Tonight I finally saw everything click for me in the swim. Granted the distance is still not there but at least for the moment I saw myself swim with control, kick with a control and actually breathed with some control. Each 25 meters were without stopping and without taking too much air or holding my breath too long. I even tried to imagine the depths of the water being deeper than they actually were too hopefully prepare myself for the depths that I will actually be facing this Sunday. It was as if Coach Lyndsi was there telling me to slow down and don't wear yourself out by swimming too hard or too fast. I will need to work on this again tomorrow along with the open water swim on Saturday. But for today I was deeply happy with something I never thought I could do. While it is just one day and one swim it was maybe the start of something different for me. Maybe it was a fluke but then again maybe something finally clicked in my thoughts and attitude towards my swimming.
I can't wait for tomorrow and see if this is something I can gain on and move forward on my swimming or if it is a start but still got a ways to go before this becomes the norm rather than the exception.
Now on the other hand my running was horrible to say the least. My lower back was not the only thing hurting me this time around. My running pains were expected because I am still fighting tightness and right now I am just going to have to fight it because apparently it is here to stay for a while. Like last year it just came and then just went away. Hopefully it will be the same for this year. It was a good June at least with very little tightness but July has been hard on me for sure.
Sunday Sunday Sunday it my next tri-event and I cannot wait.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Dude Just Tri...
Well Dude Just Tri proved one thing for me at least. No matter what kind of an event it is, timed or un-timed, lots of people or very limit people there is one common in it all. I choked when it comes to my swimming. I mean I am starting to swim a whole lot better at LA Fitness and even with my coach but put me in front of other people and have someone tell me to start and all of my learning goes out the door. In this event I would like to once again mention that this wasn't even a timed race. So for most people the thought of pressure would not even be an issue but not for me. Here is where I believe it all went to hell for me. I put in my time that I have been achieving while practicing and I even though it was pretty close to being exact if not maybe even buffering it a little for extra security. But either I lied about my time, or people refused to put in their time, or I just need to double my time next time I have no clue but I was #23 for the race. Now granted 23 is a good number for me. My favorite player was #23 for the Cardinals but that didn't help me any for the race. Once I got there and realized I was near the front I started to panic or choke a little. I didn't expect to be that far ahead of other people. I honestly thought my time would have put near in the middle of the pack. Having so many people potentially watching me and knowing I wasn't that good of a swimmer to be that far in front of others really did a job on me mentally. I lost my swim before I even hit the water.
SO I get in the water and the guy says go. So I go. But during my swimming portion I totally forgot how to breathe under water. Instead of exhaling in the water like I do 100% of the time when I am swimming at LA Fitness I just held my breath instead. And for all my friends who are either tri or swimmers know that holding your breath is the worst thing you could do. I only had 150 or so yards of swimming so at least the misery wasn't long lasting. But seriously how can you forget to exhale in water. It really isn't that hard even for me to know. But put me in a race situation and there you have one complete idiot under water doing everything wrong. So it wasn't the best start for a race that should have been for pure fun and experience.
Finally manage to get out of the water and get to my bike. Since this wasn't timed I decided that I would just walk it instead of running from transition to transition. This race was more about the experience and getting more of it then timing myself. I get to my bike and start riding only to see my sunglasses fall of my bike and I had to turn around and get them. Apparently putting your glassing on your handle bars so you don't forget them isn't as easy as someone might think. But other than that I think I had a pretty good ride. I was strong throughout that portion of the race and it was nice to be with people in the race instead of near the back to the pack with no one around you.
Finally got to the run portion and felt pretty good for the run. Now some of it probably had to do with the fact that I had only a 10 mile race instead of the usual 16 or so miles you ride. I did pretty good with the start. I felt strong and that carried me for a pretty good distance. I didn't have any back problems like I had in my previous two sprints. And that is probably because I switched running shoes and these seem to be so much better for me. I think I might be done with Brooks for a while in the running shoe department. The last two or three pairs have not worked for me and wasting money on them and having back problems is probably not something I plan on doing anytime soon again. But the run was the best of the three events that I have done so far. I just need to work on this part of my game. I really do not practice this part of the transition and that is probably not wise for me to continue to be doing.
