Sunday, October 26, 2008

Rethinking 2009

First off I want to thank everyone for your kind words of support. I am actually feeling pretty good and recognize that I have had a pretty amazing season. I also recognize that my season from July through October has been marked by a ton of impulsive decision making and overconfidence or maybe just too great a dose of optimism.

In any case, I was reading another race report from the Arkansas Traveler and the person wrote that it was better to deal with the physical pain of finishing a race afterward than having to deal with the pain of a DNF. I’m not sure what kind of “pain” that person feels after a DNF but having had two consecutive DNFs and having run myself into prolonged injuries in the past I can assure you that, for me, a DNF is WAY easier to handle no matter how frustrating it may be.

So, given my recent misadventures I have been thinking a lot about what exactly my next season will look like. I am already registered for the Bandera 100K on January 10th but I could drop back to the 50K and I’m scheduled for the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile on February 7th but could drop back to the 50 mile and run with the GeekGrl. Beyond that I am not scheduled for any other runs but I’m thinking about maybe throwing in another couple early season trail marathons or 50Ks because that seemed to work very well for me in terms of weight loss and preparation for IMCdA last year.

As far as triathlon is concerned I am already registered for Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon 70.3 on June 28th and it is that event’s 25th anniversary. I was thinking of making it a summer of old school triathlon by doing Vineman again on August 1st for it’s 20th anniversary. I think that would be pretty sweet, two classic races, one summer, both anniversary races.

As far as late season goes the Outlaws are planning a team Ironman and Half-iron at the Beach to Battleship on November 1st. I also have a friend and fellow Outlaw who will be attempting his first iron distance race at the Oklahoma City RedMan on September 19th and I do try and race every Outlaws first iron with them being the team captain and all.

If I go with this schedule it would give me some great build runs early season followed by a half-iron and three full irons during the second half of the season. I could also toss in a few local sprints and olympics for speed work.

I really like the sound of 2009. I’ll take another couple months to think things through and then firm up a schedule. However, I think my major goal for next year will be to achieve balance between long course/ultra events and some solid recovery and training time.

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great season!

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  2. Sounds like the making for a great season.

    I was also thinking about hitting Vineman. You guys made it seem so cool.

    Have you thought about the Triple T In California?

    Hard not because of the distance, because of the intensity.

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  3. You have a great attitude! There's always more races. Save yourself and race another day.

    I *PLAN* to meet you at B2B, FOR SURE!

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  4. I'm in for the B2B next year, I'll be living about 30 minutes up the road.

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  5. As long as you have no regrets at
    AT100, it was a good day.

    Yeah the balance between ultra's and Long Course TRI's. A hard thing to do.

    Like the schedule.. Looks like some great races lined up there.

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  6. I'm glad you're feeling better about your races. I hate that low grade depression that hangs around when a race doesn't go as I had hoped.

    I do want to add that 3 full Ironman races in the second half of the year sounds like an invitation to injury and disappointment again. There's no rush to do everything in one year, they'll still be there next year.

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  7. Looks like a good idea to change the 100 mile run to 50 miles. That will be a good stepping stone for Rocky Racoon.

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