Half the Year in Review

Thanks Emily @ Sweat Once a Day. I am stealing your idea! Oooorrr, did you steal my idea since I did this last year? ;)

Regardless, thanks for the reminder :)

Hard to believe that half of 2011 is over, but its been quite the productive year and so far (knock on wood) an injury free year. So here is a quick recap of each month so far this year.

January
I guess the biggest things that got the year going were 2 things. #1: Started off with my coach, Eric Hodska. #2 I got to know my new coach by cleansing my body through his crazy cleanse diet.

This was my breakfast for 2 weeks

This was my dinner for two weeks

I lost 8 pounds in 2 weeks. And I was one angry bitter guy by the end of it. But! It got me light and lean for this season. I also grew a craving for red wind that has yet to stop.


February
Compared to previous years, 2011 is actually a light racing year in terms of number of races. I am making it up by going looooooong. But my first race of the year was the NYRR Gridiron 4 Miler in Central Park. I PR'ed the distance by not meaning to PR it.

You all made fun of me for wearing running pants!

Then you all continued to make fun of me for trying out a snorkel.

I really do bring it upon myself.... ;)

March
March meant sorta getting outdoors, even though my poor feet froze on my bike rides on the weekends.

It also meant learning how to make my own peanut butter.

And it also meant a 15K race in Central Park, which I PR'ed by a good 10 minutes.

I wore tights this time to save the jokes for later.

April
April brought out the beginning of Tri Season......in Texas. I did the Ironman Texas 70.3 in beautiful Galveston. I met the LEGENDARY Jeff @ Dangle the Carrot and his super lovely wife, Annie (she did her first sprint tri that weekend).

I thought Jeff was 7 feet tall! Guess the internet adds 12 inches?

Wiiiiiiiiiiiindy!

I wound up PR'ing this distance, bringing my HIM time down a few more minutes to almost breaking 5 hours. Next time, HIM! Next time!!

May
Nothing on the racing front happened in May, but it was a great time to put my head down and get some uber consistent training time in, especially on the bike, without the interruptions of racing.

This meant I went to up Lake Placid for my first training camp and put some serious training in.

I may or may not have burned my arms to a crisp....

June
Time for triathlon #2! I did the Tri Ridgefield Sprint, my first sprint in two years. Despite training for long course, I wound up having the fastest race, and BEST race of my life!

Rounded out the month by attending training camp #2, this time with my coach. He beat the crap out of us all, but we gained huge amounts of confidence in abilities we didn't know existed.

Funny how the first half year is always the busiest part of the year, and things will fade out from here. I have almost 3 weeks until Placid, and then after that is the NYC Marathon in November (seems years away still...) and then thats it!

For you numbers nerds (like me), this is what I have racked up in 6 months:
Swimming: 191,594 yards
Biking: 2970.47 miles
Running: 795.59 miles

Don't expect me to double that! haha!