Resolutions (2015)

Warning:  Non-EVE Content, etc. etc.

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I don't normally do crazy big lists of New Year's Resolutions.  As I said in the first of this series:

I've never been big on New Year's Resolutions.  I'm not sure how widespread this kind of thing is internationally, but in the States, this is the phenomenon where people commit to doing something they should already be doing, fail miserably at it, and then make the same commitment the following year.

I posted the previous entries on Weight Loss and Triathlons partially so that this post on January 1st was in the right context.  My journey has been something that I'm personally very proud of, and I like to share.  But if I came here and proclaimed that I was going to do X, Y, or Z, I'm not sure it'd make much sense as a one-off post.

So if you've read all the other propaganda leading to this, I thank you.


From 2008 to today, each year's season has been a building block supporting the previous.  Each year the progress was tangible ... until this year.  If I had to put a descriptor against 2014, I'd use the words "maintenance and risk avoidance."

Don't get me wrong.  The year 2014 was pretty good to me, but kind of mediocre in terms of biking/fitness.  Work/office life ... sucked.  With work sapping my will, I really needed some time on the bike to work out my frustrations.  But, the weather locally was wet and cool resulting in a 3 acre lawn that seemed to grow a foot or two every other day (normally by July, the weather here turns dry and I mow every 10-15 days).  This season the one or two days a week that it wasn't raining, I was mowing.  I spent a LOT of time on the mower instead of tackling my to-do list around the house or doing fun things like biking.

(On the plus side, I got to play a lot more EVE with all the rainy days).

But back on topic -- In 2013, I had upped my game - I dumped weight and completed Olympic and Half-Iron distance events in swim/bike.  It seemed like 2014 was going to be a huuuuuge year of continued improvement and I had some big aspirations.  In the first race of the season, I set a personal best for a 400m swim and 5k run time while taking 5 minutes off my best Sprint Tri time.

Shortly after that Tri, I hurt my back, kind of limped through the events I'd already paid for in June, and then spent most of the summer doing physical therapy.  It scared me how fragile I was; one small glitch knocked over the entire house of cards, and months of planning and effort were out the window.

I could have pressed on, but I played it conservatively and didn't risk a permanent injury for the sake of a few silly races.  I came out smarter and with less pain, but I was also slower and with less stamina.  I ended 2014 with the longest bike ride of my career (altho also one of my slowest), but fell short of a few other personal goals.

So, for 2015, I'm going in with three goals/resolutions.  The first two support the third.

1. Dump some more weight.  Would like to hit 183 to make it an even 100 pounds gone.
2. Firm up. Do the Doc's core strength routine 3x per week.  Stronger core means less chance of repeating my back injury.  Track it, nerd style.
3. Train for and Complete an Imperial Century Ride.  One hundred miles in one day.  This particular goal has eluded me the past couple seasons due to weather, other (Triahtlon) events, and lower back pain.  It's kind of a rite of passage for bikers, and although I've done a metric century (100km) several times, I've never done an Imperial.

There will be other events on the calendar. At least one Triathlon.  Some family time and road trips for hiking, caving, and other outdoorsy stuff.  But the 3 things above are what I'm going to measure myself on.

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