0  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!

It hit me this week, as I was talking to a co-worker just getting into triathlons: Oh yeah! Triathlons are fun!

I think in the craziness of last year's Ironman I forgot that. With all the rigidity I imposed on myself - all the rules - the idea of having fun definitely took a back seat.

But triathlons are fun. Swimming, riding a bike, and running are enjoyable. Training with other people, especially my best girlfriends, offers me a productive way to spend my personal time.

I took a look at my bicycles today. I haven't ridden my triathlon bike since the end of August; my road bike hasn't seen pavement since mid-November. I realized I miss them.

And then, when two of my favorite people said they wanted to do an Olympic-distance triathlon this summer...well, I got an idea.

I want to do the Pacific Crest half-Ironman triathlon - again. Last year, it was an incredibly fun time. The Pacific Crest endurance sports weekend includes running races, triathlons, duathlons, and a few races for kids. I think my family and friends should all go to Oregon together and participate in whatever races sound the most fun to each of us.

And this time, we'll do the races at the BEGINNING of the vacation, so we can take the rest of the time to play!

But I'm not going crazy this year. In fact, the goals I'm going to set are backwards from previous training years.

Goal #1: Be slower than last year. My time was 5 hours, 50 minutes. If I come in anything better than 6:30 this year, I will have failed.

Goal #2: No more than 10 hours a week MAXIMUM for training! Last year, my minimum number of hours per week was 10.

Goal #3: Training is worked around family, work, and other obligations - it comes last. In fact, it comes last after play - meaning, if John and I want to go out one night and stay out very late, my run the next day gets happily cancelled because I preferred to hang with the hubby than train.

For another person, this training regimen could be dangerous. I don't think people should undertrain for serious endurance events, and a half-Iroman most definitely is.

But I know myself. I know I will do enough to be able to accomplish this goal - the problem with me is that I always want to do too much. I am certain I am in good enough shape to do a half-Ironman today; all I need to do is stay in reasonable endurance shape and go out and enjoy it.

Because this year, it's all about the fun. This is how it should have been before, too. After all: I am not and will never be a competitive or professional athlete. And while it's cool to try to be the best you can in everything, I have learned that to be the best triathlete I can be requires sacrifices in other areas that I'm just not willing to make.

So here's to mediocrity! Won't it be a fun season!