Here we go...!

Right, so it's the second day of 2006 and there's a whole year ahead in which to achieve my goals.

I really just have one big fitness goal this year and every other goal is simply to enable me to meet the big one: Ironman Canada, Sunday, August 27, 2006, 7AM. That day I will swim 3.8K (2.4 miles), bike 180K (112 miles) and run 42.2K (26.2 miles). When I did Lake Placid in 2003 I finished in 16 hours and 33 minutes (on a horrible windy/rainy day). I'd like to finish IMC in about 15 hours. This year, all roads lead to Penticton, BC!

Even though I got a mini-reality check last week when I stepped on the scales, I weighed myself again this morning so that I would know what my official baseline is for this year: 169.8lbs. That's up about three pounds from the 166.something I posted in mid-December. That's OK. It's still better than where I was this time last year.

Last year, I started at 182 (and that was on my old scale, which I now believe to have been light by 2-3 pounds). I had also joined a new gym and started with a personal trainer. In total, I lost about 15 pounds (give or take). I met all my racing goals last year, setting several personal best times in the process (yea!).

My mini-goals for this year are:

1. Lose another 10-15 pounds between now and the end of March. After that, I'll be in heavy training mode, so I likely won't be able to lose any more weight.

2. Around the Bay, 30K road race at the end of March. I'd like to do it in about 3:10-3:15. The last time I did it in 2004 I finished in 3:17.

3. Ottawa Half Marathon at the end of May. My current PB is 2:09:14 and I don't know if I want to train for a PB at this race as I will likely have to bike 100K or more the day before as part of my IM training. I just love the race because it's such a great time.

4. Peterborough Half Ironman in early July. This race is simply a race I'm doing to acclimatize myself to racing in the heat since Penticton will be very hot in August. It's also a hilly race with little to no shade, so my goal is just to finish this race at close to IM goal pace as possible.

5. K-Town (Kingston) Tri at the beginning of August. Again, no PB planned. I had a huge PB there this past summer, but again, I'll be doing a long bike ride the day before the race. This is just a really great race in a great town and I had to find a way to fit this one into my schedule, even though it's only four weeks before IMC.

To achieve these goals, I've joined two running clinics that start this week (Tuesday and Wednesday). The first one is geared towards the Around the Bay race and the other is a speed training clinic every second week. I may also hire a personal trainer, but the gym is very busy this time of year, so it might not be possible. We'll see.

I also have to figure out what I'm going to do about getting a coach for my IM training. I'm struggling with this because I have a fair amount of experience and can probably do my own training schedule by modifying the one I used last time. But it might be nice to have a professional do it for me (except for the expense).

On the personal side, I would like to actually have a DATE this year (OK, more than one). It's funny, because where athletic goals are concerned I know exactly what to do to achieve them, but I have NO CLUE what to do on the dating front. I'm on e-Harmony, but I haven't found it to be all that great. There's one guy I've been communicating with, but he really doesn't turn my crank and I'm not particularly motivated to meet him.

And I'll be moving into my new condo in the next couple of months, so I'm excited about that. I think my goal for that is just not to lose my cool, and not to rack up a lot of debt/expense in the process.

That's quite a bit for this year. Let the fun begin!