2012 and Beyond (The verdict and the future) And my knee...

First of all let me apologize for the delay in getting this blog post out. I've honestly been thinking about this and where I want to go for 2012.  As much as I like Ironman, I don't think I'm going to make it the focus of my training any longer.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still going to race and I am planning on doing Louisville this year, but as for living just to train and race Ironman, I can't do it.  I don't want to say I've wasted the last 2 years with the focus on Lake Placid, but I feel like I missed out on some stuff because of it.  I like to race, alot, part of why I love triathlon so much is because of the competitiveness of the sport.  But focusing on training for an IM, especially at the time of the summer Lake Placid was, is just too difficult.  Right when all the racing starts is when I need to start building up for Lake Placid.  Racing during that time isn't all that great to me.  I have subpar results and I get more depressed and doubtful.  I need to focus on each race and take it one race at a time to be and feel successful.  Do I want to race Ironman?  Yes absolutly, but not at the cost missing out on the rest of the summer.  This is why Louisville works well for me.  It gives me an opportunity to do the spring races in May and June without jeopardizing my build.  I can perform well at the local races for the confidence booster and then do well at Louisville.  I did this in 2009 and felt I had a good race.  I went 9:59 at Louisville and that was my first race.  I later went 9:35 at IM Florida in November.  But not only that I did well at the local races and scored my USAT All American certificate.  Not that everyone thinks those are so great but I do, and I'm proud of that.  I want that again, and I want the feeling of knowing I am doing well at what I do.  Like I mentioned in part 1, it wasn't the time I did at Lake Placid that pissed me off so bad, it was the fact that I didn't feel like I got to race my race.

So what does all this mean for 2012?  Well I am breaking new grounds for 2012.  As you've probably already seen by all my annoying GoPro video's, I've spent alot of time mountain biking.  In October I bought a new Specialized Stumpy 29er Carbon.  The sucker is sweet!!! I've had more fun on this thing than I can remember for the last 2 years. 

You may or may not know but I started cycling as a mountain biker.  I didn't start off as a roady.  Back when I race motocross I used mountain biking as training during the week.  So in August I picked up my old Gary Fisher and started riding again.  Got so hooked on it I picked this sucker up.  Even though it's freezing cold and snowing outside, I've been riding it all winter.  It's just a blast and a great way to avoid the trainer.

For 2012 I am going to do more offroad racing.  Currently I'm signed up for 3 Xterra races and I am also planning on either doing the US Championships in Ogden, UT or the Worlds in Maui.  This is going to be based on qualifying at Richmond for Xterra Maui, or qualifying for Kona at Louisville.  I can't do both Maui and Kona.  I'm almost positive I won't qualify for both so that might work itself out.  In addition to Xterra racing, I'm also planning on doing some 6 hour and 100 mile mountain bike races.  I figure these will be good to get my racing fix as well as get the long bike rides in for Ironman.  In fact, at this point, I only have Ironman Louisville, a local sprint, and maybe a local Olympic on my schedule for road races.  The rest of my races are offroad based races.  Honestly, after doing 300+ mile weeks on the same roads, I could use a change and this will get me that.  Here is my schedule for 2012.

March 24th - Barry Roubaix Gravel Road race
April 22nd - Yankee Springs Mountain bike TT
May 6th – Fort Custer Augusta Michigan – Mountain bike race
May 12th - 6 hours of Stoney Creek
May 20th – Fort Custer Xterra
May 26th – Hanson Hills 100 mountain bike race
June 10 - Xterra East Championships
June 17th – Xterra Torn Shirt Brighton
July 7th – Stony Creek MTB marathon
August 19th – Island Lake Sprint
August 26th – Ironman Louisville (Depending on Knee status)
September 9th – Addison oaks Mtb
September 22nd – Xterra National Champs Ogden, UT
October ?????





One of the biggest possible impacts on my Ironman racing this year may come from my knee.  Back in June I was testing out using some shorter cranks on my bike.  I had adjusted my seat up the difference in the length of the crank but for some reason I went cranking up a hill and I hyperextended my knee that I've had a few surgeries on.  It was an immediate shocking pain.  I knew exactly what I had done. The pain had subsided that day but from that point on, during long runs, I could feel it.  It didn't bother me that bad, but I knew it wasn't 100%.  You can see in my running I have a little limp.  I haven't ran smooth in 7 months. Going into Placid I was hoping that it was tight muscles, but after Lake Placid and during my rest time, it actually got worse.  Since then I've had to put it off due to poor insurance that my doc didn't take.  So now with the new job (at the old place) I have better insurance.  I'm having surgery done on Tuesday to repair some meniscus and clean up scar tissue.  I don't forsee this as a show stopper for Ironman training but it will put some time into my training plan.  The last thing I want to do when I can run again to go out too strong and do too much at one time.  So that might impact my run training for Louisville but not for Xterra racing since those are only 6 miles at the most. 

So all that said, thanks for reading and I look forward to a new year in 2012.  Keep an out for more YouTube video's coming in 2012.  Might even be doing them in 3D (unless I sell my old GoPro).