So overall the race was good. I saw my swimming coach after the race and she said that she saw improvements in my stroke. So if I am going to fail in swimming at least something went right. Still need to decide if anxiety pills before a race is something I need to consider or not. I just do not know why I cannot relax and enjoy the swimming of the triathlon. But for my first three races of my career all of my swimming have ended in the same manner in that none of them ended they way I wanted them to go.
The bike portion I am seeing great improvements from race to race. And from St. Pats to Dude Just Tri I am a completely different rider. St. Pats I was scared of the wet roads and winds. Now I am not scared of either. And even for The Caveman I saw myself even increasing my speed on the wet roads. For Dude Just Tri something went wrong because the weather was great for the race. Apparently the Sprint Tri gods did not realize I was racing in this event or something.
My running still needs to be better and as I said most of it is due to me not practicing the transition from bike to run. I tried it once at White Rock and it went horrible but I still need to practice it because that is one of the reasons my runs are not as good as they should be. Once I get off the bike my legs are worn down and preventing me from competing strongly in something that should be my strongest portion of any triathlon. That is something I will get better at once I refocus myself into my running. Like I am doing tomorrow with the Too Hot To Handle race. This is my first running event since the Cowtown Marathon. I need to get myself back into at least one race a month to continue to improve my running and endurance.
SO I get in the water and the guy says go. So I go. But during my swimming portion I totally forgot how to breathe under water. Instead of exhaling in the water like I do 100% of the time when I am swimming at LA Fitness I just held my breath instead. And for all my friends who are either tri or swimmers know that holding your breath is the worst thing you could do. I only had 150 or so yards of swimming so at least the misery wasn't long lasting. But seriously how can you forget to exhale in water. It really isn't that hard even for me to know. But put me in a race situation and there you have one complete idiot under water doing everything wrong. So it wasn't the best start for a race that should have been for pure fun and experience.
Finally manage to get out of the water and get to my bike. Since this wasn't timed I decided that I would just walk it instead of running from transition to transition. This race was more about the experience and getting more of it then timing myself. I get to my bike and start riding only to see my sunglasses fall of my bike and I had to turn around and get them. Apparently putting your glassing on your handle bars so you don't forget them isn't as easy as someone might think. But other than that I think I had a pretty good ride. I was strong throughout that portion of the race and it was nice to be with people in the race instead of near the back to the pack with no one around you.
Finally got to the run portion and felt pretty good for the run. Now some of it probably had to do with the fact that I had only a 10 mile race instead of the usual 16 or so miles you ride. I did pretty good with the start. I felt strong and that carried me for a pretty good distance. I didn't have any back problems like I had in my previous two sprints. And that is probably because I switched running shoes and these seem to be so much better for me. I think I might be done with Brooks for a while in the running shoe department. The last two or three pairs have not worked for me and wasting money on them and having back problems is probably not something I plan on doing anytime soon again. But the run was the best of the three events that I have done so far. I just need to work on this part of my game. I really do not practice this part of the transition and that is probably not wise for me to continue to be doing.
So overall the race was good. I saw my swimming coach after the race and she said that she saw improvements in my stroke. So if I am going to fail in swimming at least something went right. Still need to decide if anxiety pills before a race is something I need to consider or not. I just do not know why I cannot relax and enjoy the swimming of the triathlon. But for my first three races of my career all of my swimming have ended in the same manner in that none of them ended they way I wanted them to go.
The bike portion I am seeing great improvements from race to race. And from St. Pats to Dude Just Tri I am a completely different rider. St. Pats I was scared of the wet roads and winds. Now I am not scared of either. And even for The Caveman I saw myself even increasing my speed on the wet roads. For Dude Just Tri something went wrong because the weather was great for the race. Apparently the Sprint Tri gods did not realize I was racing in this event or something.
