2009 In Review and 2010 Looking Forward

I get more traffic if I blog on Monday, but Friday just works.

2009 is almost in the books. 52 or whatever weeks ago, I was writing a similar blog post. That one was after an October that consisted of leaving Source Endurance and joining the TCEQ to work full-time in engineering again and placing 7th at the local 70.3 event. November consisted of tweaking my calf, opting out of 70.3 worlds, and racing IM Arizona for 128.6 really good miles and a forgettable last 12 miles. 12 months later here we are again.

2009 has been a great year. Racing went well. With the exception of CapTex and my 2 Ironmans, I was 'in the money' at every race that had it...money that is. With the exception of CapTex, I was in the top-10 of every race. I don't remember a season with results like those that wasn't an age group season for me. So, on that front, it was a good one. It was also a tough one. Getting 'older' doesn't make it any easier, and although I don't really feel any effects of it...seeing the ages in the results lets me know. There are also no asteriks next to my name in the results that say "highest placing guy who works full-time", but nonetheless it has been a great year.

2009 was a great year of coaching. I coached an Ironman Champion and 70.3 Champion. There aren't too many who can say that or who have won both in a season. I'm married to that same champion, and we to do well with the coach/spouse relationship. A year before Ironman Wisconsin, Amy had been diagnosed with a stress fracture in one of the small bones in the foot. August 31, 2008 or something like that, she limped home from an easy run the day before what would have been the Austin Triathlon. In February she had an MRI b/c her foot was still bothering her a bit, but got the all clear to get back at it. It was a slow year of re-building, but about 53 or 54 weeks later she was standing on the podium as an IM champion. Somewhat unbelievable. Ironically, Ironman.com just ran a story on Sam McGlone and the improbability of her winning Arizona if you would have asked her a year ago. They could have run that same story almost 3 months ago. 3 days after Wisconsin, Amy started battling some tendonitis that has been tough to kick, but as we look to 2010, Kona is at the end of the season and it is a long way away from now.

I (we like in Top Gun) also coached a small stable of athletes. Pardon me for calling it a stable, maybe group is a better term. I use the world 'PR' somewhat tongue in cheek when referring to triathlons...but they had PRs. More than that, they executed their races well, which is what really matters. We had an age group Kona Qualifier. We had an Xterra Regional Champion who also went to Nationals and Worlds. We also had some folks who did their first or second IMs, others who weren't trying to qualify for worlds in their events, but who just wanted to get back into the swing of running and biking. We worked with Rogue Running on a couple of event based programs. They were well attended and well received. We learned from them and will do them again only this time we will lead them from start to finish and will be 'on deck' with the athletes 4 times a week. Check out Rogue's Site for the details. CapTex will be the first program.

A note on the coaching. It really is about the coach/athlete relationship. If you are looking for a coach, find one that you can trust and not one that tells you how great they are or how much they know or what successes their athletes have had (even though I just told you) because no coach can claim success for every athlete that they have worked with. That all matters a certain amount. Find someone that can talk to you on your level. Find someone that you can develop a relationship with that lasts longer than a few months if you really want to grow as an athlete. To some degree, you will be told what to do. But, in the end, your success is not based on just getting the workouts from someone. It is about your getting the workouts, doing them, and the providing feedback or asking questions.

That's enough for today, I'll probably have another post up in a week or so with some 2010 coaching, schedule, and other info. Probably Friday since they seem to work well...or maybe Monday since readership is higher than about 3 folks!!