Last week of the old Routine, Upcoming Goals, and a bit of Rambling

Tuesday am loop solo - 4mi
Total Time: 29:12
AP: 7:18

Tuesday Morning I was up for the morning loop. It was a clear night on Monday so it was COLD. After the first quarter mile or so I was warmed up a bit and settled into a groove. I kept a nice pace which felt pretty even for the first 3.25 miles then picked up the pace at the end.

Wednesday am Spin at 24hr.

Wednesday I was up at they gym for the morning spin class. The bike I picked turned out to have a really crappy seat that I kept sliding forward on which was driving me up the wall. Finally after about 10 minutes of that I got off the bike and pulled the seat and seat post out and changed it with the bike next to mine. When I climbed back on it was sooooooooooooooooooo much better. After that I was able to focus on the spinning instead of the crap seat. I sat over to the side of the class for the first time and received direct air from the fan. This was nice because it dried the sweat off my arms and hat (I was still sweating up a storm but it didn't seem nearly as bad as in previous classes). The class has been pretty full for the last couple of weeks; there was probably about 35 people this time but I still have a good selection of bikes to choose from when I arrive so I don't really need to worry about getting there any earlier at this point.

Well this is the last week of my current job and with the change in jobs will come a change in my workout schedule. Really the biggest changes will be the length of my morning runs/swims and the addition of some evening weight lifting and possibly some swim workouts. I could potentially get in some morning rides while there is light for the next few weeks - but that puts me on the road w/ the morning commuters and their eating, shaving, make-up, etc. while they are driving routines so I don't really see myself getting out there on my bike.

I've decided to register for the two races I mentioned a couple posts ago - The NAPA Sprint Tri and The Vineman Showdown at Sundown (Sprint that starts at 5pm). Jen will join me for the Showdown but I will be doing NAPA solo. Last night we were talking about our plans for the upcoming season and the training that will go along with it. Tri will definitely be my priority this year but I have a buddy in Seattle that recently got into cycling and we have talked about doing a Century ride in Northern CA or Oregon in late August/September. I would also like to get in a couple of running races including a half marathon. There is a half marathon in San Francisco in Feb. that I might do and I think it would be nice to get it out of the way now so I don't have to think about doing one in the summer and using up training time focusing on the run. I'm not really sure what my goals are for the seasons so putting those down will definitely help in making a plan. Now that I have picked two spring/early summer races (they are in May and June) I need to find a couple more in July and August. In September we plan on going back down to San Diego for the Mission Bay Tri and there I hope to beat my time from this year (which hopefully will be pretty easy given my short unorganized training this summer).

Now what about specific race goals? I could say that I want to place in my age group at my races this year and that could be feasible, but you never know who is going to show up at a race so I think I should focus on me and my performance time wise, not place wise. Since I'm pretty new to it all I have been thinking quite a bit about what I can do performance wise this year and what are realistic time expectations. For the bike I think I can average 22/23 mph in races, I would like my swim time to improve to where I am averaging 1:30 per 100 and be able to hold that for 800-1000, and for the run I would like to get my AP down to a 6:15-6:30 range for at least 4 miles after coming off the bike (current 5k PR is 6:37 AP). If I can accomplish these goals I would consider it a great season even if I didn't place in my AG in a single race.

Once I get a training plan put together and get a few weeks into it I'm sure I will realize how practical these goals are but at this point I think I just needed to write it down so I have something to work with - if I'm setting my sights too high then lesson learned, if I'm setting them too low then I'll have more to work with the following year. Either way I will gain performance and knowledge which will help me no matter what.