My running still needs to be better and as I said most of it is due to me not practicing the transition from bike to run. I tried it once at White Rock and it went horrible but I still need to practice it because that is one of the reasons my runs are not as good as they should be. Once I get off the bike my legs are worn down and preventing me from competing strongly in something that should be my strongest portion of any triathlon. That is something I will get better at once I refocus myself into my running. Like I am doing tomorrow with the Too Hot To Handle race. This is my first running event since the Cowtown Marathon. I need to get myself back into at least one race a month to continue to improve my running and endurance.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Where did the land go
Well Saturday I swam the furthest I have ever volunteeringly (yes I believe I made up another word) did. Never before did I ever say to myself I wonder just how far could I swam away from the shore. NEVER. Actually up until now I can honestly say it also never crossed my mind to do such a thing. I mean who in their right mind would leave the security of soil for open water. Not me at least. But on Saturday with the awesome help of my swimming Coach Lyndsi I did just that. I had a lesson with her on Friday and felt great. That seemed to have rolled over to Saturday morning as I decided to see just how far I could go. While I did not reach the buoy yet I did get closer. I was probably 60% out so I am very much getting closer to my first new goal. Which is to make it to and from the buoy while not drowning in the process. I am seeing that I may have rushed my 2015 goals for the Ironman. So I might reserve 2015 to get myself mentally and physically prepared for a run at it in 2016. Right now I need to conquer the first buoy, then the second one and finally do a tri that is what I have seem to have forgotten it official name but the tri between sprint and ironman. That I will need to conquer first in 2015 and then use that to boost me into a great and awesome 2016 for the ironman. I just honestly knew swimming would be my major weakness but I also kinda thought I could have overcome it quicker than this as well. Mainly because whatever I do I can learn it quick and master it quick as well. But not swimming so that is why I am so happy for what happened yesterday. It was a major step forward to a lengthy overall goal plan for my life in the tri-world.
After the swim I just did the 16 mile bike ride. My calves were killing me still from a workout that happened back on Wednesday. Darn me. I increase my weights on my exercises for my calves and while it will build up my strength I may have gone a little too high in the weights. But the ride was great. Started out way to slow and I have no clue why the leader of the pack did that. The only thing that did was just put about 15 riders about a few inches apart from each other. Very dangerous IMO. But once I got to a passing point I moved ahead of most the riders and just rode with the elite group until I was proven yet again to not be an elite rider myself just yet. But hey I hung with them for most of the ride. I am working hard on increasing my speed and am getting up there but I also know that I am still a ways off from getting to the speed that most of the riders are at.
Today it is raining so I am not riding my bike for sure. So I am probably heading to the pool and practice what I learned from Coach Lyndsi on Friday and the advise from Coach Lyndsi and Coach Dave from Saturday. Coach Dave gave me so really good tips on how to improve my swimming. So I am going to try that today along with drills from Coach Lyndsi on Friday.
After the swim I just did the 16 mile bike ride. My calves were killing me still from a workout that happened back on Wednesday. Darn me. I increase my weights on my exercises for my calves and while it will build up my strength I may have gone a little too high in the weights. But the ride was great. Started out way to slow and I have no clue why the leader of the pack did that. The only thing that did was just put about 15 riders about a few inches apart from each other. Very dangerous IMO. But once I got to a passing point I moved ahead of most the riders and just rode with the elite group until I was proven yet again to not be an elite rider myself just yet. But hey I hung with them for most of the ride. I am working hard on increasing my speed and am getting up there but I also know that I am still a ways off from getting to the speed that most of the riders are at.
Today it is raining so I am not riding my bike for sure. So I am probably heading to the pool and practice what I learned from Coach Lyndsi on Friday and the advise from Coach Lyndsi and Coach Dave from Saturday. Coach Dave gave me so really good tips on how to improve my swimming. So I am going to try that today along with drills from Coach Lyndsi on Friday.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Back on the run
Wow today was both good and sore. I got myself back out on the road running after being sick last week and fighting a sore or tight back all spring. Today I decided to take it easy and also decided it was time to bring out one of those three pairs of shoes that I have store for future use and may that future today. I got myself out there for a good 5 mile run with no back tightness. It could be that I am focusing on back exercises and it could be that I am focusing on my core workouts or it could be that my old shoes were worn out and it was a matter of time before the real pain was going to come until I changed my shoes. Well whatever it was it worked at least for today. Prayer never hurts either. Now I am sore in my other normal areas that you would expect to be sore if you haven't ran in a while. Today's run was not pretty. It looked like a new runner out there but no it was only me.
