My triathlon season for 2012 is over but that doesn’t mean that planning for 2013 hasn’t already begun! @CoachCary and I met a few nights ago, chatting over a flight of wine and appetizers about:
- What races to consider next year
- What areas to strengthen
- Duration of and how to allocate my off-season time
“Off-season” doesn’t really mean turn into a coach potato and shovel in French fries by the fist-full. But, it does mean that I won’t have structured training and my workouts are not logged into www.trainingpeaks.com for several weeks. Also, it gives me permission to sleep-in, relax, recover and reflect.
Here are the tentative plans:
Races for 2013
2013 will include a Ironman 70.3 and several Sprint distance events. There are two 70.3 races that are finalists in the selection process:
1) Vineman 70.3 – July 14th
2) Boulder 70.3 – August 4th
I hear great things about Vineman, the question is do I want to foot the bill on the travel expenses to an out-of-state event? Also, if I got really crazy (which is known to happen with me and triathlon since I’m a bit obsessed) I suppose I could do both. Hmmm, we’ll see.
As for the Sprints those are still up for grabs. I truly enjoyed the concept of “racing” (yes, which is really subjective) at Outdoor Divas, so including a race or two that I can go all-out would be fun.
Also, an early season Duathlon (biking and running) might be in the cards to get the old body re-familiarized with multi-sport events, adrenaline flowing and heart rate pumping
Areas to Improve
Surprise, surprise, surprise…running is still on my list of things to improve. Yes, running continues to be the weak link in the trifecta of events. I’m planning to look for a running group. As they say, to be a better triathlete you must swim with swimmers, bike with cyclists and run with runners. Enough said on that.
Also, while I’m a reasonably strong swimmer I’m planning to tap into my existing credits with the Swim Labs experts to see if I can improve my technique and resulting efficiency (a/k/a speed) in the water.
New Gear
As I’ve professed before, I am a bit of a gear junkie. I do love my toys, tools, outfits etc. But honestly, my wish list is short this time…albeit expensive!
Momma needs a TT Bike. Guess what!?! The bike is by far the strongest part of my TRI events. Although, I do love my Giant Avail Advanced, it is a road bike vs. TT Bike and I’m am seriously considering making the investment in a true Triathlon bike. I hear that after adjusting to the aero position that my speed could increase 2-3 mph and my legs in theory should be better able to run (see previous comments about Areas to Improve) given the redistribution of muscles used on a TT vs. road bike. I’ve already started to catalog which pros ride which bikes and how they are performing. Of course, I don’t have a bottomless pit of money to spend, nor do I have a bike sponsor so that will constrain my options a bit! Maybe Santa could bring me a nice Blue, Trek, Giant, Cannondale, Cervelo, Orbea, Specialized…with visions of TT-bikes dancing thru my head!
triathlonmomma 