2016 - Year of the Olympic(s)

2015 USAT National Championships in Milwaukee, WI

I've never been particularly interested in racing the USAT National Championships even though I generally qualify every year.  The shorter sprint and Olympic distances aren't my preference and something about a multiple day trip to race for ~2hrs just doesn't excite me.  About a month before Nationals this year I found out that World Championships in 2016 is going to be in Cozumel and though - that would be a good excuse to take a trip to Mexico!  So I made a snap decision to register for the Olympic distance race in Milwaukee and dropped some Skymiles on a flight.  I knew there was a group from VA Beach heading out and figured I'd be able to at least sleep on a couch somewhere but I had time to figure that out.

My primary focus this season is on Kona in October but I'm not really all-in on the training as I'm still approaching Kona as a reward for putting in the hard work to qualify. I have a realistic goal to cut a chunk of time off my first Kona in 2012 but I don't have any grand expectations and I have been a little casual with my training the first half of the season.  Still, I figured I had a decent chance of grabbing a spot on Team USA for Cozumel in 2016 but I had to earn it. I didn't really do anything specific to prepare for Milwaukee except hold off on building my long run and rides that I would typically be doing to prep for IM.  My strategy was basically just to manage fatigue a bit heading into the shorter race and give it my best shot.  I figured I needed to be in the 2:05-2:08 range to qualify for Team USA, which is right in my typical range.  Turns out I went 2:07:47 but picked up a 2min position penalty for not riding close enough to the right side of the road (officials were being very aggressive IMO) that dropped me one place out of the automatic qualifiers.  I wasn't particularly concerned though because it was unlikely that everyone ahead of me would take their slots so I still expected to make it, and did.

Mission accomplished - Cozumel 2016

So it's off to Cozumel in Sept 2016.  It should be a cool experience but again, the Olympic distance isn't my preference.  I'm also not completely satisfied with my race in Milwaukee but I couldn't really have expected much more considering I only decided 4 weeks out to register and hadn't been training for the shorter distance.  For that matter I've never trained specifically for any shorter races - sprint, Olympic, 5k, 10k - except for my first few triathlons where I was simply training to complete the distance.  I just ticked over 40 years old last September and I figure my opportunities to go fast are closing out so I decided to make 2016 the "Year of the Olympic(s)" - Olympic distance triathlon for me and THE Olympics for the rest of the world.  I'm setting some pretty ambitious goals - 5k and 10k PRs, and top 5 in my age group at USAT Nationals in Omaha. If I build my training with those specific goals in mind I think I have a reasonable chance of being faster than my younger self over the shorter distances.  Time will tell but I'm looking forward to a different challenge.  Guess I finally have some motivation to step up my swimming.

I'm taking a serious run at USAT Nationals in 2016