The Road Ahead for 2011

I have been giving a lot of thought to my plans for the year 2011. I am torn being two competing lines of thought for my annual plans. Normally, I would set some specific quantifiable goals such as new race PR's , specific race time goals, etc...but for me this year is already going to be far different than recent years, so I have decided my training and racing goals need to be different, too. So here is a look at my personal training goals for 2011.

1. Get to the starting line of Ironman Texas trained and ready to race.
Sure, I really, really want to run a successful Ironman race on May 21st, but this is a journey into uncharted territory for me. I am committed to try to enjoy the entire journey towards Ironman, and the actual race is more the reward for successful training than a goal in itself.

2. Spend more time with my wife.
My wife is a very understanding and supportive woman who has every reason to think my, I don't even know how many...say 30-40 races over the last 3-4 years, is a sign that I have gone off the deep end. Instead, she supports a not very athletic husband who attempts athletic feats. My time with her will be somewhat hampered by my Ironman training for the first 5 months of the year, but I will make the effort to spend more time with her as I can, and even more after the Ironman race. In some ways this will get easier as I only have one daughter left at home, and that is likely to change in just a few months as that daughter gets her job situation settled.

3. Find a better balance between training, work and family.
Actually I feel like a have a pretty decent balance of things here, but I want to make sure I take other people's concerns into account as I try to make sure I find the best balance in life. As part of this balance, I want to make sure that I take the time to enjoy the things that make life worth living while I move from point to point through life.

4. Training and Race Goals.
Did you think I would really go through a set of yearly goals without setting a quantifiable goal? I suppose I could but where would the fun be in that? In any case, here are some basic race goals for me for 2011.
IMTX - Finish the race in the official 17 hour time window. I figure I could finish in the 16 to 16 1/2 hour range at my current fitness level (assuming I had trained for it) and had the best possible day in each event. We will have to wait almost 5 months (actually, 132 days from the day I post this blog) to see how my race preparation helps me to be ready for race day.
Marathon - none planned
Half Marathon - I'll probably try to do a fall half marathon at some point. Ultimately, I would like to do a sub-2 hour half marathon, although since I just got under 2:30 last year, sub 2 hours is a tall order for this year but 2:15 might be doable.
5K - I hope to enter several 5K races this year. My best time last year was 27:05, so let's set 25 minutes as a goal to beat for this year.

I hope everyone has a good year!