2015 Goals

I had a tough time writing this goals post, mostly because I've had a tough time coming up with any good goals for this year. For the past several years the goals haven't changed: Ironman. Everything else was sort of built up around getting an 11 hour Ironman finish. That's off of the radar now. Goals are hard to come by.

Mantra: 2015 - Eat Clean & Train Mean

This year needs to be a foundational year for health and fitness. A solid base of clean eating will lead to workouts that are more effective. Make it happen.

Short term goals:

• Marathon swim - race or practice something 10k or longer of solid swimming. Currently the longest I've gone is 5 miles in the water and that was in the Cooper River with the current.
• Distance PR - Currently the farthest I've been able to run was the Pine Mountain 40 in 2012 - 40 miles. Let's exceed that.
• Single 70 mile running week

Long Term Goals:

• Knock 2 more states off of the 50 state list, at least 1 drive to state and one fly-to state
• Run 180 miles in one month
• 6 to 10 marathon or longer races on the year

Running and swimming is clearly going to be the focus on the year, not multisport or speed. I'm not setting a total distance target, whatever I can get is what I get. The basic plan is to do 3 or 4 marathon or longer races in the spring, then some open water swim racing over the summer, and more marathons in the fall. The actual race schedule will appear as I can actually get registered for some of these, but so far I've got two 50k's in Jan & Feb (and the second one will knock Maryland off of the 50 state list), and the Umstead 100 volunteering again March 28.

The target for Umstead is to get 50 miles in the pacer pool. If I can do that, then I'll try to register for the 2016 Umstead 100 as a runner and finally knock the hundo off of the bucket list! I've also got my eye on four different 50 mile races in November, but I am only going to register for 1 of them. In order to train for a 100 mile ultramarathon, you have to respect the distance and that means knocking out "some" 180 mile months. If I get into Umstead 100 that will turn into more than 1, but just to see how my body holds up I'm only setting the goal for 1 month at 180 miles. 

On the waterfront, I've got my eyes on the 12 mile Swim Around Charleston, but there is still a pretty strong set of logistics to work out around that one. There's a few other possibilities as well, but I'm going to find a nice long open water race to get into. There are a few other members on the RAM team that want to get in on the action as well.

On the family front, 2015 holds a lot of promise as well. We're all going to Disney World for a week. Evil Genius has her 2nd year spring outing coming up, and Ella's in for a big year too. I think she's up for a swim team and voice lessons.

I'm very excited that 2015 is finally  here! What are you working on this year?