Closing out the year

My racing year is coming to an end. I am counting down the days until the Longhorn Half Ironman which is only 5 days away. After that race I am taking a much deserved and much needed break. Not a sit around on the couch type of break but a no 3 hour training sessions type of break. I think this is a good time to reflect on my year and see if I can pinpoint all the positives and negatives.

To start 0ff I know that I am ready for the season to be done. I can feel my motivation waining. The weather is getting cooler and it is getting harder to get out of the warm cozy bed in the morning. The kids are starting up with all kinds of extra curricular activities that are starting to eat away at my weekends, and my body just feels like it needs a vacation.

So what happened this year that I can call an achievement. Lets start with the fact that this was my first season as a Triathlete and I completed 5 races. That in itself is great but looking further into it my finishes were not typical of a rookie (not that I am bragging). In all of them I finished in the top 50 overall and top 10 in my age group in all except one. I placed 3rd AG in the Austin Triathlon and cut over 13 minutes off my time from my Olympic distance race at CapTexTri earlier in the season. At that same race I set a personal record for the 10K (not just 10k's in triathlons). How about the fact that I learned more about nutrition this year than I ever have in any competitive arena I have been in. I learned exponentially about training techniques and how to optimize training days. I even learned more about bike maintenance than I even wanted to know.

Now for the negative. Its hard to find the bad in this season. I stayed injury free except for the nagging shoulder problem. I did find out that it is Arthritis of my AC Joint and I also have a Labral tear. I have always had problems but this year it has been nagging me constantly because of the increased training. I was going to have surgery but a physical therapist friend talked me out of it until I can spend some time with a PT and see if I can fix it that way. That is it for the bad this season. I just cannot find any thing to complain about. i am sure next year I will be complaining more because I will have this season to compare to.

There are many goals to set and many improvements to make for next season but I am not starting those until after this weekend and the Longhorn HIM. I cannot wait until the race this weekend and I also cannot wait until it is behind me.