A Fresh Start

There is an ancient Chinese proverb that says: the best time to plant a tree is 25 years ago, the second best time is now.  Basically, it's saying that it's never too late to start.   If you want something different in your life then get started.     You want to lose weight, you want to save for retirement, you want to start a business.  Sure things might be easier if you had started earlier in life.   Those kinds if thoughts are useless.  You cant travel back in time to change your history.  Who cares what you should have started years ago.  If you have a goal for your life then get started now! 

2013 Review

In January of 2013 I had several goals for myself. 

Run	500 miles	Yes
Bike	750 miles	No
Swim	30 miles	No
Presque Isle Tri	1:15:00 or better	No (1:31:09)
Olympic Tri	complete	No

...So what happened?

The Successes

As I look back over the Past year, I am pretty stoked because I did reach my goal of running at least 500 miles.  As of December 2, as a matter of fact, I surpassed the half-century mark.  And for me, that is a major accomplishment.  Also, in the past year I ran several 5K races, a sprint triathlon, a 10K, my first ever half-marathon and first duathlon. 

While doing all of this, I was also raised money for two great charities.  I was able to raise nearly $500 to support Sebastian Riding Associates.  I also signed up with Charity Miles to use my training mileage to raise money for Autism Speaks. 

The Failures

I didn't come anywhere near my goals for riding or swimming.  Why not?  Well, because I didn't put enough priority on those two areas while training.  I greatly improved on my results form 2012 but did not even come close to the goals I set for this past year.  I also didn't improve on my time for the Presque Isle Triathlon.  That I partially attribute to not allowing enough recovery time between the half marathon and the triathlon (they were only a week apart).  And no Olympic distance triathlon for me this year either - didn't even sign up for one. 

So What Did I Learn?

1. I really think I should focus more on the duration of my training not the total distance.  This past year I only spent about 90 hours total doing some form of training (from my workout log on runkeeper.com).  In 2014, I want to at least double that number. 

2. I need a training plan

3. Recovery is critical.

4. I need to learn about nutrition - and not just race time nutrition.

5. The Six step process for reaching your goals really does work.  (I followed this process to reach my running goal - unfortunately I didn't for any other goal.

6. I need to sign up for more races. (See number 5)

Most Inspiring moment of 2013

Hands down this year it was the Im Able Duathlon.  This was such an amazing race for a great cause.  And what an awesome bunch of people too.  The IM Able foundation's goal is to "help all individuals realize the potential to go further and push harder than their preconceived limits".  Let me just say, when you are mid-race and your legs are burning and sweat is running into your eyes, and you start thinking maybe I could just pull out of this race.  I mean who cares, right? - then you see the guy next to you huffing and puffing harder than you because he is doing the same race as you with just his arms - How can you not be inspired?  Any reason you may have had to complain becomes completely irrelevant. 

Goals for 2014

1. Olympic distance triathlon

2. Presque Isle Triathlon (If I do it) 1:15 or better

3. At least 2 more sprint triathlons

4. Ride the complete Great Allegheny Passage Trail

Strategy for 2014

1. Train more consistently (follow a training plan)

2. Focus more on duration and quality of training and less on total distance accumulated

3. Work on nutrition.  Teach body to better metabolize fat for fuel.  Also, work on race day nutrition.

4. Get more experience racing (sign up for more races)

So What's Next?

I'm going all the way in with this triathlon thing.  Ok, Ok... So, maybe I'm only going waist deep.  And at first I'll probably get in just up to my knees.  I mean, I don't want to dive all the way in right away.  What if the water is cold?  What if I freeze up?   I already got my toes wet and it doesn't seem that bad.  To heck with it!  I'm jumping in!  ... Well, maybe just to my waist for now. 

Remember the classic internal debate from your childhood of whether or not to just jump into the pool.  Everyone else is already splashing around having fun.  And yet there you are, on the deck, struggling to get more than your big toe wet. 

Well that's kind of what has been going on in my head lately.  I got my toes wet some sprints and I really liked the feel.  The races were a ton of fun.  And honestly, I’ve even enjoyed the training.  Over the past two years I have seen some significant changes in my strength and endurance.  I have lost nearly 50 pounds.  I mean really, it's been great.  But I see people doing all these other races, Olympic, Half-Ironman and so on and can't help thinking - what else am I missing?  Am I just standing here getting my toes wet?

So, I have put a lot of thought into reassessing my work load, my training and my life in general.  Am I happy where I am, competing on the level that I do?  Can I commit enough time to training to train for longer race?  I have come to the conclusion that I'm ready to take it to the next level.  I have the desire, that’s never been the issue.  I just need to remember to take things one step at a time and I can reach that next goal.   

Soooo… My new goal - A Half-Ironman distance race in 2015.  What -2015?!?  ... Yeah, well I said I'm going all the way in.

... I'm just not starting with a cannonball. 

