I have mixed feelings about 2013.\u00a0 I shouldn’t, because I made some pretty good swim and bike progress, and running got happy late in the year and I’m kinda back to where I was 3 years ago (finallllly), but I don’t feel like I really nailed a lot of my races and running was really miserable for so long.<\/p>\n First of all, I’ve found that my focus this year needs to be the run, then the bike, then the swim, at least the first half of the year.\u00a0 I’ve been making amazing run gains simply by running more, and then with my big base, running faster.\u00a0 I want to maintain a good base, and pull some nice big weeks during peak training.\u00a0 I’m finding the run is the first to go and the last to come back, so it needs the most attention.\u00a0 I’m not losing that much on the bike (if anything) just keeping one long trainer ride per week, and I pretty much quit swimming for 3 months and I picked up almost where I left off once I got back in the water (I’m a little slower, but a week or two of multiple swims a week should fix that).<\/p>\n Goal #1:<\/strong> maintain a 20 mile\/week run base, pull some 40+ weeks during peak training.<\/p>\n Each workout needs a specific goal.\u00a0 I’m not seeing much improvement with workouts like “run 10 miles” or “bike on the trainer for 2 hours”.\u00a0 I saw some amazing run improvement when I incorporated specific speedwork (aka – 8×400 @ 7:50 pace), and started tempos again (either as part of a longer run or the whole run itself).\u00a0 I’m hoping to transfer that work over to the bike and the swim as I start focusing there.<\/p>\n I want to really focus on nailing training.\u00a0 I missed my goal time for the marathon by 22 minutes.\u00a0 I just was not having a super day, my legs forgot to show up.\u00a0 Rather than it being a disaster, I just thought back on the AMAZING training I had done, and was extremely happy.<\/p>\n Goal #2:<\/strong> have a specific workout planned for each session with pace goals (unless it’s truly a recovery day, then EASY will suffice).\u00a0 Do not neglect speedwork on any of the three disciplines.\u00a0 Show up and conquer each training session.<\/p>\n I’m still planning out my race schedule, but this year, I’m not locked into racing anything because it’s part of a series, and I didn’t jump on any presales.\u00a0 2014 truly is my oyster at this point.\u00a0 I want to race enough to keep me motivated and interested, but also remember that I LOVED the 2 month training block and not to let my race FOMO get the best of me. Racing during the hot summer doesn’t make me happy, so I’m not going to do it, I’m going to focus around a spring season and fall season taking the summer as a break from serious training.<\/p>\n Specifically, I want to PR my half marathon, do a full century outdoors (either standalone or as a full IM aquabike), and complete a 70.3 where I feel as if I raced it (which should assuredly result in a PR, but a PR in and of itself is not exactly what I’m chasing), but I’m sure other goals will come up as the year progresses.<\/p>\n Goal #3:<\/strong> plan out a reasonable season with adequate training time and enough offseason to keep me from being crispy.\u00a0 Figure out what the A, B, and C races are and set appropriate goals.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Eating\/the scale\/diet quality<\/strong><\/p>\n 2013 was the first year I saw some actual downward progress since 2009, when I finished losing all the weights.\u00a0 I lost 10 lbs in the spring, and I’ve kept it off.\u00a0 I’d like to do the same this year (I’m not picky about which season, I’d be ok if this happened in Jan and Feb ;D).\u00a0 So, a lot of this will be more of the same (as that period of time), which is helpful.<\/p>\n The real key here is accountability and data.\u00a0 I can lose weight when I track both the quantity and the quality of what is going in my mouth, and set appropriate goals by my current training level.\u00a0\u00a0 I need some flexibility, as I get really crazy if I try to be perfect, but I do best with numerical goals here and sometimes just having to own up to logging the calorie damage and\/or negative diet quality points will stop me from making crappy decisions.<\/p>\n Goal #1:<\/strong> track calories and diet quality all year, minus vacations and\/or periods where I am on break.<\/p>\n Batch cooking was a major success.\u00a0 Having something that I wanted to eat on hand to throw in the microwave was a huge proponent in me eating good food in proper portions.\u00a0 Let me tell you what I don’t want to do after an early morning run, a full day at work, and then a night session?\u00a0 Cook.\u00a0 However, my laziness usually works to my advantage here, because nuking something that I may not be 100% thrilled with will usually win over going to purchase something else or making something else from scratch.<\/p>\n I have a great repository of batch recipes now, but I’d like to start working on incorporating and trying to like some foods that are super healthy, but I’m not so keen on, or actually like, but rarely eat.\u00a0 I conquered avocados and kale last year, I’d like to see if I can incorporate sweet potatoes and see if I can do anything with eggs that mask their taste and texture to be a meaningful addition to a recipe.\u00a0 In the latter category, I’d like to eat brussel sprouts more – I love them, but I always forget about them.<\/p>\n Goal #2:<\/strong> batch cook the majority of 2014, and make use of my fit\/snap kitchen when I’m too busy to do so.\u00a0 Try some new recipes, and try to incorporate foods that I don’t 100% love but want to love, to see if I can make myself love them.\u00a0 Keep variety in my fruits and veggies – man cannot live on spinach, mixed veggies, apples, and berries alone.<\/p>\n 3. Organization\/House\/Renovations<\/strong><\/p>\n I bit off more than I could chew last year.\u00a0 Guess what a busy triathlete wants to do on precious free time during the season?\u00a0 I can tell you for certain that it’s NOT spend the weekend cleaning shit.\u00a0 This year, I want to renew the theme of trying to do something per month, but scope it to the amount of time I reasonably have to dedicate to it.\u00a0 If that’s reordering a room, great.\u00a0 If it’s just cleaning out the junk drawer in the kitchen, that’s fine too.<\/p>\n Goal #1:<\/strong> set one goal per month to clean\/organize\/redo something.\u00a0 It can be as small or large as I choose.<\/p>\n Last year was the money suck of everything breaking (our house, electronics, random things, us…) and I’m not sure how much we’ll have to really spend on a bunch of remodel this year.\u00a0 However, it would be nice to scope out and start planning some of the larger projects we want to do and keep an eye out for deals.<\/p>\n Goal #2:<\/strong> We must fix the shingle in the roof and replace the front door.\u00a0 Scope out redoing the slab on the patio and covering it, repainting\/brick work the exterior, kitchen counters and if we want to redo anything else there (gold stars for completing).<\/p>\n![\"Jan3-1\"](\"http:\/\/adjustedreality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Jan3-1.jpg\")
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