Almost Christmas

It's almost Christmas weekend, and i'm psyched! We are headed to the cabin on Vermillion for the holiday, and the break will be welcome. I haven't been there during the winter, so this is a first for me. Not entirely sure what to expect as the activity usually centers around the lake. I'm sure there will be gobs of games, and some fun family time, which is more than good enough for me. My new training plan starts as soon as we get back in prep for 2013, so a few days to recharge is called for. My off season work has been going well, and i just started a 100 runs in 100 days routine to kick start it. I'm looking forward to the challenge of meeting that goal, and hope my legs don't fall off in the process. All for now. Looking forward to 2013!

End of the Year

Alright, well I'm going to start this blog just a little bit early, primarily as a a quick round up of my 2012 training and general life. 2012 was a huge year for me. Not so much in the sense that i got much in the way of racing done(because i didn't), but my year was busy in so many other unexpected ways. I will start first with the fact that i got married! Yup at 40 i finally met the right woman, and couldn't be happier about it. We were married in early February, and then took a quick trip to the islands with family to celebrate. Pretty obvious break in my training there, but completely worth every second. Alright, so new wife and lovely step daughter, then a move from Rochester to the Twin cities. The suburbs take some getting used too, but i find myself adjusting well at this point. Once you learn how not to get run over by the speeding mini vans(yeah,i have one of those now too).  Adjust to the killing you with kindness type of passive aggressive social interactions you run into everywhere, you should be all set. Ok, sorry, a little off track there. This is about 70.3's and me. I managed one this year, and it was not a stellar performance. Liberty half was the first weekend in June, and should have been no problem. Well......it was a bit hotter than i expected, and man did i pay for my lack of prep. Swim was a bit slower than i had hoped for(primarily due to me having a minor freak out at the gun), but livable and the lake was great to swim in. Coming out i felt great and transitioned well,  then jetted off on the bike leg. No real worries on the bike at all, i managed my nutrition pretty well, and came in a bit faster then expected. Then came the run. Transition was smooth, and my legs felt great for about the first 4 miles. At that point, everything just kind of came to a halt. My legs no longer wanted to move forward, my knees began to ache, and i slowed waaaaay down. I really never recovered on the run, but had a great day at any rate. Think final time was 5:50, but i'm not sure if they compensated the 15 or so minutes for the wave start. My watch and their timing seem to disagree a bit. No worries, middle of the pack either way. The rest of the summer just kind of flew by and i can't account for where it went. Time spent at the lake house, new puppy(olive), and just connecting as a family. Despite the craziness i did get some training in, and am excited about the upcoming season. 2013 should be good. My plan is to hit Liberty half, Chisago half, Superiorman,and Square lake half as my primary races. I will fill in some weekends with a quick sprint, or oly, and then do One last tri in September to wrap the season up. So that's it for the first post, below i'll post of few pics from this last year, and my end of year totals. Look forward to writing in 2013! Happy holidays to everyone.

2012 yearly totals:
Swim @350,000 yards
Bike @4,000 miles
Run @800 miles