2019 Goals

I'll be honest - I almost didn't want to write one of these 2019 goal posts this year.

This is mostly because, unlike past years, I'm not setting specific "crack xx:xx in the x" goals. If this is a subconscious thing so as to not set myself up for (more) failure ... well, I guess we'll never know for sure.

I've mentioned that this is the first racing season I've had in a while that terrifies me. This holds true. So, what are my goals?

- To stick to the training plan I've written. I'm going back to self-coaching this year, and am not even following a plan in a book. In 2013, we combined a plan from Triathlete magazine and a PDF plan we got from a friend. In 2016, we tried a coach. This year, I'm attempting to come up with something myself, mostly because I'm starting base-building as well as half-marathon training now. I also have a 70.3 in June, the full 140.6 in September ... and a hopeful massive swim a week after the 70.3 for my birthday. All of this combined does not fit in well with a cookie-cutter plan. I also know that right now, I'm not "coachable," so that leaves one option - me.

(and no I'm not setting myself up to get into coaching. that would be terrible.)

- To finish out the year healthy and happy. Because if I don't, none of this will have been worth it.

- To complete a 10k swim on my birthday. Well, 10,100 to be precise. I'm not going to do the standard 100x100. But, since I love pyramid swim sets, I'm going to expand a staple 1700m pyramid into a massive pyramid of DOOOOOOM. 50-100-200-300-400-500-600-700-800-900-1000-900-800-700-600-500-400-300-200-100-50. Plus a whole shit ton of swimming should hopefully help my swim times so there's that potential perk ...

- To enjoy the process. While I do have set destination races, a lot of the training this year will truly be about the journey. 

- To document the path. Yep, expect to see more updates to this space. I have a lot of my publishing schedule already sketched out (save for race reports since that schedule hasn't been finalized yet), so I should in theory be successful with this.

I might have more, but this is the first year in a while I haven't scribbled my goals for the next year down in like, November, so I'm kind of thinking of these on the fly while sitting here in a hotel room in Las Vegas. Maybe I'll think of more once I'm out on my bike ride. 

See you next Wednesday, when I tell you how the first week of training went!