This August, for the first time in nearly a decade of running and triathlon events, I did not finish (DNF). In February, I crashed at a local mountain bike race on Lap 1 of 5. Even there, I got up and finished – and only later realized that I had broken a collarbone.  But at an IM 70.3 race in the Sunshine Coast in Australia, I couldn’t quite deal with stormy weather and choppy waters to finish the swim event within the cutoff time. I was allowed an hour to complete the swim, and being disoriented from the swells, I doggy-paddled and breast-stroked and held on to the support crew’s paddleboards… and took nearly 1.20. So, not even close, really.

Now I’m not going to pretend that this is a defining moment in my life. It was just poor preparation – a pool never really simulates an ocean swim, and bad luck (I’d been sick the week of the race, and this was the first and only rainy day in the sunshine coast that month!). And after a couple of days of disappointment, I got over it. But I was really upset about the fact that I had spent a boatload of money, taken the trouble to lug my bike all the way to Australia, and then failed spectacularly after all that build up.

The race post-mortem led me to a conclusion. I need to infuse a little more structure and reflection into my training. So, I plan to post periodic updates about my training here. While Training Peaks does a fine job of tracking my progress and relaying that to my coach, I hope to look back on every week, add some commentary and think ahead a little bit.

As I write this, I’m starting a roughly 11-week run-focussed training block. So, it’s as good a week as any to start.

Upcoming Events: 
Jan 2019: Goa Triathlon
Feb 2019: Colombo 70.3