Race Plans for 2015

Jan
2015
13

posted by on Triathlon

New Year Wallpaper.

In my triathlon and personal goal world, 2014 was an absolutely amazing year for me.  My race plans for 2015 are not as big as training for my first Ironman and my focus for this year will obviously be very different.  I have plans and goals that I will be working hard for, but it will not take as much of ME as training for my first Ironman.  I am aiming to have fun while pushing toward my goals for these races.

Here is the current plan for the first part of 2015.

Long Course Duathlon//May 16//I have never participated in a duathlon, so I figured I would give it a try.  The distances associated with this race are 5 mile run/33 mile bike/5 mile run.

Ironman 70.3 Raleigh//May 31//I raced Raleigh 70.3 the inaugural year in 2013.  Last year I volunteered.  Here is a quick recap from my 2013 race in order to frame my present year goals.

  • {SWIM} Not one of my best.  While I was very prepared, I did not execute what I wanted back in 2013.
  • {BIKE} Great and exceeded my expectations.  My “stretch goal” for the course was sub-3 hours.  When I had raced Beach 2 Battleship Half in 2012 (my first and only other half), my bike time was 3:00:09…I wanted those 10 seconds back!!  Because I was able to train the Raleigh 70.3 bike course multiple times, I knew exactly what to expect.  It was far hillier than B2B, which is a FLAT course.  Well, I pulled it off with a 2:58:37, so those results were very special to me.  I hope to improve even more on that time.
  • {RUN} I executed the run as planned.  Race day ended up being a very hot day and training conditions had not been that warm leading up to the race.  My plan was to run smart…focusing on hydrating and staying steady.  I felt really good about how I executed the run with 2:13:12.  I had originally planned for a goal closer to the 2 hour mark (my B2B time was 2:06:34), but I knew conditions dictated a different plan on race day.
  • {GOALS} My focus this year will be on improving my times in each of the three legs.  I have lots of room with the swim…no particular time goal here…just want improvement.  As far as the bike, I want to push it a bit more and hope to shave off a couple of minutes.  As far as the run, I would love to hit the sub-2 hour mark for the 13.1.   Overall for the 70.3, it would be awesome to break 6 hours again.  B2B Half in 2012, I pulled out a 5:53:43.  While Raleigh is a more challenging course, I had a 6:14:12. So, I hope to push my training to see that sub-6 hour mark once again!

Smile Train Sprint//June 28//This is the same race as my very first triathlon back in 2009.  It consists of a 250-yard pool swim, 12 mile bike and 5K run.  I have never raced it a second time, even though it is a great local race, really perfect for first timers.  I have wanted to race it a second time, but it has not fit into my schedule these last years.  I really want to go out there, have fun, but push it hard.  It will be fun to compare my race times to those from my first year!

Washington Olympic//July 25//This will also be a repeat race.  It was the first Olympic distance I raced back in 2011 with a 3:04:01.  The only other Olympic/International distance I have raced was in 2012 with a 3:11:47 (however, this bike distance was 27  miles compared to 23.5 miles at my first).  Overall, my goal is to break the 3 hour mark and have fun with the distance.

As far as triathlons go, end of July is as far as I have committed my schedule.  At that point, I plan to evaluate how I am feeling, what I want to continue to push goal-wise and then decide if I want to schedule more sprints, an Olympic or possibly another half.  I have a list of potential races that interest me, most of which I have not done previously, so we will see what the second half of 2015 will bring!

Kiawah Island Half Marathon//December 12//I touched on a sub-2 hour 13.1 goal earlier in my list.  This is really one of my biggest goals of the year.  While I have done this in training, I have never logged this time in a race.  Plus, I have never raced a stand alone 13.1…only as part of the 70.3 distance.  It will be awesome if I can knock this out in Raleigh 70.3, but Kiawah Island is the plan with one of my running buddies.  We decided one day last summer, as we were hanging out by the pool, to go for the sub-2 hour mark with this race.  It will be special to train with my friend and then push each other on race day to meet our goal!

I am looking forward to getting in a good amount of variety and having a fun 2015 race season!

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