The P90X experiment. And thoughts on 2013.

P90X: ~60 mins of Chest & Back, 15 mins of AbsX

I "started" a P90X today. Gosh my abs are WEAK. I'm not sure how seriously I can take it. Am I willing to sacrifice tri training for this?

The better question might be, why do I see it as a sacrifice? Why can't I balance the two?

It'll be easier to balance once I accept that I'm probably not doing a full this year. MiTi sounds sexy and all, but it doesn't sound like it can happen. With my swim in the gutter, my bike still on the rack,...do I really think I can turn it around to 140.6 in 4 months?

So what am I thinking? I'm thinking about conceding on the full and focusing on 70.3 distance races. I have two local ones scoped out in 7 and 14 weeks. That puts me to the end of July. After that, I'm seriously considering another 50 miler. There's a new local 50M in southern MO in mid-Sept. Maybe this is just my year to stay local. Or there's a 100km race in OH, about a 7hr drive 2 weeks after that.

For the first time ever, my designs on the current season will impact on the next season. So I printed off not only a 2013 calendar to make notes on, but also the 2014 year up to October. Apparently when you're planning big races, you need bigger calendars. Here's what I've penciled in so far.

June 9 Cutting Edge, 7 weeks out from now
July 27 Route 66, 7 weeks later and 14 weeks out
Sept 14 MT50, only 8 weeks after Route 66. The 20 week plan would start next Monday!
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March 15-17 Three Days of Syllamo, 24 week plan would start 2 weeks after MT50.
July 27 Vineman 140.6, 19 weeks after 3DS, 36 week plan would start mid-November
Late October birthday 140.6, 12-13 weeks after Vineman, I would re-do the Redman thing.

It all sounds like fun and as if there's all the time in the world until I back calculate the starting date for the training plan. The 3DS will require almost 100M training. One plan I found utilizes a Fri-Sat-Sun plan of mileage, doesn't that sound perfect?

So what are my goals for 2013? How's about we PR the half distance? I don't count Racine 2009 as a PR, I still suspect the swim was short. Quick summary:

Year	Race	Swim	Bike	Run	Total	My Excuse?
2008	Great Illini	45	3:03	2:07	5:59	First one!
2009	Racine	32	2:49	1:59	5:27	Short swim
2009	Redman	46	2:59	2:15	6:07	uhh…don't go there….
2010	Kansas	45	3:03	1:53	5:48	hilly bike, great run
2011	Cutting Edge	46	2:50	2:12	5:53	hot and rainy, depressed mood
2011	Pigman	46	2:56	2:02	5:50	hot
2011	Savageman	41	4:26	2:16	7:35	uh..hills?
2012	Triple T				6:38	hahaha, gee I wonder

So I have a pretty steady track record of not improving on the half distance. To be honest, the last half I really set my goals on for a PR was Pigman, now 2 years ago, and that didn't exactly go as planned. That was a rough year.

Let's say I would like to do a 5:30 race. What's required?
Drop the swim to 40 mins
Drop the bike to 2:40
Drop the run to 1:40
Add 10 mins in transitions....
Adds up to...hmmm 5:10 hrs? OK I admit to just throwing those numbers out there off the top of my head...

But that would mean a
1:54/100yd (that doesn't sound too hard...well maybe over that distance it would be...)
21 mph bike (that doesn't sound hard)
7:38 m/m run (that DOES sound hard)

Oh geez, walk away from this mental meanderings and go train or something!