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| when I uploaded this to picasa, google automatically added "snow" animation -- creepy |
The day kicked off with a late family breakfast.
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| My dad has made eggs benedict every January 1st for as long as I can remember |
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| Which of course must be followed up with Grands cinnamon rolls to complete the breakfast of champions |
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| Klaus playing with his "uncle" Rowdy |
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| And looking like a wolf on the attack |
But then it was back to bowl games and more food
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| Klaus creeping from up above while the rest of the family watched football |
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| Mom's homemade pizza (taken from my Great Aunt Joan's recipe), which was preceded by nachos and mini-reubens |
So now that I have pretty much bottomed out on holiday laziness, it's time to think about my athletic goals for next year! Here's what I've got:
PR in the half marathon
This one scares me a bit since my current PR of 2:06:50 was achieved in August of 2011 on a day with near perfect conditions and the closest I've come since then is a 2:08:30 this past September. But for the past two years I've really been focused on distance, not speed, so maybe there's still hope.
Run a sub-60 10K
I've done this once before, in the first 10K of the race where I also earned my half marathon PR. My past two 10Ks were right around the 1:01 mark. I haven't trained specifically for a 10K since October of 2010, and I had some bad luck weather-wise with my past few, so I'm hoping a little training and a few more tries will get me across the one hour mark again.
Break 3:40 in an Olympic distance triathlon
In my first (and only) Olympic tri last summer, I finished in 3:52:40. I'd really like to get that time down to something in the 3:3x:xx range. That race had a monster climb on the bike and a hot and sunny run, so just choosing a different race and getting lucky with the weather could get me a few minutes. I've also discovered that I'm really weak on the bike, at least compared to my age group, so focusing on improving there could improve my time significantly.
Significantly improve my bike handling skills
Speaking of my struggles on the bike, I really need get more comfortable in the saddle and improve my bike handling skills. Being able to drink on the bike would be a good start. Maybe I'll even get ambitious and figure out a way to eat without stopping, too. I'm also planning to get my bike properly fitted and add some clip-on aero bars (a nice tri bike will have to wait at least until I'm out of grad school) so I'll have a lot of work to do learning to safely ride in aero position. Fortunately (?) it looks like I'll have a long winter of riding on the trainer to get used to it.
Run my first trail race
In the past few years, I've completed my first road race, relay race, obstacle race, and triathlon. Hitting the trails seems like the natural next step. It also seems like a good way to test out whether an ultra is in my future ...
Run a small marathon
After having an awesome experience at the Chicago Marathon this past October, my obsession with the distance has only increased. But I think I'm ready to change it up -- having run Chicago twice and Rock n Roll USA once, I'd like to try something significantly smaller and with some non-urban scenery. I was tempted to set another time goal, but after the huge relief of finally breaking five hours in my third attempt, I want to shift the focus to something not time related, at least for this year.
I don't have anything approaching a full race schedule planned at this point (partly because as a sixth year PhD student my occupation and location for the next academic year are currently TBD), but I have a few ideas. If anyone has suggestions for good races, especially in the New England or Chicago area and of the short trail race (nothing longer than a half), sprint or Olympic distance triathlon, or small marathon variety, please let me know in the comments.
Happy New Year everyone!
