This year marks the beginning of a wildly new chapter of my life.  Along with a number of awesome personal developments that are not Triathlon and running related, those that are sport-specific are looking to be out-and-out kickass!

Last year I cut my teeth in the sport of triathlon. 2 Olympic distances (Wildflower & Lavaman Keauhou) and 2 sprint distances (Tri for Fun and Tri for Real).  What I expected to be the “flash in the pan,” “let’s see if I can do this” experience of Wildflower turned into a yearning to become better at disciplines I half-assed for the better part of the 30 athletically-eligible years of my life.  I’ve been, until 2010, a piss poor swimmer, a 15-16MPH biker and a 9:00+/mi runner.  That began to change last year.  By the end of the year, I had made significant progress in the water breaking into the 1:40s for 100yd drills, into the 18-19MPHs on the bike and into the mid 7:00s/mi on the run.  I honestly am hooked on the sport and what it does for your psyche and your body.

This year is when I begin to see what this meat bag I’ve been born with can do.  I’m in the best shape of my life today.  And by meat bag, I mean it only endearingly since I’m loving my body more and more everyday.  At 6 feet and 1 inch and 193 lbs, I have the definition and endurance that I once only scoffed at or vaguely dreamed of.

This year I’ve (naturally) bitten off bigger portions and set higher standards to gauge my resolve.  I’ve selected 4 major events for this year.  2 Olympics, once again, and two Ironman 70.3 races.  Instead of doing the 12 1/2marathons in 12 months like I did in 2010, I’ve decided to go whole hog into the concept of tri training and doing so properly.  That being said, I’ve begun training in what’s known as the “base phase” where I build for 8-12 weeks before beginning sport-specific hardening and speed work that will culminate in peaking for the summer months and my 4 tris.  My goals for 2011 make 2010 look like folly now that I’ve begun to amass data on what it’s going to take to get there.  To contextualize…my goal for PRing (personal record/best) the Olympic distance is 2:35:00.  That’s 30 mins faster than I’ve ever done an Olympic to date and only about 35-40 mins behind the winners normally.  On the Ironman 70.3 front, I’m hoping to PR with a sub 5:45:00.  Something not easily done.

What does this all really mean? Well, to do a 2:35:00 Olympic, it means I need to swim .9mi in 30mins, bike 24.9mi in 1hr 15mins (20MPH avg pace), run 6.2mi in 50mins (8:00/mi) and take no more than 5mins in total transitioning between the swim and the bike and the bike and the run.  To achieve a 5:45:00 Ironman 70.3, it means I must swim 1.2mi in 55mins, bike 56mi in 2hrs 45mins (20.3MPH avg pace), THEN run a half marathon (13.1mi) in 1hr 50mins (8:24/mi) with similar transition times.  Doesn’t sound too bad right?  Well, we shall see.

All in all, I’m off to a great start and will begin to share some of the training plans and insights I work into my program.  The first area I’m really focusing on while I have a little time in the “base phase” is nutrition.  What I’ve already learned in two short weeks makes me baffled how I would have ever lived any other way and even more pissed off that it took me almost 38 years to learn about it.  But, then again, whateve.  I’m here now and I’m gonna do it as right as I can from here on out.