2018 Plans

Another plunge is in the books! This was my fifth year doing the plunge and over that time our teams have raised over $6500. It's not an outrageous number, but it's also not nothing.

Now, it's back to swimming, biking and running (I guess). It has been super hard to get back into a mindset where I give a damn about triathlons. I had been obsessed about ironman for so long; I put in so much time, money and effort; and it turned out as such a disappointment. I went into the race thinking it would be one of the memorable days of my life, and now I just try to forget all the particulars and be happy with an (embarrassing) finish. I keep thinking this means I'll just have to do it again and knock it out of the park, but I'm not up for that commitment just yet.

Anyhoo, if I don't race, I'll stop training and be fat in no time. So here are my 2018 plans thus far.

Liberty Triathlon

Rockford, MN

Saturday, June 9

1.2 mile/ 56 mile/ 13.1 mile

Toughman Minnesota

Chisago, MN

Saturday, July 8

1.2 mile/ 56 mile/ 13.1 mile

Gopher to Badger

Half Marathon

Stillwater, MN

Sunday, August 11

Superior Man

Duluth, MN

Sunday, July 29

1.2 mile/ 56 mile/ 13.1 mile

Three half ironman length races might be a bit of an overkill, but those are the races and training I really enjoy. I'd like to improve my pr this year and break 6:20 or 6:10. My holy shit time would be under six hours, but I think that's pretty unlikely. Right now, my running is going well; I just have to get in some bike work (motivation, motivation, motivation).

I may also shoot for the Surf the Murph 50 mile in October, but there is plenty of time to waffle on that one.

2017 Totals

My First Tattoo

After Ironman I took September and October off. I started running a bit in November, and my ankle seems to be fine after a long break.

Here is my Ironman tattoo. It may take you a minute to see the 140.6

I love it. Check out my Pre Ironman post for the story behind the Octopus. The short joke I've been using is that I am a lot like an octopus; I'm a good swimmer, I run slow in land, and I look silly on a bike. If you want to beat an analogy to death, octopodes are also smart, have long arms, and often try to go unnoticed (camouflage). 

As far as the tattoo goes, I also love that's it isn't terribly obvious that it's Ironman. You don't notice the 140.6 in the arms right away, but once you see it you can't see anything else. It's awesome.