Want you, in my, REARVIEWMIRROR...

Dealing with the transition to a gluten free lifestyle has been difficult and thus far has yet to Yield any significant progress. I'm currently up at 6:00 am on vacation for a few emergency trips to the bathroom. Luckily the schist silhouette through the trees is a pleasant reminder of all that is incredible and inspiring in our world. I am confident that things are going to improve rapidly and significantly in the next couple of weeks launching me into an incredible 2012.

Training is going to be very straight forward the first two months of the year. I am going to continue to ride six to seven days a week and will attempt to run in some capacity every day. Yeti willing we will have some snow soon and I will be able to get some training in on the Atlas' before the racing season starts. My perfect scenario in the afternoons would be a walk with Eko, a forty minute snowshoe run, and thirty minutes on the treadmill. Mix in two swims a week and a Wednesday workout and I think there is a proven recipe for success.

Along with the snowshoe races this winter I also plan to enter some low key road races to keep tabs on my running progress. Ideally this would all culminate with a solid effort at the DH Jones ten miler in late February. I have toyed with the idea of indoor but the drive to Boston is too overwhelming and time consuming. If I was in 4:08 or 8:15 shape I'd be there in an instant, but why would I spend a whole weekend day in Boston so I could run 4:15 or 8:30?

One of my goals for the year is to race The Soloist at the Sunapee bike race this May. I really think all of my hours in the basement need to be toward something in the early season. My last experience at Sunapee swore me off cycling but I am itching for a return. Too much time has been spent staring at the walls painfully adding funds to the hurt account not to have it working for something. Racing will also unquestionably help my ability to suffer out on The Vulture come triathlon season.

The Mooseman will once again mark the beginning of the triathlon calendar. I am confident that my training will be significantly improved this year but I will be much more realistic when setting my goals for the race. If it is another cold weather race as per 2011 my goals will be dramatically different than if it's eighty and sunny. There may be a smaller race before Mooseman but obviously there are slim pickings for early season triathlons in New England.

Come summer there is one additional piece that will be adding to the frenzy. I am going to make an honest effort to race The Demon somewhere. Since I got back into mountain biking a few years ago I have been saying I was going to race but things have never worked out quite right. Following VCM a couple of years ago my achilles was trash and last year was gonzo for triathlon. In a perfect world I will get in a mountain bike ride weekly on my favorite trails in Keene.

Important goal races for 2012

Mooseman

Philadelphia Sprint?

Black Fly / Lord of the Flies

Age Group Nationals Sprint

Give Peace a Tri

The Circle Tri

Pumpkinman both races?

There will be some additions and subtractions to this list with the possibility of a few surprises in the next few weeks. Clearly the focus this year is going to be on sprint races with the end goal being a victory at Sprint Nationals in August. Steve C. is trying to twist my arm into a double but I think putting all of my eggs in one basket for 2012 is the way to go.

Here's to a healthy and fast 2012 for everyone!

Cheers,

Mark