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Race Schedule 2012 – Still a Work in Progress

Despite recognizing in my 2011 Annual Summary that I’m a happier athlete (and person) when I have structured and defined training and race plans, I still haven’t set my goals or finalized my race schedule for 2012.  I have this constant internal debate over whether I want to be a triathlete or a road runner or a trail runner or an ultra runner or a cyclist (well, probably not that). All kinds of races and training excite me, but in order to be successful at any of them, I have to make some choices because I can’t do it all!

So far, I am signed up for a few races:

• After hearing fellow Pablove Triathlon Team members Mike and Warren rave and rave about what a great race Ironman 70.3 Hawai’i (“Honu”) is, I decided that I’d make the trip this year and try to finally beat my 70.3 PR (which I set in my very first half-ironman race at Timberman in 2006).  Although I am definitely excited for the trip to Hawai’i and the race experience, I am not really feeling the bike or swim training right now.  Luckily, I have a little bit of time between now and June 2 to get fired up and put the time in.

• After Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee forced the 2011 S.O.S. Triathlon course to be cut pretty much in half, I was determined to go back in 2012 and race the “real” course.  So I’ll be in New Paltz for the 2012 S.O.S. Triathlon on September 9.

• I had such a great time at the Catalina Eco Marathon in November – also on a storm-altered course – so I’d like to go back and race there again in 2012. That’s on November 12.

• Then, last Sunday, in a fit of what I might end up considering madness, I signed up for the LA Marathon.  It’s a race that I’ve considered doing each of the last 2 years.  At the 2010 race, I paced a couple friends and ended up running 30-something miles along the course.  In 2011, I spent most of the morning on the rain soaked course, running with a bunch of different friends for a couple miles each.  The 2012 race is eight weeks from today.  I don’t know if that’s enough time for me to properly train to race the marathon that I know I’m capable of.  And yesterday’s long-ish road run didn’t do a whole lot to give me confidence about it.  Sure, I have a great base, but I haven’t done a road marathon since an undertrained and underwhelming performance at Boston in 2009.  In fact, I’ve barely done any road racing at all.  So, I’m trying hard to temper my expectations.  On the other hand, if I don’t give it a shot, I’ll never know.  I’ll find out on March 18 whether I would have been better off not knowing!

A road marathon, a 70.3, a crazy eight-stage triathlon that should take me between five and six hours and a trail marathon.  Seems like a good schedule for 2012, right?  It should be, but I do still feel like it’s missing something.  Something big.  Hmmm… More to come on that.