New Year's Eve

Tomorrow starts my training for the 2009 season. I'm excited and hopeful, but also a little nervous. I have high hopes for this season - I'm not ready to articulate them right now, but it's significantly more ambitious than last season.
A bit of a postmortem on my triathlon life in 2008:

• I PR'd at the half marathon distance. Not hard to do since I can't run at all!
• I did a century bike ride with 20-30 MPH headwinds for the first 50 miles. I'm pretty sure every roadie in SD was on my wheel the whole way out - freakin' drafters. I went on a pub crawl that afternoon.
  
• I completed my first 70.3 distance triathlon
• I purchased a beautiful new racing bike, pushing my retirement out to age 75
  
• I completed my second 70.3 race six weeks after the first, with the flu. The Wildflower course is hellacious!
  
• For the first time I ran a hot weather race without getting dizzy or headachey from dehydration
• I completed a 3 mile ocean swim. Dehydration insued
  
• I did two epic bike rides of 140+ miles
• I failed to complete a event for the first time. Severe dehydration beat me on this one, but I'm already planning my revenge on the California desert
• I completed the "Triple Crown" of San Diego half marathons - Carlsbad, La Jolla, AFC
  
• I rode myself into the ground on a hot day so badly that the next morning I passed out and cut my head open banging it into a wall
• I rode 100+ miles every saturday for eight weeks straight
  
• I became an Ironman, and did it faster than I thought I would

But that was 2008, and it's behind me now. Last season I found the confidence I needed to do serious endurance events, and the experience I needed to complete them. This season I will be doing big things. No more of this "I just hope I finish" BS - this year I'm racing. This year I'm focused on fixing the things I do badly, and honing the things I do well. Tops on the "fixing" list are:

1. Running better. Good lord do I need help here, I'm sure there's more to come on this topic.
2. Training and race day nutrition/hydration. I did OK at Ironman Arizona in this area, it felt pretty good. The previous 14 months however were a disaster, and I nearly put myself in the hospital four times.
3. Everyday nutrition. I'm overweight. People give me shit when I say this - I'm 6' tall and weigh 180 pounds, which by many people's standards is a normal weight. I don't give a damn about body image or any of that crap - I'm trying to go fast. That means maximizing my power to weight ratio. To do that I need to get my Body Mass Index down - which means no more crappy food.

The "honing" list consists of:

1. Maintaining my swim progress. I made a breakthrough this season, and my swimming has come a long way. I still have serious problems with my stroke, but I'm starting to understand this sport better now.
2. Cycling. I f'in love it. I am a worse cyclist now than I was a year ago (had to sacrifice to learn to swim and run) but I'm still a Cat 4, and I'd like to improve upon my IMAZ performance.

So that's it, my 2009 in a nutshell. I proved in 2008 that I can't handle anything outside of work and training, so I'm going to stick with that formula for 2009. Wish me luck!