2013 Recap, 2014 Thoughts

Everyone else is posting a 'year in review' kind of thing so I figured I would put one out too.  Not sure how much I'm actually going to remember about the year, but let's give it a shot.

I had some good races:
Sarasota Half Marathon
St. Anthony's Olympic Distance
Rev3 Half Distance

Some not so good races:
Hy-Vee Championship

And, a race I will never forget:
Boston Marathon

I made some new friends and had to temporarily say good-bye Sarah.

Here is the breakdown of my training (from Training Peaks):

Swim - 244,892 yds (139 miles), 83:56:10
Bike - 2,659.78 miles, 191:36:31
Run - 1,240.48 miles, 187:52:19 (this includes road races)
Strength - 111:12:33

Yeah, that was a lot more than I would have guessed.  Especially for the swim.

I qualified to race as a pro/elite at Rev3 Sarasota and I am planning on taking the opportunity (for now).  I want to see how much better I can get over the next 6 months first.  I think  how I perform this coming summer will tell me if I really am ready for the challenge.  I know I"m going to have to put in even more hours training and at a higher intensity that in 2013.  So, if I can make it through the summer and still want more, then I will be more confident taking the pro card.  I know I am going to get my ass handed to me and I know it's going to hurt every time even though I know it's going to happen.  I think what's going to hurt even more is that I probably will not place in anything.  At least for the first year.  This is what I'm telling myself now anyway.  

Other thoughts for 2014:
Non-tri Life - Well, I'm getting married in about 6 weeks.  So, that's a biggie.  Daniel is done with school so we are planning on doing a big trip this year since we didn't get to go anywhere (non-race related) last year.  I'm looking forward to spending time with Daniel... when I'm not training of course.  My goal for 2014 is to balance work-tri-personal life.  I want to focus on my personal life more.  This is something that doesn't come very easily for me.  I am so much better at spending hours working out than doing anything that involves human interaction for longer than 30 minutes... unless I'm drinking ;)

Tri-life - I'm working with Jon full time until at least IMFL.  I'm sure he's going to kick my butt with training and has already warned me that after my two marathons coming up I was going to have to put in more time at the pool, ugh.  I'm dreading it already.  So, I still don't really have goals here.  A broad streaking one is to be bad ass for IMFL.  Is that good enough?  LOL.  It'll have to do for now.