summary information in a while since it's been essentially a month or two off since my racing season but it's occasionally nice to do some comparisons to get a feel for how much things have changed in my life the past few years.

Some exciting number differences:

	2006 total	2007 - 11 months	% Difference
Swimming	43,000 yards	90,000 yards	110%
Biking	2,000 miles	2,800 miles	40%
Overall hours	278 hours	338 hours	22%

You'll notice that running is not in my table... it's actually down from last year, essentially on the strength (or weakness I suppose) of the last few months where I haven't done much running. Ultimately, if I want to get a lot faster in Triathlon, this has to change. I really need to get back in the habit, hopefully some of my new found motivation will go into this area.

Overall some very exciting and motivating numbers... it will be interesting to see if they continue to ramp up in 2008.

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Off season

Well, I've been feeling the off-season blahs already, even though it's hard to say it's really over. I had considered the Nutmeg 1/2 Iron, but when I hurt my shoulder I had a pretty good excuse to not do it. It turned out to be a pretty tough race, so maybe I'm not that sorry I missed it :)

I did get to go out and watch over the weekend as my brother and uncle were racing, and I got a little bit re-energized. I'm about ready to start working on my off-season plan and figuring out what I want to do next year. I have some more broad goals that correspond to events but it won't be a strictly triathlon year I think.

Things on the list TODO:
Mountain bike race, maybe 24 hours or just a regular
More overnight backpacking trips
Volleyball league
Road bike event - Century or two maybe
Running road races, maybe a marathon

Triathlons to do:
Winding Trails - Duh, I have a free pass for the whole year!!
Mooseman 1/2 Iron, always a good weekend!
1 or 2 others, Olympic or 1/2 Iron distance.

Things I won't do next year:
Full Ironman distance - I promised my wife :)

Other goals:
Get under 200 lbs

The big one is the last one, breaking the 200 pound barrier. I'm not going to race any more in the Clydesdale division, and I want to "earn" that right next year. I need to lose 25 pounds to make sure I consistently stay under 200 with a little bit of fluctuation. I'm going to be doing a little bit of posting and planning to figure out how to meet this goal, since it's clearly going to be hard for me to do. I've had generic lose weight goals in the past and have had mixed results so I'm going to need to focus and build a plan. I'm targeting May 1, which requires roughly 4 pounds a month, or 1 pound a week. My initial thoughts include exercise, better diet and I'm going to try a more consistent weight lifting plan this year to build my metabolism. I'm also thinking of commuting to work a couple times a week for as long as I can go until the snow arrives.... all preliminary thoughts so far though, more details to come.

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