Plus the new shoes are cool. First time to wear New Balance and the colors are totally not me. But at least these shoes will allow me to wear pretty much any shirt and it will match my shoes. Yeah they are a little wild.
The swim is improving still. I am not there with the endurance still but I am getting further and further with the breathing working better and better now. I am still not close yet to feel comfortable enough to start doing open water tri's. But I am getting comfortable enough to at least aim for heading out to the first buoy. I have missed the last couple of open water swims due to lack of sleep one weekend and sick last weekend. I am both so excited to get back out there and looking behind me to see what next will hit me to prevent me from going this coming weekend.
Plus the new shoes are cool. First time to wear New Balance and the colors are totally not me. But at least these shoes will allow me to wear pretty much any shirt and it will match my shoes. Yeah they are a little wild.
The swim is improving still. I am not there with the endurance still but I am getting further and further with the breathing working better and better now. I am still not close yet to feel comfortable enough to start doing open water tri's. But I am getting comfortable enough to at least aim for heading out to the first buoy. I have missed the last couple of open water swims due to lack of sleep one weekend and sick last weekend. I am both so excited to get back out there and looking behind me to see what next will hit me to prevent me from going this coming weekend.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Weekend wasn't as planned
Okay so this weekend didn't go exactly as planned thanks to Mother Nature and her hatred toward me it appears. Saturday I got my bike ride and a little swim. Sunday I got my swim in but due to a Frisco game it was tough to get anything in else. Monday I only got a swim in due to the wet weather. I was hoping for three straight days of riding and that didn't happen. But I did notice that while I was riding around Grapevine it came to mind how it was when I first rode in Grapevine. I could barely make it to the club and that small hill killed me and I thought that 3.5 miles felt like I was riding forever. Now to present day I am conquering those hills and no longer is a 7 mile ride the max I can do. Now I try to get in at least 20 miles per ride and on Sunday I really try to get in at least 30 to 35 miles. Long ways from February to today. But a good thing of course.
On my swim this weekend it was good and bad and today I would even go as far as saying it was great. While not pretty mind you I made it 100 meters without stopping when I was swimming. The only stops were the small breaks between those 25 meter swims. So that is very positive thing for me. While I am still a long ways to go before I will feel ready for an actual swim in the open waters. But this does help me to get to that point. I missed the last couple of open water swims due to the week just taking it completely out of me. But I am not going to miss anymore. I need that practice in the real water. And hopefully with Coach Lindsey's help we will get a deeper pool for me to swim in so I can adjust to the depth problems that I have when I look down. I did not have too much anxiety on my last swim but it was still there. But with some training I know I can overcome that feeling and see myself getting stronger with the swim.
On to this week's schedule. Swimming after work at least four times this week. Back and core workouts before each swim. And than running at the club after that. But I am not seeing any improvements in my back right now. Even with the additional work with my back it is not seeming to be working. And this is what is killing me. What use to be my strong point is now limited in what I can do as it is hard for me to make it more than a mile before the tightness comes. And when that tightness comes it is down hill for me quickly in my run. What use to be a sub 28 is now averaging about 34 or 35 or worst. And in the end that is what is making my actual finish times for my tri sprints getting worst instead of better even with me improving my swim and bike times.
On my swim this weekend it was good and bad and today I would even go as far as saying it was great. While not pretty mind you I made it 100 meters without stopping when I was swimming. The only stops were the small breaks between those 25 meter swims. So that is very positive thing for me. While I am still a long ways to go before I will feel ready for an actual swim in the open waters. But this does help me to get to that point. I missed the last couple of open water swims due to the week just taking it completely out of me. But I am not going to miss anymore. I need that practice in the real water. And hopefully with Coach Lindsey's help we will get a deeper pool for me to swim in so I can adjust to the depth problems that I have when I look down. I did not have too much anxiety on my last swim but it was still there. But with some training I know I can overcome that feeling and see myself getting stronger with the swim.
