A New Year - Goals, Upcoming Races, and Misc Stuff

I've never been a fan of looking back for reasons outside of critiquing my performance to figure out what I can get better at.  2013 was a good year for me (endurance sports wise) but could have been a lot better, but other - more important things - took a foothold in my life (birth of my son, family, etc) which pushed training and racing back quite a bit.  No excuses, and I wouldn't change a thing - and I'm incredibly happy with how 2013 turned out.

Regardless, I think there is a lot I can improve upon for 2014 and it will be an interesting year crunching my training plans in with other commitments.  I have a busy race schedule planned for this year, and it will be fun to see how that plays out.

For 2014, I'll be racing for the Big Sexy Racing Triathlon Team and the Cobb Mobb Grassroots Team.  Hopefully I can represent these to the best of my ability - as there are a lot of great athletes I can draw inspiration from on both teams.

I have also picked up a couple of ambassadorships, with X-1 Audio and Skora Running.  Both are products I used on a regular basis and I'm glad to be an athlete representing them in my 2014 races.  X-1 Audio (formally H20 Audio) makes the best headphones available for the endurance athlete.  There simply isn't another real option if you want headphones that you can use on land and water.  Skora running shoes are perfect shoes for me.  Very low profile, lightwight, and unimpeding on the foot (allowing me to run naturally) are qualities that make them a perfect shoe for my running style.  Both products are already a staple in my training, and will be a mainstay for me in the future and beyond.

2013 brought other ambassadorships to the table and I'm happy to continue my relationship with those companies.  Headsweats - a product I cannot run, train, or race in without, EnduroPacks - monthly nutrition delivered right to your door, and Renegade Race Series - whom I will be doing a litany of local races for throughout 2014.  All of these companies are top notch outfits and I'm excited to continue working with them for the upcoming racing year.

I've already pretty much filled my race schedule for 2014 and set appropriate goals for it.  My (very busy) schedule so far:

Jan 19 - PV Aquathlon
Feb 9 – ITry Sprint Triathlon
Mar 2 – Coaster Run (10k)
Mar 29  - PCRF Reaching for the Cure Half Century (50 Mi cycling)
Mar 30 – PCRF Reaching for the Cure Half Marathon (13.1 Mi)
Apr 13 – Leadman Epic Tempe (125k Triathlon)
May 17 – Xterra San Dimas Offroad Triathlon
May 26 – Laguna Hills Half Marathon (13.1 Mi)
Jun 22 – Dina LaVigna Olympic Triathlon
Jul 26 – Vineman Full Distance (140.6 Triathlon)
Sep 21 – Ironman Lake Tahoe (140.6 Triathlon)
Nov 2 – Surf City Triathlon (70.3 Triathlon)
Dec 7 – North Face Endurance Challenge (50 Mi)
TBA:  (Oct) F1 Double Super Sprint Triathlon
TBA:  (Nov) San Dimas Turkey Tri

There will probably a couple of additional running events added to that list, and I might give the Nadadores Open Water Championships another go this year - but that's more or less the schedule for 2014.  There is a slight potential for doing the LA Marathon as well (which might knock an event or two off the list if it happens) but that all depends if I end up with a comped entry or not.

My goals:

Generic:  Finish with a few podiums and get an overall win.  Get my swim times down.
Specific:  Break 2:05 in an Olympic distance, Get a belt buckle at Leadman Tempe, finish top 5 in my Age Group at Vineman.

Some interesting things for this season include full distance races within each other - and an offroad triathlon (which will be my first official Xterra race).  I'm excited for the new challenges and think I have a very good plan this year to be successful in every race I compete in.

The good thing is that I'll be able to get my run training in without too much of a hassle because my son is now big enough to actually go running with (as in - I can put him in the stroller without too much of a worry about him bouncing around).  So I'm stoked for that (and hopefully he is too!).

He's getting so big, so fast.  Look at those toes!

With 2014 already off to a start, I did a small, local aquathlon last weekend.  Ended up almost dead last out of the swim (par for the course), but came roaring back on the run to finish 3rd with a 47:18 split for 8.5 miles (hehehe fish can't run I suppose).  My swim was utterly horrible, however, so my bragging comes to screeching halt right there.  

Just a subtle reminder that there's a lot of work to do this year to reach my goals.

Beautiful course.  I'd love for their to be a full fledge tri here someday.