Goals...we all have them...these are mine!

So I've kept this list of about the top 20 things I want to accomplish in this Chatauqua of the multisport variety. It ranges from things that I want to accomplish next year all the way up to goals that I would like to accomplish before I am too old to compete.

A close friend told me once that it was best to say goals out loud and tell everyone your plans because then you would be held accountable and hold yourself to a higher standard as well during races, life, etc. I feel that goals are something that trancend life and delve into realms that are able to be viewed in various aspects of your life not only the area that you are setting goals for. But enough philosophical stuff... on to the goals (just so I can hold myself accountable at a later date... :o) haha)

Without further adieu (in no particular order) my multisport goals:

1. Qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i
2. Get back onto the podium for an Ironman 140.6 event
3. Break 10 hours in an Ironman (60/5/5:30/2/3:22 = 9:59)
4. Break 2:00:00 in an Olympic Distance Triathlon (PR is a 2:05 currently)
5. Get into the 4:3x range for the half ironman distance
6. Run a sub 36 minute 10km run at the end of an Olympic Distance Triathlon
7. Run a sub 2:50 marathon in an open marathon
8. Bike under an hour in a 40km time trial
9. Run an open half marathon between 1:18 and 1:20
10. Swim a mile in open water in under 20 minutes
11. Run an Ironman Marathon somewhere between 3:10-3:15
12. Win the Musselman Half ironman triathlon in Geneva, NY
13. Swim between a 28 - 30 for a Half Ironman swim leg (never gone below 30...to date)
14. Win a triathlon straight up against Carl Johnson - he knows I'm gunning for him...)
15. Win the Score-This!!! Multisport Series one year
16. Become a professional trathlete by USAT multisport standards
17. Break 2:50 in the Boston Marathon (PR= 2:53)
18. Run a 15km run in sub 55:04 (college PR)
19. Qualify for the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, FL (then don't go b/c too much drafting...)
20. Run marathons at all the major ones (Boston, Chicago, NYC, London, etc)

Those are a start for my multisport goals. In no way was that a complete list or was it set in stone. Actually if I do not even achieve one of these goals that I have set for myself and I tried my best throughout the seasons that I compete, I will be happy. I know that I am very fortunate to be able to race as fast as I do and compete and meet all the people that I do. It's a fantastic lifestyle and I'm thankful that I am part of it all :o)

And as an aside, I am in the start of a rest week and drinking a beer as I am typing this, so I understand that my actions right now are not that conducive to attaining all of these goals, but it's been an exhausting few weeks lately and I need the rest. So on that note, I have a beer to finish and swimming to wake up for tomorrow morning, so I'm off. Cheers folks, hope you've been JFT'ing and I will catch you all soon. Rest hard.

Snow Cheap Race #3 report

So last year during the summer of 2008 there was a series called the Dirt Cheap trail series which was like the little summer cousin of the Snow Cheap races. During those races, I would generally be in the lead and then blow it by taking a wrong turn on the course and just zoning out while running... this happened so much that I lost the entire series (one race in particular I went from 1st place overall to 9th...) and I earned the "Dora the Explorer" award for getting most lost in the series.

So this time around, and in the New Year, one of my resolutions was to NOT get lost in this series and not blow it again. Race #3 was a little different...

This was the first time around for a snowshoe run as we got dumped on the last few weeks and there was enough snow pack to be able to run on snowshoes. I was stoked to get going and race again. It was a good vibe as always for these races, basically it's just a mid-week low-key style trail race that everyone gets together and we all just have fun.

The race went off and we all tried so hard to keep our heart rates down as we clomped thru the snow. There were half of the people on trail shoes and half on snowshoes (it all depends on what series that you sign up for...I was snowshoe) We're going along and I'm just cruising and all of the sudden I catch a good gap, I think. I'm bombing thru the woods and the only thing I can hear is the crunch of my feet on the snow and my headlamp is so dim that it takes a little bit of effort to be able to see the cones and reflective tape.

I'm going along feeling good, hitting some of the big climbs and just bombing thru the woods. I hit a trail junction and I went straight. I've gone for like 45 seconds down the trail and realized that I T'ed into another trail with no markers anywhere to be found. CRAP...I was in the lead at this point and just knew what to do (this wasn't my first rodeo...) I turned around and raced back to where I saw the trail markers again. I hit the spot where I saw the left trail branch and I just missed the cones.

