What I have learned this year

First off, the mighty magnolia is just a little over 10 days away and the training is winding down.  There is not much I can do at this point to make myself better for this race.   Riding the race course a few times and swimming some is all I have planned.  I'm sure I will run some too. 

This summer of triathlon has been all over the place.  It started out pretty good then progressively got worse only to be really good for me at the last race.  I can tell I have gotten stronger and smarter.  I just think back to what I used to do/think and I can only laugh.  I was such a noob.  I am guess I still am a noob.  It is/was fun being a noob. What have I learned you might ask?  Well I have learned it takes some consistency.  The 2 months leading up to my last race were my most consistent.  On a side note those past 2 months were the first 2 months I started training with people that were faster than me too.  Coincidence?  I think not.  I was putting in good mileage on my bike leading up to that race and even had to take the last 2 weeks before the race completely off and still had my best bike to date.  Probably my best bike for a while too.  I have also learned it is better to train with people that are faster.  Duh.  When I first started training with this group of guys I was the slowest.  Now I am equal to or faster than everyone. There is no question they have pushed me to where I am now.  I have also learned that I just want to get faster from here.  Who doesn't right?  The thing I can get faster at would be the run.  The best way to do that would be to lose more weight. I have lost a bunch so far and want to drop like 10 more pounds.  These will probably be the hardest 10 to drop.  Maybe I can get some help from this person?  It has definitely helped in the past. (good luck at Kona too)

So from here where am I headed? I do have some race plans for the rest of the year and next year.  After my triathlon I will be putting the bike and goggles down for a while.  I plan to just run up to the Stennis Space Center half marathon on Thanksgiving weekend.  I need to up my mileage before that race.  From there I plan to do a triathlon in Gulfport in March and hopefully do the bike leg of the NOLA Half Iron.  I also want to race Memphis in May and Heatwave.  Memphis in May has been moved to Tunica, MS at the casino resort and I want to check that out.

The last thing I have learned is I am not very good at this blog thing.  Oh well, it is pretty fun sometimes and it adds some accountability.