New Years' Resolutions

For most people, New Years' Resolutions are a way to set a high bar that will quickly be abandoned. For me, I use them as a micro-life list--what do I reasonably want to accomplish in 2007. They must be attainable goals and necessary changes. Most importantly, there must be some that require little to no work and yet bring satisfaction--pampering goals if you will. Here goes my 2007 list:

Dump the junk miles. Since going longer (i.e., moving up to the half-Ironman distance) I have lost time in the discipline that was previously my strength-running. I believe this has happened because I have had too many junk miles. Junk miles are essentially all LSD's (long, slow days). I need to mix in some interval work to bring my cadence up. LSD's have their place but if all runs are LSD's race performance is an LSD. By mixing in some speed intervals I believe I can bring my run back into a strength category.

Stretch, stretch, and stretch. While I'm not a doctor, I believe that most of my injuries occur because my musculoskeletal structure is wound extremely tight. I need to add post workout stretching and continue the Bikram yoga at least once a week.

Figure out the heat. As a kid I rode the porcelain bus many a day due to heat exhaustion. I'm surprised that I can compete in endurance events, much less endurance events in intense heat. I do suffer but I learned in the Cancun 70.3 that salt tablets bring me back instantaneously when nausea and malaise set in. This year I will add salt tablets in my training to figure out when I need them and how much I need.

Form, form, form. When I get tired while swimming my form goes downhill fast. Throughout my training sessions and particularly during a race I'm going to spend 100% of my time focusing on form. In part, some of this energy will be dedicated to beating down the voice in my head that is complaining of being tired. The other part involves awareness, setting aside race strategy and survival instincts to watch and feel each stroke. This should result in consistent race times.

Cadence and spinning on the bike. I like hard, high gears. If you were to look at my bike you would see wear in the high gears and pristine teeth in the low gears. I have never dropped out of my big chain ring on a hill, something I'm proud of but I acknowledge it comes at a price. This approach translates to lower cadence and a fair amount of standing on a hill. There are competing schools of thought on this but I want to experiment with better gearing and faster spinning to see if I can improve my bike time. I would like to try to spin up a hill. Although I will not abandon completely the relief of getting out of the saddle, I would like to do that less frequently. I want to focus on cadence, not speed. I suspect the result will be improved times.

Massage, Chiropractic, and Nutritional Treats. I will continue my regular massage regimen which I credit with saving my season last year. I will go to my chiropractor when a problem arises and forget dealing with my orthopedic doctor. Finally, I will continue to focus on good nutrition. What I eat helps or hurts me and I try to eat only good foods..which, of course, includes an occasional piece of dark chocolate.

Have fun. Last, but not least of all, I will remember to have fun. Whether I am training, or racing, or working, or relaxing, or enjoying the company of family or friends I will try to have fun and experience life fully.