I looked and saw some other people that weren't to the spot where I was on the trail yet and I thought I still had the lead. I was going thru and still had about 1.5 miles left to go. I was heading up one of the big climbs and saw a headlamp up in front of me by like 300 yards. I thought it was just a person scouting the course and thought really nothing of it. I kept on racing thru the woods and wasn't really gaining any time on the light up ahead.

Now about 1/4 mile from the line we ducked back into the woods and I caught the mystery light. It was Kurt Spacher and he had finished 2nd the last two races against me. As I was catching the light I had a feeling of, "you know I could just let that person go...or if it's Kurt and I do then I'm going to be kicking myself for that forever" Luckily I didn't let it go and chased him down and was able to make a quick pass within sight of the line right before the giant leaf pile again :o)

I hit the line in first again and finished it off 3 for 3 in starts versus wins for this race series. I'm already getting antsy for the next one on 2/4/09. Good times and some monster climbs made for a good race and fun.

I've been keeping busy here with training (last 3 weeks have been 10, 13 and 15 hours) and have a glorious rest week planned next week. JFT at it's finest. Keep it up during the cold winter months folks. Be back with another report soonish. Cheers.

Snow Cheap Race #2 race report

Well I realized today that I've gotten a little tardy in throwing these race reports up on the blog, so I thought I should get a few up here...

Race #2 happened at 6pm at Cobbs Hill park here in Rochester on January 8th. It was one of those nights where it had been 40* F out for the last 3-4 preceding days and things were slippery as the melt afected what little snow pack that we had in Rochester at that time. Everything was slush.

The race was a non-snowshoe race (due to lack of snow pack) The start went off without a hitch and about 1/4 mile into it, we realized that the cones and markers were heading right over a massive leaf pile that when you ran over it you sank up to about mid shin.

It was a good race that was pretty well marked and pretty hilly too. There were a few climbs and an infamous log that we had to either go over or under (I went over) :o) It was a lung buster style race and the slush made things 10 times harder to run thru. I was able to front run and make it to the line in first overall for the 2nd race in a row...

RAMS 10k swim practice

So there has been this idea in my head for quite some time that I've always wanted to be able to say that I've swam a 10k. I don't know why, but in high school we'd always do practices that were like 6-7k and never really got up that high. In college, I only ran track and XC so I didn't swim for the blue wave at Geneseo.

Now after joining RAMS for at least a year now, they have done several really cool things for meets, relays, and practices. On Sunday January 4th there was an option to swim a 10,000 yard workout at RIT. I went.

There were about 20-25 of us that started out the workout and we pushed off at around 10am. There weren't going to be any REALLY hard sets today, it was all about just getting a ridiculous amount of yards in. We all started in good spirits and had some fun.

It was long (i'm not going to lie) and a lot of people bailed a little early, but that's okay. I was planning on the whole thing and wanted to prove to myself that I could swim it. Lori threw set after set after set at us and we swam it. Gradually the numbers dwindled to a point where we each had our own lanes. At about 8500 yards into the practice Lori throws this one our way: 4x(2x100's on 1:30, 1x50 stroke on :60) It wasn't that hard just the fact that I was feeling pretty good at this point. My triceps were cramping a bit, but all in all the wheels had not fallen off yet.

I swam each 100 somewhere between 1:09 and 1:12...it was insane. I don't know how I went so fast, but it just became what I had to do at that point. I guess I just needed an 8500 yard warm up! :o) After that it was a small cool down and we hit 10k. There were only 3 of us that finished, myself, Bruce and Big Jim.

That's me on the left and big Jim on the right after completing our 10,000 yards. I apologize for the paleness. It was fun and I wish they did it more than once a year. But the next big thing that is popping up at the end of the month is a one hour Postal swim. Should be fun, they keep track of your laps and you just swim as far as you can in 1 hour.

I still have to get a few more race reports up here, so I gotta run, but JFT folks...that's what the 10k swim is all about :o) Cheers.

A (not so) short list

There's been a lot going on in the house of "Keep Moving Forward" recently and I severely want to update you all, but I don't have the time right now. This is just a short list of the things to come (to keep you all on your toes) :o)

1. Frozen Assets race report
2. Ode to an amazing competitor
3. 10k swim workout report and thoughts
4. ADK trip report and what we did from Xmas to New Years
5. Snow Cheap #2 race report

So I have a lot of typing to do this weekend, and I would've done some before but the internet's been spotty here, and work blocked this site again so I'm gonna try to get a majority of it up this weekend... we shall see. I also have some monster workouts to do too...

But until then, keep checking back and I'll have some fun posts up here soon. Cheers and JFT folks!