On to this week's schedule. Swimming after work at least four times this week. Back and core workouts before each swim. And than running at the club after that. But I am not seeing any improvements in my back right now. Even with the additional work with my back it is not seeming to be working. And this is what is killing me. What use to be my strong point is now limited in what I can do as it is hard for me to make it more than a mile before the tightness comes. And when that tightness comes it is down hill for me quickly in my run. What use to be a sub 28 is now averaging about 34 or 35 or worst. And in the end that is what is making my actual finish times for my tri sprints getting worst instead of better even with me improving my swim and bike times.
Monday, May 19, 2014
30 miles of awesomeness
The ride Sunday was awesome. The weather was great and the ride itself was great. I was at White Rock and rode both directions. Towards the high five and then around White Rock itself. I managed only 30 miles of riding but that was good enough for me yesterday. I got a lot of practice on improving my speed and am getting sharper on my turns along with those sharp turns. I am feeling about 85% confident in my bike now. I managed to get myself through the 30 miles with only one almost crash and burn and that would have been completely my fault if I did actually crash. I was looking at my Garmin and chose then to analyze my speed and predicting my finish when I should have been looking at the path because going up hill is challenging enough without me being distracted. So I rode off the path like a drunk driver but managed to get back on the path without any problems. What I am seeing is that I am improving now in big steps. Still slower than the good riders I am guessing as I still get passed quite often. I need to figure out what the average speed is for a good rider to compare where I am before, now and need to be in the future.
Good achievement for me was that I almost reached my goal mileages for two straight hours. I made my first goal for the first hour in getting 15 miles in for the hour of riding. And missed reaching that goal for the second hour by just 30 seconds. Just like finishing 2nd in a race I would rather have missed that goal by a lot than to see me miss it by only 30 seconds. Oh that one hurt. I could just quickly go through that whole second hour of the ride and calculate where and when it all went wrong. But instead of dwelling on me missing it I am focusing on the fact that I still managed 30 miles quicker than I ever rode it before and that this is only the beginning for me.
Next is hill training. While I love White Rock the one thing it doesn't have on the routes I take are a lot of hills. I know where to find the hills over there and am thinking of doing that route next weekend because I can get from White Rock to Deep Ellum on this particular route that we ran for marathon training. So I am thinking of doing that and seeing how I do on those hills getting to that route.
Swim tonight was good but not great. What I really need is someone to record me swimming so I can see if my lower half of my body is where it is supposed to be or not. I am working on the drills and know that I am doing those right. But once the drills are over and the swim begins that is when I just can't tell.
Also on the schedule for next weekend. Yes I am jumping around now. Is to focus on my 2nd transition. After my ride this Sunday I only lasted 2 miles on the run and even that was painful as I found new parts of my legs that could have pain. Who knew that parts above your knee could have such sharp pains and tightness all at the same time. Well this guy knows that now. And a lesson that will be learned again and again until I get this done correctly. What doesn't kill my legs or myself can only make me stronger. Or that is what I am hoping will happen. I am wanting to work on the T2 all weekend not just on Sunday. I am now determined to either kill myself or make myself stronger in the T2 area. That is where I am losing time from my first two tri's. And that is where I need to improve or else all my other improvements are for not. I mean even when I swam faster on my second tri I still did worst overall due to the run portion. I wear myself out before I even get to my strong part of the event. Not smart at all. But like all my ex's can contest. Smarts and me were never really something that went together. :)
Anyway I haven't run but once this month and that is all part of my master plan. I am working on strengthening my lower back at LA Fitness and my core. I am hoping and praying that this will improve my run with eliminating my tightness in my lower back. I am now needing to get back on the track and start back up running again. I need to test out my back and see where I am in all of my exercising and strengthening.
Good achievement for me was that I almost reached my goal mileages for two straight hours. I made my first goal for the first hour in getting 15 miles in for the hour of riding. And missed reaching that goal for the second hour by just 30 seconds. Just like finishing 2nd in a race I would rather have missed that goal by a lot than to see me miss it by only 30 seconds. Oh that one hurt. I could just quickly go through that whole second hour of the ride and calculate where and when it all went wrong. But instead of dwelling on me missing it I am focusing on the fact that I still managed 30 miles quicker than I ever rode it before and that this is only the beginning for me.
