It's about that time of year...
(Photo credit: http://www.crystaldiary.com/articles/personal-mid-year-review/2014/06/23/)
In corporate America, we obsess over the "mid-year review" because we want to document and capture the work an employee has or hasn't done because we often suffer from long term memory loss. And at the end of the year, only the most recent accomplishments or failures can typically be recalled... And that's if you've made a lasting impression as of late. If you haven't done anything noteworthy, that's likely how your review is going to end up... Not noteworthy...
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I think there are two keys to the mid-year review and career success. First and foremost, you have to do something. You have to make a contribution, do something exceptional and earn what you deserve. Second, you must look back and remember it and document it. You want to take stock of what you've done and then also make notes on how you can possibly improve as well.
Both keys can be said about the triathlon season! You obviously need to get out there and race and put your best foot forward. You can't go through the motions, you can't just sleepwalk through your season or it will that's what it'll be when you eventually look back. But another key for improvement is to look back analytically. The only way you can improve is look at your races, to take note of all the data points, assess what you can do better and tweak your training to help you achieve your goals. So here's my shot at it:
2016 Goals - A+++
2016 Training Grade - B-
2016 Diet Grade - F
2016 Racing Grade - C+
Room for improvement - HUGE
2016 Remainder Outlook - C
(Photo credit: memegenerator.net)
Coming into the 2016 season, I had a mountain of goals. I wanted to continue racing at a high volume because the latter half of 2015 was fun and satisfying and many goals were achieved! It was the last year in the 25-29 AG and one of my last chances to podium in this group so I thought I could use my previous momentum and take the world by storm! I was even going to do some fun side things like check off the Beach Cities Challenge and do the LA Marathon!
The only reason my training grade isn't a C is that I persevered through adversity. I never would've guessed that I'd spend over 50 days abroad for work. I couldn't have guessed that I'd make 100K status (meaning I flew 100,000 miles on United flights) in just 6 months. I mean my work schedule was GRUELING! And that's the only reason I get a slight uptick. I even had some bad luck and got the injury bug suddenly this year. I've had some major foot problems and even some minor bouts of knee and back soreness at various points. But despite that, despite all of that, I found a way to generally keep training. I never got all of the long runs, rides or bricks in, but I really did get in a lot of work. Day in and day out, I always got in one or even two workouts whether it was crushing the weights, pounding the pavement, riding the road or lapping the pool. I've been pretty consistent getting it in, even in China. So while everything wasn't great, it was a valiant effort.
The diet has been horrible. There's no two ways around it. I haven't eaten up to the expectations of an Ironman finisher and a hopeful podiuming Age Grouper. My meals were actually much more fresh and I ate very little fast food this year given my history. But I generally didn't do enough to keep it clean. I probably ate too many carbs, drank a bit too much given my goals and I don't think I portion controlled well enough. I've been trying to turn the corner as of late, so hopefully the second half of the season (which doesn't have many races) can get better, but it'll be something to again focus on for next year.
Race-wise, I'm gonna give the results a C+. That's pretty much about where I ended. I did 7 races including a half marathon, two marathons, a Ragnar, a sprint, an olympic and a 70.3 in Honu. So I definitely hit the gamut of running and triathlon racing! Surf City half actually went fairly well as I came in at my PR time of 1:48. After that, it was all downhill from there. I didn't get sub-4 in either marathon (altho I have excuses that I was either injured or coming from 1.5 hrs of sleep after a wedding). The Ragnar was a team first place effort so I can't really count that towards any kind of individual success. Redondo turned out horrible and I was in the bottom half of my AG despite actually dropping another minute off my time for the 3rd consecutive year (ugh, damn fast kids). I improved at Big Rock, but I didn't podium and I was at least 10 min off my Malibu time. And Honu, well Honu was a mixed bag. At a course that had a difficult in between Wildflower and Superfrog, I did almost exactly that, I hit a time just under the halfway point between. That wasn't a great time though and it put in the 55 percentile for my AG and that being the last meaningful race, it held a lot of weight with my grade here.
Given all of the above, there's clearly room for improvement. If I can find a way to keep my travel down, my training up and my diet cleaner, things could get a whole lot better. That's the easy to say, super hopeful answer.
The reality is that most of that isn't likely to happen and definitely not going to happen soon enough. Vineman 70.3 is just 2 weeks away and I'm not in good enough shape for the race. It's a flat and fast race that's going to be easy for the rest of the field, so I'm likely to end up in the bottom half (if not the bottom quarter) pretty easily. After that, there's another half marathon and maybe a sprint or two, but not too much else until the Honolulu Marathon at the end of the year. So unless I feel a surge of physical fitness and sign up for a late, last minute race, there's not much hope to finish the year too strong.
But despite those ominous words, I can still get in better shape and race next year with fewer goals because I'll be in the hardest AG and can really level set a whole lot better. So here's to finishing this year strong and looking forward to a brighter future!
(Photo credit: http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-the-future-looks-bright/)
