Upcoming Year

 I sat down the other day to write a blog about what races and events I was going to do in 2018. Last night, those plans changed when my friend, Kevin Petty, reminded me that he signed up for Ironman Florida 70.3, which is in April of 2018.  Oddly, my wife said I should sign up for it because I really need something to train for. She knows that I tend to train harder and with more focus when I have an event or race paid for, than when I am just mulling over events.

So far, 2018 it looks something like this:

The season will start with the USA Triathlon National Challenge Competition (USAT NCC). It actually starts on the 1^st of December and goes until the 28^th of February. This is an event where you compete for a team, and everyone logs as many swim, run, and bike miles as they can, for the 90 days. You earn points for the miles; 10 points for each swim mile, 3 points for every run mile, and 1 point for every mile on the bike. This will be my third time doing this event; the first time was two years ago and I had good results, but last year’s results were not as good. My goal is to do better this year than I did the first year.

I will do Ironman Florida 70.3 on the 8^th of April, 2018. I have paid for it and have started to put a training plan in place. The race is a little over 5 months away. My running has started to come back around, and I have been on the trainer off and on the last few weeks, trying to get in some good miles. The tendinitis in my left elbow is still bothering me, but I am definitely seeing improvement, so my hope is to get back in the pool starting this week. The plan is always to PR, and I would like to use this event to qualify for the Olympic triathlon distance Nationals in Cleveland, Ohio in August of 2018. It will take a 4-hour 55 minute or less half-ironman to do it.

I will also do some of HFP Racing Olympic distance events in the summer. I will use them to qualify for USAT Nationals, and once qualified I will do aquabikes and duathlons to earn points in the USAT rankings. I like their events and I have done several of them, so I know the courses, and competition level is good. Logan also does their events, so they are a sure thing, even when my other plans get moved around.

Redman Triathlon will be the USAT Ultra-distance triathlon national championship again this year. I will race the event trying to place on the podium. This 140.6 distance event will be held in September, which gives me all summer to get ready. I have not raced this distance in a couple of years, and it will be nice to race it again. I do enjoy 70.3 and Olympic distance more, but the challenge of the 140.6 is like no other in the triathlon world, in my opinion.

I will do some bike races, as well. They have not announced the State Championships dates and locations yet. I am hoping that they are at the same locations they were held at this year. My son and definitely want to do the State Time Trial and Road Race again. He also expressed interest in doing more bike only events, so we’ll see where that leads us.

It feels good to have one big race paid for and to be building my training plan. Doing a 70.3 in April should be a solid start to the season.