The Second Coming of Kona

It's been just about a year since I last posted and I figured it was time for an update.  Last season was all about racing IM Chattanooga at the end of September.  Training went well and I was pretty much prepared although the 4-6 weeks leading up to the race were definitely more hectic than I would have liked.  We ended up deciding to buy a new house, which meant also needing to sell our current house.  It all worked out amazingly well but again, the timing wasn't ideal.  We closed on both a week before Chattanooga and I had to move everything we own, clean and prep our old place for the new owners, and keep track of my racing gear during the move.  Two days after moving (i.e. piling everything into the new garage) we got in the car and drove to Chattanooga.  I also turned 40 on Sept 15.  Race week was actually the most relaxing part of September by far.  I still haven't written up a race report but the ultra-short version is this: fast swim, good ride (116 miles BTW), and half of a good run.  Despite some struggles I held things together enough to finish 38th overall and 4th in my new 40-44 age group - good enough for a slot at Kona 2015. I'll get a more detailed race report together soon.

After Chattanooga I basically shut things down completely to focus on the new house - painting, unpacking, renovations, etc basically consumed my time and I don't think I did anything resembling working out for a couple of months.  My first time back to the pool was March but I got back to running and riding some after the holidays.  So it's definitely a slow start to the season with my fitness lagging but Kona's my only priority race of the year so there is plenty of time.  I did Kinetic 1/2 as usual but had to miss Mountains of Misery for the first time in at least 5 years.  My mid-season "B" race is Challenge Williamsburg but it's not really much of a priority.  The week before that I'm hitting up an Olympic distance event - Jamestown Tri just for fun.  The week after Challenge I'm heading back to Ragnar Trails WV for the third year in a row to race on an ultra team.  After a bit of recovery it will be time to actually start training.  I'll have a good fitness base to start layering my IM build on.

As for my Kona goals - pretty minimal.  2012 was about experiencing everything Kona race week has to offer and basically being a tourist on the course.  This time I plan to be a bit more focused on the race but I don't have any illusions of actually being competitive in my AG.  I'd like to knock an hour off my finish time, sub-10:30 would be a nice bonus, and sub-10hrs would be fantastic.  So we'll see how things are shaping up throughout the summer - stay tuned for some updates.