TOTW: Long Course Triathlon: Discuss Everything. (Page 2)

I am in my first year but I am already planning ahead too.  My goal is a HIM by end of year in 09.  I like having a very long term goal to work towards because it keeps me motivated.  I really like the 09 schedule that was laid out and I will probably copy some of it.  I am limited somewhat by $ but I like the idea of training for and doing half marathons as a way to prep for a HIM.  I am soooooo sloooowwww at the run..Mine is more of a crawl than a run so I have a long way to go to be able to finish under the cut offs...I am asking my hubby to pay my HIM registration fee as my 40th birthday present...To complete the HIM will be my present to myself....

This is a GREAT post....sometimes we walk a fine line between encouraging people to acheive great things and being realistic at the same time. We all (should) have a grand opinion of ourselves and sometimes we over estimate our skills and fitness level (myself included). As a coach I always try to steer my athletes away from time and placement "goals", you never know who is going to show up in your Age Group and you never know what race conditions are going to be on a given day. Rather if you train right, eat right, recover right and stick to your race plan then everything will fall into place. I also try to discourage athletes from having any other goal than "finish" when it comes to a new distance (any distance). Long course triathlon takes time to learn how to race the distance rather than just finish the distance.

Amen to that.   Shoot, the nutrition alone takes time to learn ... and that does not even begin to cover pacing, cardiac drift/false HR indicators on the run, racing in different weather conditions, etc.

Given the variables involved, the only person I race on race day is Old Man Time.

Is that what you are calling  yourself these days?