2020 the year of the pandemic and cancelled races. I started in 2019 with the goal of completing Ironman Eagleman 70.3 in June 2020. That didn’t happen, neither did a lot of races around the world. I was disappointed, to say otherwise wouldn’t be truthful. But in the scheme of things, I have been grateful and lucky to have come through (thus far) unscathed and very healthy.
I completed the 2020 Marine Corps Marathon as a virtual marathon, to be frank that race knocked the snot out of me. My completion time was far off my goal the weather, the lack of crowds and my cranky knee slowed me down. But offseting disappointment is the knowledge that I trained as consistently as I could, I designed a marathon distance course and in the end ran a solo marathon. It seemed fitting for 2020 that the race didn’t go as planned, since nothing in 2020 went as planned.
I had grand visions my last time through the Ironman training to blog daily, but I ended up being so focused on training and studying my splits that after a couple days I dropped my blogging in exchange for more internal rumination and focus.
Here we are again, over a year later and I am once again beginning the day one journey to train for Eagleman 70.3, my first half Ironman distance race. I’m still unsure of how the swimming part will go-as March 2021 will be a year since I have been to the gym. That will be an interesting point of discovery through this year’s journey.
Day one of 2021 is a rest day. I love that it is a rest day, especially since the Ultimate Conditioning class I took yesterday has left my left glute a bit sore from the hip flexor work we did. I decided that while I have to rest my body, it doesn’t say anything about resting one’s mind. I decided to sit down and share what I have formulated and formalized as my 2021 goals:
Goal 1: Complete Ironman Eagleman 70.3 in 6 hours:
- 1 hour swim
- 2.5 hour bike
- 2.5 hour run
Goal 2: Complete 2021 Marine Corps Marathon in sub 6 hours
The goals are pretty lofty and a little scary but I have to challenge myself and more importantly not sell myself short.
Strengths:
- I never give up, much like a bison I am strong and steady
- I have a supportive wife that encourages me on days I struggle
- Positive mindset. I have my days where I struggle with positivity but I have the mindset that training is a necessary evil but it is fun.
Areas of Improvement:
- Put training first, i.e. be selfish and put what matters first. I find that I put work, others and projects first before training thinking that I will have the time or I can shift things to make it work. I am now in a job that has a work life balance and is a career that I truly enjoy. I owe it to myself to give myself the best shot at achieving my goals.
- Soreness vs. injury awareness. I am hyper sensitive to how my body feels and sometimes I push through something that I should likely take a minute or a day to rest.
- Analysis paralysis, don’t analyze those that I admire to the point of self doubt. I am me and they are them and we each are striving for our best. It is the one downfall of social media, the constant comparison to others based on a small square frame.
I’m not sure what 2021 will bring in terms of actual races but I know that my training will happen regardless of what the virus does or doesn’t do.
Here we go with day one-rest day.
GeekyTriathlete 