"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift" - Pre

Monday, January 31, 2011

An Anniversay, Of Sorts...

The most meaning that January 31st really had for me (up until last year) was that it was one standard work week after my birthday. However, after departing the great UR Track and Field (and XC) team on January 19th, 2010 I took a week and a half entirely off of training to both enjoy my birthday and recover from aches and pains I was getting from indoor track.

On January 31st, 2010 I resumed my training with two things in mind: 1) Triathlons, no more sad attempt at sprinting and 2) An extremely slow build, with a high concentration on injury prevention. The first is obvious. The second, I have battled ITBS (Illiotibial Band Syndrome) since early in college and any time I get to a solid training volume, my body rejects it. So I built up from a 2 mile swim/40 mile bike/10 mile run week on Jan. 31 to 2/86/20 (July) to 3/100/40 (October). This has gone smoothly along without any major setback or injury. After the 22 mile run, I took a few days to completely indulge and relax overall: this hurt on my run yesterday. This first week is going to be a sort of "reset" just to get back into training after my focus for the past month was the 22 miler and not getting injured from it.

But now, 1 year after my official beginning of being a triathlete, I am prepared for: a much more serious training plan, a successful season with some very strong finishes, and a lot of PRs. Looking back on 2010 I am very pleased; I was (and still am) new to the sport and have much to learn, but it did not go without some races that I like to call major successes. First was PRing in a solo 5000M time trial in pretty ugly conditions, then was the Pirate Tri - 9th Place overall, then I learned that riding a bike is nothing like cycling. The rest of the summer held a 2nd place in the LA Duathlon, a 1:30 10K PR, a 0:35 5K PR, and a 3rd place finish at the Concord Triathlon. Fall was not as successful as I had hoped for but it was an enjoyable XC season, during which I build from high 20's in mileage to mid 40's. Also, I have trained every day from June 26th, 2010 through today, and I have no intention of stopping that streak (220 Days).

Needless to say: 2010 had a lot of physical and intellectual growth and has set me up for a promising 2011, so long as I maintain the consistency and continue properly building. Year Two, here I come.




"Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." - Bernard Berenson: 1865-1959 (Renowned Italian Renaissance Art Expert)

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