Running for a Cause, Using the Power of Charity to Motivate

As i wrote in my 2013 Goals post, I said that one of my goals this year is to run 500 miles. That is a lot of running. ...Well, its a lot of running for me anyways. Last year I only logged about half as much.

So, to keep myself accountable to actually put the miles on the road, I need to up my motivation because there are certainly going to be days when I just don't want to get out of bed and on the road. One of the things I'm doing to stay motivated is right here - telling everyone that I have a goal.  It is amazing the difference it makes, when everyone knows what you are doing.

I also have another great motivator that I am using to keep me running this year.  I am making my effort count for something bigger than myself.  By running for a charity, I feel that every step I take has a greater purpose than just getting me fit.  Every step I take is important.  What a motivation!  Every time I go out for a run, I'm not only making myself better, I'm helping make the world better too.  Every time I run this year I will be raising money for two great causes.

The first charity I am running for Is Sebastian Riding Associates.  SRA provides therapeutic horse riding to people with special needs. They are an amazing group of people that provide an great opportunity for so many people.  To coordinate my fundraising efforts, I decided that I would do some research and see if there are organizations out there that manage individuals trying to raise money for various charities.  To my surprise, there are several organizations out there that do this exact type of effort. I chose to go with Razoo because I found their website easy to use and it seems well suited to the way I wanted to raise money.   Since I have the goal to reach 500 miles this year, I wanted people to be able to sponsor me on a per mile basis.  Razoo was very easy to set up and integrate into this blog.  Check out the page I created (Hannah's Horses) to get the word out about what I'm doing.  Oh and Hey... please help me reach my goal. 

Donate online to Hannah's Horses at Razoo

I am also using Charity Miles to track my workouts and donate to Autism Speaks. Charity Miles is an APP that can be installed on your smartphone. Just turn the app on and select the charity you want to raise money for before you start your workout.

The APP will use the GPS on your smartphone to track your progress and they donate $0.25 for every mile run or walked. They will also donate $0.10 for every mile biked. It's as easy as that!  Plus it keeps a log of your workouts so you can see how much if an impact you are making. Awesome!!  In addition to that, this APP can be used at the same time as your other workout apps.  For example. I turn on Charity Miles and then I turn on Runkeeper as my training APP and they both run concurrently.

So what are you doing to motivate yourself this year? 

2012 Progress Report

I have been reflecting a bit lately as I finalize my goals for this year. I have to admit, 2012 was a pretty good year for me. I lost nearly 40 pounds. I ran my first 5k, my first 10k and my first triathlon. Well that may sound great now, but sometimes it's difficult to see the progress we really are making on a day to day basis. That's why it's good to take a look back from time to time and see how far you really have come. So, I checked my Runkeeper log file today to see what kind progress I really have made. On this date, two years ago I weighed nearly 250 pounds. I ran 2 miles in 30:10. That's a pace of 15:05/mile. On this date, one year ago, I weighed 240 pounds and ran 1.5 miles miles in 20:44. That's an average pace of 13:49/mile. The progress was admittedly slow - 10 pounds in a year and a little over a minute off my pace. But it was progress nonetheless. With that, and the added motivation of committing to a race in August, I was really able to turn 2012 into a positive year. As of yesterday, I weigh 206 pounds. My run this morning was 4.3 miles in 35:33 minutes. That's an average pace of 8:13/mile. No only is that farther than I was able to run last year, its a five and a half minute per mile faster pace!And that's the kind of progress I'm hoping to continue on into 2013!

Take a moment and think about how far you have come in the last year. If you are just getting started, think about where you want to be a year from now. Don't get caught thinking "I can only run this far" or "I'll never lose that much weight". It doesn't really matter where you are now. What matters is where will you be. Just remember to take some time to look back once in a while to see how far you have come.

Maybe it's bragging a bit but I actually find it motivating to share my successes with others. I've put a lot of hard work into it and I'm proud of how far I've come. I am also motivated by reading about the successes of others. Feel free to share your progress here.

Lets make this a good year!

2013 Goals

One of my primary goals this year is to accumulate mileage. After reviewing my last years training, I see that I did indeed make quite a bit of progress. That being said, I think I still have a long way to go - especially if I want improve times and go farther.

Here are my base and stretch goals for this year:

               Base       Stretch
Run        500mi     750mi
Bike       750mi     1000mi
Swim       30mi         45mi

I like to set a stretch goal because it gives something to keep pushing for beyond my primary goal. It sets that bar at the next level to keep me motivated and gives me no excuse to stop once I reach my goals.

I have two target races this year. I will be running other races, but these are the two i am using to measure my progress. The first is the Presque Isle Triathlon this August. My goal is to finish with a time of 1:15:00 or better. That is a 15 minute improvement over last year.

My second target race is the Blueman Triathlon where my goal is to finish the Olympic Distance course. I've never done more than a sprint distance triathlon, so this will be a first for me.

What are your goals for this year?