2010 in Review

360 days ago is when I signed up for my first triathlon. This time last year I had just finished reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and purchased my pair of vibram fivefingers. After reading the book I had gone back on my previous post-marathon beliefs that I was "not a runner", and I started to believe that I could in fact be an endurance athlete. It's hard to believe actually that I consider running to be my strength after such an awful first experience at the Philly marathon in 2009. I have to give a lot of that credit to the vff's. They taught me to run correctly. And once I started doing that, the rest was easy (or at least less painful). I'll probably blog one day in the future about how wonderful these things are and why anyone who struggles as a runner should get them, but not now.

Anyway, I first signed up for the Philly tri and then about 2 weeks later I signed up for the Providence half ironman. I didn't have a bike, I didn't have anywhere to swim and I hadn't done laps in a pool since my lifeguard test in high school. Nevertheless I set out to test myself. I started swimming in January. I ran continuously throughout the winter and into the spring because I didn't get my bike until May 1 - only 8 weeks before the Philly olympic tri and 10 before the Providence half. Thinking back on it I'm really amazed at how well I was able to do on the bike after logging so few hours. I averaged just under 21mph on the olympic distance race in June, just under 20mph on the half iron in July and then just OVER 21mph on the half iron I completed in September. This gives me confidence going into the training year ahead. I hope that starting early this year I'll really be able to make the bike a strength. I'll talk about my goals in another post though.

This year I competed in a cross country 5k (18:55), a 10 mile road race (67:42), an open water 1mile and 1.2 mile swim (26min and 32min), an olympic duathlon (2:19.21), 2 half ironman triathlons (5:55 and 4:59) and finally the Philly marathon (3:00.47). For my first year as a devoted endurance athlete I am pleased.

I also learned a TON! Most by trial and error (or cockyness and pain), but also a lot by reading and talking to different people. Every time I start to feel overly confident I get put in my place one way or another. I still have a lot to learn. And it's frustrating in a sport like triathlon (especially the distance stuff). In baseball if you can't hit a curveball you go and take lots of curves in batting practice. In basketball if you can't make free throws you go practice free throws. But in triathlon there is so much planning and preparation for just one race. Not only are the races long and brutal on the body, but they are also really expensive! I thought about trying to do IM Louisville or another late season ironman in case Lake Placid doesn't go as I plan, but they are too expensive! Not to mention they fill up a year in advance. Ok I'm off topic. Bottom line- I'm learning about this sport. I'm trying to learn balance, training, patience, and other things...

Sorry I'm all over the place tonight. There is a lot I want to talk about. I think I'll call it quits for now though. Maybe tomorrow I'll come back and edit a few more things in (so check back!), or maybe I'll just write a new post. Still coming, if not tomorrow some day soon, is my post on goals for 2011.
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