Happy New Year 2015!

Happy New Year! I am blowing the dust off this blog and starting 2015 off with a renewed promise to write more often on this site.  2014 was a great year for me personally and professionally.  I did the biggest deal of my life, bought a house, replaced my old clunker with my dream car and ended the year with a huge step in my career by taking a new job.  It was also a year of disappointments in my athletic endeavors.

After surgery on my foot early in the year, I never fully recovered mentally.  I did some training here and there...did a handful of races...but didn't have much enjoyment in any of it.  As a result, I packed on the pounds.

This time of the year is typically when I go on a frenzy of signing up for races.  I have done a ton of research on races, training plans and philosophies of training.  I have officially registered for 1 race...a half marathon in April.  I've also done a lot of reflecting on what made 2014 so challenging for me in my training and racing.

After all of this research and reflection, I've come up with a few resolutions:

-My main focus needs to be on my diet.  I have got to get rid of these extra pounds that I have gained in the past few months.  As I've recently learned, losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise.  I know that my exercise will be fine...but my diet needs to change dramatically in order to lose the 30 pounds that I want to get rid of.  I would love to lose the 30 pounds by June, which I think is a realistic timeframe.

-I would like to start and end my racing year with a long distance event.  I have found a 50 mile triathlon in May and a half ironman in September that I am seriously considering.  This will test my endurance over a long period of time...which could also give me some idea of whether or not I will have the ability to train for a full Ironman.

-I will be running more than in years past.  Running has been a weak area in my training for the past few years.  I have registered for a half marathon in April to force myself to get a training plan in place.  I want to get to a point where the running leg of the triathlon is not a struggle mentally anymore.

-I will give myself a break.  This past year, I was really hard on myself when I allowed life to interfere with my training.  That ended up being the start of a downward spiral...I would just get more and more frustrated with myself and with life for getting in the way.  I need to be more forgiving of myself if I need a day off.  And I need to be more flexible when life throws a curve ball into my well scripted training plans.

So once again I say Happy New Year! I am hopeful that 2015 is a good year for me and all of my readers!