GOALS

I’m beginning to understand the value of setting goals when it comes to my weight, exercise and getting healthy. My big goal for the past 6 months was to finish the triathlon. Achieved! Now I need to set another goal, look at where I am vs where I need to be and create a plan to achieve it. I also need to set smaller goals to help me reach my next big goal.

I have to admit that I never really thought past the Pumpkinman as far as what I wanted to do next. Sure I have these vague, general thoughts of riding my bike, losing more weight, getting healthier, but those aren’t concrete enough to allow me to measure my progress nor give me a target to shoot for. So, I’m debating what my next goals should be. Part of me Is leaning towards running 2 triathlons this coming year, both sprint distance. The first would be the RAGE in April and the second would be to do the Pumpkinman again in October. I have to admit that Pumpkinman is practically a given so I can see how I’ve improved year over year.

Using these goals I can set some additional parameters like being able to complete the various parts of the triathlons in better times than I ran at Pumpkinman this year. I would love to be able to shave an hour off my 3:30 time. I know this is a very aggressive goal, but with hard work I think I can definitely achieve it.

One area that is ripe for improvement is the run. I know that if I can at least jog part of the course I can shave 10 to 15 minutes off my 55+ minute time.

The swim is another area where a significant improvement can be made. By learning proper technique and practicing more than I did, I know I can do better than 27 minutes. I should be able to shave at least 7 minutes off my swim time.

The bike is the longest portion and therefore the area with the most room for improvement. I was fairly happy with my performance on the bike since it was almost 15 minutes faster than I had ridden the course just a few weeks prior to the event. Another 30 to 40 minutes improvement here would be doable as well.

Taken together, 15 + 7 + 40 = 62 minutes less time overall. This would give me an overall time of around 2:28. Definitely not the fastest, but a significant improvement from this last race.

Of course I look at what I did and how I prepared for the race and I realize that I could have trained harder and maybe hit these times for Pumpkinman. But no, no regrets, no second guessing myself. I finished the event. That is an accomplishment and something to be proud of.

Now it’s time to look ahead and set goals, large and small for the next event(s).