Next is hill training. While I love White Rock the one thing it doesn't have on the routes I take are a lot of hills. I know where to find the hills over there and am thinking of doing that route next weekend because I can get from White Rock to Deep Ellum on this particular route that we ran for marathon training. So I am thinking of doing that and seeing how I do on those hills getting to that route.
Swim tonight was good but not great. What I really need is someone to record me swimming so I can see if my lower half of my body is where it is supposed to be or not. I am working on the drills and know that I am doing those right. But once the drills are over and the swim begins that is when I just can't tell.
Also on the schedule for next weekend. Yes I am jumping around now. Is to focus on my 2nd transition. After my ride this Sunday I only lasted 2 miles on the run and even that was painful as I found new parts of my legs that could have pain. Who knew that parts above your knee could have such sharp pains and tightness all at the same time. Well this guy knows that now. And a lesson that will be learned again and again until I get this done correctly. What doesn't kill my legs or myself can only make me stronger. Or that is what I am hoping will happen. I am wanting to work on the T2 all weekend not just on Sunday. I am now determined to either kill myself or make myself stronger in the T2 area. That is where I am losing time from my first two tri's. And that is where I need to improve or else all my other improvements are for not. I mean even when I swam faster on my second tri I still did worst overall due to the run portion. I wear myself out before I even get to my strong part of the event. Not smart at all. But like all my ex's can contest. Smarts and me were never really something that went together. :)
Anyway I haven't run but once this month and that is all part of my master plan. I am working on strengthening my lower back at LA Fitness and my core. I am hoping and praying that this will improve my run with eliminating my tightness in my lower back. I am now needing to get back on the track and start back up running again. I need to test out my back and see where I am in all of my exercising and strengthening.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
2014 Goals Review
Well it is almost May and that means that 4 months of the year is almost over as well. So let's review my goals going into the year.
Goal #1 was to join DFW Tri Club, do a tri, learn to swim and bike and just overall improve my abilities. - So far this goal is a success. I have done two sprint tris, my swimming is improving although still a ways off for the open water swim, I am training on Saturday's with the open water swim as well, I am finally getting confident with the bike and with that I am also seeing myself getting stronger and stronger with it. Second part of this goal is now on hold. That was to do a 70.3 in 2015. I am not saying that I am not going to do it but I am saying that my confidence in the open water is shaky at best so let's work on that first before I sign up for one. No need to put any extra pressure on myself just yet.
Goal #2 was to run 2 marathons this year. So far this is a success as well. I did my first in The Cowtown and plan to end the year doing either the BCS Marathon again in College Station or do the White Rock Marathon as both are on the same weekend I can only choose one but I will get my second marathon for sure then if not before.
Goal #3 was try to get into the Marine Corp Marathon. This one is a fail as the registration was the same day as The Cowtown Marathon I just couldn't be in two places at the same time. But this is not a goal that I was putting a lot of hope on anyway due to it being truly based on luck when you register.
Goal #4 was to get my weight down to 140. Yeah that was and is a huge failure as right now my body is stuck on 163 to 165 and I haven't been able to move from those numbers all year so far no matter how much I train, sweat or limit my eating at times.
Goal #5 was to get more involved in Gateway. This is a 50/50 success and failure. Yes I got more involved in things like Equip Class but I have not gotten involved yet in the singles ministry. So a mix result here.
Goal #6 was to learn something new once a week. Again a 50/50 success and failure. I am learning new things for my triathlon training, hazmat training for work and even learned how to cook salmon but all of that started probably back in February so it started slow and really hasn't been consistent yet.
Goal #7 was to keep my mind focused on my training goals. That has been a success. My training is strong and continues to be strong as well.
Goal #8 was to get a grip on my anxiety in all areas. 50/50 here. My General Anxiety is getting better but it still effects me at times. My Social Anxiety is still pretty strong and while I am trying to get more involved with groups of people I still find myself preferring small groups or no groups at all. But still working on getting control over both of these so hope is still on the horizon.
