The Triathlon Goal for 2011

My plan is to compete at Lake Havasu in March, Tempe Town Lakes in May, Keuka Lake in early June and then qualify for the Nationals at the Evergreen Lake Race on July 17, 2011. The Nationals will be sometime in August in Burlington, Vermont.

I'll need to make significant improvements in all areas to achieve the goal. It is attainable, but it is going to take a serious training commitment.
When I started this blog in July 2009, I set a goal to make it to the USAT National Age-Group Championship in 2011 and to finish in the top ten for my age-group, which in 2011 will be 60 to 64.

 I managed to qualify and compete in the Nationals in 2009 in the 55-59 year old age group, but I didn't finish the race, because of hamstring cramps. This year, I competed in three Olympic distance events and two 70.3 Ironman events.

In my July 2009 blog entry I projected that I would need a time of 2 hours 30 minutes to make it to 10^th place in the Nationals. Based on last year's results, I think that a time of 2 hours 34 minutes will be good enough. Here is how I did this year and my what I think it will take to qualify for the Nationals:

RACE

Distance

Date

Total Time

Swim

Time / 100

T1

Bike

MPH

T2

Run

Min/ Mile

Div Place

Lake Havasu

Olympic -Tri

3/20/10

2:51:47

0:28:48

1:45

2:10

1:23:51

17.9

1:50

0:55:07

8:49

3/6

Tempe Intern'l

Olympic -Tri

5/16/10

2:49:19

0:33:13

2:01

2:10

1:18:31

19.1

1:50

0:53:32

8:34

12/22

Keuka Lake Tri

Olympic -Tri

6/6/10

3:05:29

0:39:13

2:37

2:29

1:26:39

17.3

1:50

0:55:18

8:55

6/7

Musselman

70.3 Ironman

7/11/10

6:21:40

0:41:43

1:59

2:50

3:07:26

18.0

4:07

2:25:34

11:07

14/28

Steelhead

70.3 Ironman

7/31/10

6:09:29

0:39:21

2:03

4:42

2:59:26

18.7

4:14

2:21:46

10:50

27/44

Wisconsin

Half-Marathon

5/1/10

1:49:05

1:49:05

8:19

257/1948

Ricky Byrdsong

10K

0:48:48

0:48:48

7:52

4/22

GOAL

Burlington, VT

Nationals

August

2:34:00

0:29:00

1:46

2:00

1:13:00

20.6

2:00

0:48:00

7:53

10th