Updated Race Calendar.....and stuff!

Well, we are basically a little more than half way through the triathlon season, the Olympics are over and my super speedy "short course" friends are up in Burlington, VT preparing to race in USAT age group nationals this weekend.   So what's an old fat guy to do while all of this is going on?   Yep.....   keep training and update my race calendar!

So far my triathlon race experiences have been limited to shorter events.   I'm not really built to be a super long endurance guy but,then again, I'm not really built to be a sprinter either!    What's a guy to do?   Several things have factored-in to my decision making:

Firstly, my training has (I think) been going pretty well.  The summer months typically bring a bit of a lull at work and a lot less travel, so I have been able to work this to my advantage and increase my training hours reasonably significantly.

Next, my swim has really started to come together.   The Puppeteer has offered nice words about my form (still lots of work to do though) and I rattle off workouts in the pool that would have been inconceivable last year. 

My base fitness is (again, I think) much better than it was this time last year.   I have also been working on core strength and flexibility.   I'm not exactly Gumby, but I'm getting there.   Hopefully also losing a few pounds, but this continues to be a challenge.

I originally thought that running my first 26.2 mile full marathon might be a good challenge this year, but somehow the thought of the run intensive training (especially during the summer months) just lost it's appeal.   I was interested to see The Puppeteer say just this week that running is currently my limiter - which I'm taking as a very positive endorsement of my swim!  :-)

Finally, like many relative "newbies" to the sport of triathlon, I have a desire to test myself against longer courses.   I'm not up for a full 140.6 mile "Ironman" distance event yet, but I can sure as heck go longer than sprint distance!

So....    here's my updated race calendar for the rest of the year:

Sept. 8th.   White Lake International.   White Lake, NC
Sept. 23rd.   Outer Banks Sprint.   Manteo, NC
Oct.  14th.  Rev.3 SC 70.3 (Half Ironman Distance).  Anderson, SC
Nov. 11th.   Outer Banks Half Marathon.  Kill Devil Hills, NC

Links for all races on the right hand side of this page.

The highlight, of course, will be my first half Ironman (70.3 miles) race.   1.2 mile swim; 56 mile bike; 13.1 mile run.   I'll be very interested to see how I do and already have my eye on the new Ironman 70.3 Raleigh race and Beach-to-Battleship (Wilmington, NC) next year - I'll keep you posted!