Goal #9 was to get closer to God. I will never feel I can get as close to God as I should be. But I feel that ever since I started attending Gateway Church I am finding myself getting more and more into wanting to get closer to God and find myself so excited for every Equip Class or weekend service so if nothing else I am finding myself getting more and more excited about wanting to get closer to God.
Goal #10 was to find a couple of people who think I am a complete bullshitter and that these goals of mine are worthless due to them not believing that I could achieve any of these even if they fell from the sky and hit me. I still got one person in my life that fills this role but dang it I just cannot find the other person. Why must people like me so much. It turns out that finding that other person or two is harder than I thought it would be. So this is a failure at the moment.
My theme for the year was "Going beyond what I have ever done before in my life. To prove to myself that I can do the impossible." And that is a success because I am doing things that even last year I never thought I would or could do. The impossible is quickly being the possible. So I need to start finding more impossibles for my life. Skydiving anyone.
Goal #1 was to join DFW Tri Club, do a tri, learn to swim and bike and just overall improve my abilities. - So far this goal is a success. I have done two sprint tris, my swimming is improving although still a ways off for the open water swim, I am training on Saturday's with the open water swim as well, I am finally getting confident with the bike and with that I am also seeing myself getting stronger and stronger with it. Second part of this goal is now on hold. That was to do a 70.3 in 2015. I am not saying that I am not going to do it but I am saying that my confidence in the open water is shaky at best so let's work on that first before I sign up for one. No need to put any extra pressure on myself just yet.
Goal #2 was to run 2 marathons this year. So far this is a success as well. I did my first in The Cowtown and plan to end the year doing either the BCS Marathon again in College Station or do the White Rock Marathon as both are on the same weekend I can only choose one but I will get my second marathon for sure then if not before.
Goal #3 was try to get into the Marine Corp Marathon. This one is a fail as the registration was the same day as The Cowtown Marathon I just couldn't be in two places at the same time. But this is not a goal that I was putting a lot of hope on anyway due to it being truly based on luck when you register.
Goal #4 was to get my weight down to 140. Yeah that was and is a huge failure as right now my body is stuck on 163 to 165 and I haven't been able to move from those numbers all year so far no matter how much I train, sweat or limit my eating at times.
Goal #5 was to get more involved in Gateway. This is a 50/50 success and failure. Yes I got more involved in things like Equip Class but I have not gotten involved yet in the singles ministry. So a mix result here.
Goal #6 was to learn something new once a week. Again a 50/50 success and failure. I am learning new things for my triathlon training, hazmat training for work and even learned how to cook salmon but all of that started probably back in February so it started slow and really hasn't been consistent yet.
Goal #7 was to keep my mind focused on my training goals. That has been a success. My training is strong and continues to be strong as well.
Goal #8 was to get a grip on my anxiety in all areas. 50/50 here. My General Anxiety is getting better but it still effects me at times. My Social Anxiety is still pretty strong and while I am trying to get more involved with groups of people I still find myself preferring small groups or no groups at all. But still working on getting control over both of these so hope is still on the horizon.
Goal #9 was to get closer to God. I will never feel I can get as close to God as I should be. But I feel that ever since I started attending Gateway Church I am finding myself getting more and more into wanting to get closer to God and find myself so excited for every Equip Class or weekend service so if nothing else I am finding myself getting more and more excited about wanting to get closer to God.
Goal #10 was to find a couple of people who think I am a complete bullshitter and that these goals of mine are worthless due to them not believing that I could achieve any of these even if they fell from the sky and hit me. I still got one person in my life that fills this role but dang it I just cannot find the other person. Why must people like me so much. It turns out that finding that other person or two is harder than I thought it would be. So this is a failure at the moment.
My theme for the year was "Going beyond what I have ever done before in my life. To prove to myself that I can do the impossible." And that is a success because I am doing things that even last year I never thought I would or could do. The impossible is quickly being the possible. So I need to start finding more impossibles for my life. Skydiving anyone.
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