Its been almost 4 months since I last wrote in my blog, so this post will probably go pretty much unnoticed, but its an important one for me. Most everyone around me is tired of hearing about triathlons by now, so I am pretty safe in thinking that I can talk to myself here and perform my own assessment of how this year went.

One thing I can admit is that triathlon training is different than marathon training, but much better. It is more difficult, but in a good way .. same hours, but less abuse on the body (if you can believe that).

I ended up doing 4 triathlons this year of varying distances, the Got the Nerve sprint (500m S, 16m bike, 5k run), the Wilkes-Barre triathlon (1500m S, 24m bike, 7m run), the Quakerman olympic (1000m S, 39m bike, 10k) and wrapped up the season with the Blueman (500m S, 14m bike and a 5k run). My best races were the last two believe it or not..

So its time for me to assess myself on how I did this year as I prepare the plan for Ironman Rhode Island next year.. yep, 70.3 is in my future and who knows, maybe Kona isn’t too far off (ok, lets not get nuts)..

Anyway, these are the questions as posted from Active.com. I added my answers as I start to prepare for next year (who better to assess me than me, right?):

1. In hindsight, were your season goals clear and attainable?

John: Yes, my goal was to complete a triathlon, distance didn’t matter back then. I probably over-trained for the first triathlon in May, but I didn’t know any better and wished that maybe I did longer distances earlier in the year. By the time I was at a distance I felt challenged on, it was pretty late in the season. I think I need to consider this as I train and plan for next year. I also tried cramming races in at the end of the season because i was still getting that rush instead of planning them better.

2. What were you most proud of this season?

John: There were a couple things. 1) my swim splits for a new swimmer. I had only been swimming for just over 8 months prior to competing and did pretty good 2) managing my life around my training schedule (12-14 hours a week of training) with a more than full time job 3) getting no major injury all season 4) overcoming the minor aches and pains 5) for the first time having my family at the finish line every time, especially my sister

3. What would you like to duplicate next year?

John: I loved the open water swim training because it was just awesome … My commitment and dedication to training regardless of the circumstances, if it was work or vacation or family events, I still got my workout in. Lastly, I developed a challenging race schedule late in the season to push myself (but wish I did it sooner)

4. What frustrated or disappointed you the most this season?

John: This is and easy question because i’m very critical of myself. The biggest frustration was that my bike was constantly not working right and breaking down. Also, my run training was very minimal and I could have done more than I did. I also found that I was much heavier than I should have been throughout the season. I made a mistake by changing running shoe brands and type of shoe without trying them on first (and those Zoots sucked bad). I was also disappointed that I lacked any real strength training over the summer.

5. What do you not want to happen again next year?

John: I think I did too much running around the day before a race (traveling, etc). my first race I didn’t get hardly any sleep the night before and the second race, I got there real late due to just the logistics and the weather and it turned out to be very hectic. It seems that when I didn’t have to travel or stay anywhere prior to a race, I performed better (my second two races). Its kind of selfish, but I think that race weekends are all about me and nobody else, I need to keep them that way and let other people adjust to me. I also don’t want to have a sub-standard bike again this year, it seemed to bother me that I had low-end critical equipment compared to others.

6. What did you learn by going through these experiences?

John: Plan ahead to get to the race location as early as you can, even by a day if necessary. Bring family along to stay with you only if they understand the responsibility that the race is about you and they must abide by your schedule and needs. Remember, you’ve trained 16-20 weeks for these races, and it all comes down to the day before. Second, I won’t ever buy substandard critical gear like a bike and shoes.

7. What decisions did you make that were empowering for you?

John: Always getting my workout in by being flexible. I also think that I challenged myself at the end of the year by just scheduling another race. I made a decision to change my eating style to be all natural, which I wish I had done sooner. I also made the decision to give up most of my Saturdays this summer to train (2+ hour bike plus an open water swim which is an hour drive).

8. What habits seemed to hold you back from achieving your potential?

John: I don’t think that I recovered often enough during training. My habit is to overtrain, its what I do best but it always holds me back. My other habit is to over-eat when I feel like I have trained over the limit (like eating a half gallon of ice cream after a 3 hour workout). I also procrastinated on figuring out how to get my goggles not to fog up when swimming, I still haven’t figured it out, and lastly, I do not know enough about bike repairs, I think this caused me a lot of stress during training rides and races, more than I should feel.

9. What decisions should you make in order to have your best triathlon year ahead?

John: Things I will do… 1) purchase a new quality tri-bike 2) plan for my races to give myself plenty of relax time before the race 3) schedule recovery periods in my training and actually take them as well as not scheduling multiple hard days in a row 4) be more aggressive in my run training plan 5) continue to open water swim whenever and wherever I can because I love it. 6) continue with the all natural diet and watching my carb and sugar intake, this has had a big effect on my already 7) strength train through the summer, at least a little 8) learn about how bikes work so I can make my own adjustments 9) ensure I plan out my race schedule way ahead of time.

Gosh, seems like a lot of work, but if you plan on achieve your goals, you have to set them and then plan for them. If i’m going to get better next year, you have to be critical of yourself and fix what isn’t working, I think this is the start.

Maybe i’ll post again soon because I always did enjoy writing in here, just don’t have the time. Since i’m not training so much anymore as I recover and base train for next year, I should have more time.