Refreshing Off Season, Bring on the 2012 Season

I'm getting pumped for my 2012 triathlon season. While I have yet to set my big goal races, my approach is to focus on making big improvement with my swim, race Olympic triathlons, and perhaps a 70.3 or two. Mainly the focus is to learn to truly race all out in the swim and then complete the rest of the race.  


Post 2011 Triathlon Season
I've been spending my off season getting my swim technique and mental game ready for the 2012 triathlon season. It's been a blast. After spending my 2011 race season experimenting with the 70.3 Half Ironman distance and balancing training with increasing hours of work for Banyan Energy, I think I have found the sweet spot and I'm ready!



Cross Country Season
After my last race in 2011 for triathlon, I turned off the jets on the biking and swimming training to focus on a sport that gives me great joy, cross country. I joined the Strawberry Canyon Track Club to race a number of 4-10km run races in the SF Bay area for the months of September through November. I had some great success, especially after such a long triathlon season. Our team went on to win the prestigious honor of 1st place in the Pacific Association 2011 Cross Country Series.  




Focus on Swim Technique 
I then took a break from running and biking to truly tackle my weakness in the sport of triathlon, the SWIM. I visited well known coach Ian Murray down in LA for some underwater stroke analysis. This was very helpful to see what I could quickly fix. I needed someone local to the Berkeley area, so I decided to work with a past 22-time All American swimmer from UCLA, Keiko Price, who has given me the expertise I need to improve my fundamental swim mechanics. So far so good. I'm activating stronger muscles that will be useful in the 1500 meter swim in comparison to a quick 100 yard in the pool.





Traveling In Europe 
While it was difficult to stop after 1 month of great improvement in the swim, I knew I needed some break from training before ramping up in 2012. So I did the first thing that came to mind, TRAVELED THROUGH EUROPE! I spent 3 weeks traveling through London,  Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Antibes, Nice, Florence, Venice, and Rome. I didn't do an ounce of triathlon training unless you count sprinting from one metro to the next or catching a train. Walking, sight seeing, and eating were my three sports for 3 weeks.