Morning everyone. Welcome to 2013. We're 3 days into this new year, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be a good one. Of course, when we have a congress passing tax increases on us and debating gun control, the future is murky for America at this point.
But I digress.
Anyway, 2012 was, in my terms, just an okay year. It featured some good things in terms of both fitness and life, but quite a few bad things too. T wrecked on her bike and the financial hit was quite significant from that. We both fell ill at inopportune times. My company payroll operates with 1950's technology (I swear this is true) and they mess up my pay way too often for my liking. But some of the positives included a lot of PR's, volunteering at the Ironman we will do later this year, meeting some new friends, and for me, ending the nightmare of commuting and finally getting based back in Denver, bringing 2 years of hell full circle and making things right.
I'll touch on what we're looking for in 2013 both in life and fitness in a later blog post. For now, let's recap 2012.
It started off poorly, quite frankly. We had just moved into a new place and were less concerned about fitness then we were about getting our new home settled. Without a big A race in 2012, we kind of winged our fitness, and it definitely showed in both our bodies. I had a DNF for the first time ever in the Cherry Creek Duathlon due to a nagging sickness I couldn't shake.
In March, we began ramping up the fitness. Our friend Mike came out for a visit and he's quite the cyclist. We took him for a spin in Cherry Creek and he was unable to keep up with us. That may have been one of those AHA! moments for us. We began to take our training a bit more seriously.
April saw us run a great race in the Cherry Creek 5 mile run. We both PRed and felt great. I should mention at this point we both were starting to embrace the mental side of pain. Instead of running from it and quitting when it got hard, we began to embrace it. Enjoy it. We realized that to be fast, to be aggressive, you have to work hard and pain is just part of the equation.
The Rockies Home Run For the Homeless 5K was another solid 5K. Although we didn't PR in the 5K distance, we both race PRed and ran a great race. Around this time, I started realizing that the mental shift was having an impact. We saw this further in the BolderBoulder, where we both cracked 60:00 in the 10K.
Our first tri went off without a hitch and definitely saw gains on the bike. Running for some reason took a step back but we both PRed again. Same with the 2nd tri, which was the Boulder Peak Triathlon and I got to embrace Old Stage Road. Wheeeeee. Regardless, I hit an 11 minute PR in the Olympic distance triathlon.
Then came my last tri of the season, one where an important lesson was learned. At the Rocky Mountain Triathlon, which was up in Silverthorne, where the altitude is 9500 feet, I struggled on the swim for the first time since my first triathlon. I realized I hadn't gotten in a warmup swim the day before and had I, I could have adjusted my strategy. Instead, I had to hang on a kayak, humble. Shaking the bad swim off, I had a great bike and a great run to place for the first time in the top 50% overall.
That ended my tri season and the last race I had was the Denver 1/2 marathon. Unfortunately, after the tri, I was pretty much done with fitness. We had our honeymoon and just overall more life events that interfered with working out. We paid for it dearly in the Denver 1/2, where T essentially blew up early. I don't think I could have PRed either.
November was definitely a huge highlight, when we volunteered at Ironman Arizona. We checked in bikes, stripped wetsuits, applied sunscreen, and manned one of the last run aid stations. There were moments of joy and moments of heartbreak. Most importantly, there were moments of motivation. Big moments. I remember at the aid station a woman crying and sitting on the curb, knowing she had 10 miles still to go and 90 minutes to do it. She knew she was finished. I don't want to be that person in 2013. I don't want to be broken. I want to train well so I cross the finish line!
December saw both of us slowly regaining our fitness. Slowly but surely.
As I said, overall, it was not a great year. No one's fault, really. Just reality of life sometimes, I guess.
Really glad you are based near home, Brandon!!
ReplyDelete2012 was a cyclothymic year for me too!