OK. After a lot of thought I have decided the following:
1. I have invested too much time, energy, money etc. into cross country skiing to drop it without seeing it through to the "end". Thus I plan to take my final shot at getting on track for 2010 at the beginning of next season.
2. There are a lot of other things I am just as (if not more) interested in - if one of them steals my heart in the meantime I won't fight it. Skiing and I are not exclusive anymore - we are dating (and there are trust issues.)
3. My number 1 competitive goal remains the Paralympics. If not 2010 then 2012, heck maybe both. As much as I love triathlon and want to do Ironman it will be there for me when I am finished chasing this goal.
4. Triathlons (with the exception of Ironman) fit in nicely as training and fun amongst my more serious efforts at competitive sports such as cycling and skiing. Also, triathlon may debut as an exhibition sport at the 2012 Paralympics.
5. Whatever crazy things I get up to have to fit into my life - with 3 kids and a beautiful and supportive wife I am super-lucky.... need to keep them all happy!
So with those decisions in mind I got down to business. When it comes to planning out a season I like to sit back with my calendar and a few different websites:
By the end of the process I have usually "short"listed about 38 events, every Saturday and Sunday from about mid-March to mid-September. That's about the same time reality hits and I start to consider "real" life and its pesky habit of cramping my racing calendar. (Thank goodness for "real" life though, or I'd probably be permanently injured.)
Through a time-honoured process of deleting events one by one, I end up with a plan. 2009's looks like this:
March 8 - UBC Triathlon (Olympic)
March 15 - St. Paddy's Day Dash 5km (Port Moody)
April 19 - Sun Run 2009
April 29-May 3 - Défi Sportif (Montreal)
May 9 - 5 Peaks Trail Run
May 18 - North Shore Spring Triathlon
June 14 - ESCAPE from Alcatraz Triathlon (San Francisco, CA)
July 05 - Cycling National Championships (St. Georges, QC)
July 25 - 5 Peaks Trail Run
August 24 - Canadian Track Nationals - Cycling (Burnaby, BC)
September 3-13 - Paracycling World Championships (Seville, Spain)
OR
September 13 - Triathlon World Championships (Gold Coast, Aus.)
October - dryland/roller-ski (training)
November - dryland/roller-ski (training)
December - Nor-Ams - Nordic Racing (one last try to get back on track for 2010) ...this is the Hail Mary.
The St.Paddy's Day Dash, Sun Run, and 5 Peaks races are great participation events - I will likely be bringing my family to them. I'd love to see you there. Let me know if you can do one of them and we can meet up!
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10 comments:
That'a helluva plan you got there! 2012, triathlon debut has your name allll over it. I can feel it. Hope it happens.
September - I love Seville, Spain but Gold Coast doesn't sound like a bad option either, sheesh.
Meyrick - Amazing Man. Congrats on "figuring" it out. I like how you said that it will be there after you chase this one dream.
You have a lot on your plate man - maybe I should take a few notes myself!
Congrats again!
hehe whoops, that last congrats was from me :) bloi was commentin from from my gf's comp!!!
I just signed up for the UBC Tri, see you there!
good stuff, meyrick. if you don't give up the dream...and do everything you want to do...invariably the dream is still totally within your grasp.
i might try do one of those events...
Quite impressive. You'll be right up the road in June when you come to San Francisco.
We'll be cheering you on at the Gold Coast if you get out this way for sure! I owe you at least 10 coffees by now. :)
Wow!! What a season? Can you call it a season - or just a year :)
I'm glad you and skiing are not exclusive yet. I've heard some bad things about that sport - specially that it's addictive.
I'm looking forward to reading about your upcoming events!!
CHEERS!
Gold Coast, long way for a 3 hour event, not to mention the sharks, lets just go to the World Para cycling Champs in Spain, kick some euro butt, then sit back and drink their wine.... Sounds good to me, now I just gotta make the damn team.
So glad you came to a decision. That escape from Alcatraz triathlon looks awesome. Oh, you are putting ideas in my head!!!!
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