wrapping up the 2010 season

I had a meeting Tuesday morning with my coach after I got out of work. I got there 20 mins early so I *may* have taken a nap at one of the tables at Starbucks. :)

My coach is very accessible. She is my friend on facebook, she uses gmail and google groups, and she texts. It's pretty easy to track her down if you have a question (unless she's out riding or training). Nothing that we talked about this morning was urgent, but it's always nice to be able to have a face to face meeting.

My race schedule for the remainder of the year is finalized. I have Syracuse 70.3 on Sept. 19 and the Toronto Marathon on Oct. 17. Then I'm done. Then I take several weeks of an off-season. I will begin my base building for next year sometime in November.

I chose these 2 races in particular for several reasons.

Syracuse
-It's close so I can pre-ride the bike course and check out the run course in a day trip.
-I can do it with almost 0 travel expenses because a teammate Mike has so generously offered our team a place to crash Saturday night AND a delicious pre-race dinner. I may end up in a sleeping bag on the floor but I don't care!
-It gives me a nice big race to round out the season. I look at Tinman as a season opener (more or less) and Syracuse as a closer.
-I have never done an M-Dot half-IM so this race is appealing in that sense.
-There are Clearwater slots. According to Mary, Clearwater should be on my radar.
-There are a bunch of us doing it - so I feel like it will be like Lake Placid all over again!
-I am itching for a PR.. basically I'm looking to get as close to 5 hours as I can!

I guess I have a LOT of reasons to do Syracuse! Which is why I am skipping my favorite triathlon EVER (they are on the same day) in order to race this half-IM.

Toronto Marathon
-I have some unfinished business with Mr. 26.2. I need to run a marathon and come out not feeling like my legs need to be amputated. I don't care what my time is.. I just want to execute it well.
-The stupid race is in Canada so all of the distance markers, aid stations, etc. are in stupid kilometers. Stupid Canadians! (HAHAH! I'm totally kidding about Canadians being stupid).
-The timing and location of this race is good. That's really the only reason I chose it. I can do it with 1 night in a hotel, no days off work, and I think my friend Ari is going to do it too so we can split a room. Quick, cheap, I'm sold.


And right now, I need to be cheap. I'm thinking about selling some of my stuff a la Turbo Curbeau. Although I don't think I have anything worth selling (I'm not selling my furniture either!!!). Mary tells me that I have a shot at a Clearwater spot if I race well in Syracuse (either by qualifying or by rolldown) and all I can think of is "oh crap.. that's even more money that I have to find."

After next year, I may have to take a year off from Ironman just for financial reasons. I guess it's a little too far ahead to think about that, but I need to get it in my mind now so that if that's what needs to happen, I won't be super disappointed.



I need a sugar daddy. ;)