It’s that time of the year again, to take a look back on this past year and reflect on my race performances and training. During this year’s training, I traversed a total of:

• 33,6217 yards or 191 miles of swimming
• 2,039 miles of cycling
• 1,023 miles of running

I started the year with three goals. But just to let you know up front, I only achieved one of them. They were:

1. Complete an Ironman triathlon.
2. Finish in the top 5 of the Malibu Triathlon.
3. Qualify for the Boston Marathon.

You might recall I started 2011 with a hip injury I incurred last December during the Tuscon Marathon. So I remember focusing on rehabilitation, strength, and conditioning for the first quarter of the year. With some great physical therapy, I recovered in time to make my running debut at the San Dieguito half marathon. That course was a lot of fun with quite a few rolling hills. Although I quasi-promised my physical therapist that I would run it in two hours, I was very pleased with my time of 1:47.

Easing my way back into running, my buddy and I were shooting for a sub-5 hr time at the Oceanside race. I ended up having a decent race. But for the second year in a row, I suffered with cramps during the run portion of the race after a good bike split. I can’t be too disappointed with my time of 5:27. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the coming year if I expect to have any chance of finishing this tough course in under five hours. This year I plan to do more strength training. I’m hoping that going back to the gym will help mitigate against cramps by building up my muscular strength. I find it difficult not to go too hard while cycling so I can have enough juice for the run. I’m reluctant to ease up on the bike portion since it’s my strongest part of triathlon.

The middle portion of 2011 focused on training for Ironman Coeur d’Alene. When I look back on the training and the race itself, it’s unimaginable that I even did that race. Seriously, I am amazed at how driven I was. Training seemed like having a second job, with 15-18 hrs of training per week in addition to working full time. At this point, I do not plan on doing another Ironman in 2012. I can’t see myself doing that insane training again during the next twelve months.

There aren’t very many people in the world who can claim the moniker of Ironman, so I’ll always be proud of that. After having completed the biggest race of my life, I honestly believe I can do almost anything I put my mind to, with or without diarrhea! You’ll have to read my Ironman race report to understand that one.

Other than the race experience itself, the peak of physical fitness and endurance that I felt the week before the race was an unbelievable feeling. My training certainly prepared for that race because the feeling of power, speed, and strength that I felt is indescribable.

For the rest of the year, my remaining races can literally be described as having been influenced by post-Ironman after effects. There were some more shining moments as I worked towards the next two goals for the year, the Malibu triathlon and an attempt to qualify for Boston as the California International Marathon.

A week after the Ironman, I attempted to do a tempo run. I was able to run one mile at a fast pace, but then my body just would not cooperate. Against my better judgment I had decided to race the Solana Beach triathlon, exactly one month after the Ironman. My motivation was low. Physically, I felt about 80%, but mentally, I just did not want to be at the race. Despite these obvious negative factors, I chose to show up to the race. About an hour before the race, I saw another friend, Erik, who was also racing. He also happens to be in the same age group as me, and then I felt my competitive juices spark, Suddenly, I found my motivation! And I had a really good race, finishing with my fastest sprint time. And I beat Erik by over five minutes, so that was good too!

By mid-August I also started a 16-week training program that my training partner (another Eric) and I were using to get ready for a Boston qualification attempt. The program consisted of three key runs each week: a speed workout, a tempo run, and a long run. At its peak, Eric and I were schedule to run about 30 miles per week for about four or five weeks out of the sixteen, very grueling.

Sandwiched in between all these runs, I raced the Malibu triathlon in September. It was my second year doing the race, and one of the main attractions of the race are the beautiful podium medals awarded to the top five finishers in each age group. Similar to the prior year, I raced most of the course “alone”, not seeing many other athletes in my age group. But this year, I felt slightly fatigued for the entire race. I attribute it to all the running. Despite my 7th place finish, there was only a few seconds separating me from 5th place (and a podium medal). Although it was a good race for me, I still felt slightly disappointed. Because of the slight fatigue, I started to wonder if my body was starting to let me down.

By October, I believe I peaked in terms of my running endurance and speed for this training program. By mid-October, the fatigue was very noticeable. More often than not, I missed my pace targets during my workouts. I started to feel tired after running only three or four miles. I struggled to barely run 7-minute miles.

In spite of all the fatigued running, I raced in my final triathlon of the year at the Big Rock Triathlon in Lake Perris. In spite of my physical fatigue, I geared up for the race mentally, and set out to do really really well. I put out my best performance in a sprint race, winning 1st place in my age group and finishing 12th overall. It was such an amazing feeling to see the final results for each split. I even had the second fastest bike split for the entire race. Simply amazing.

A few weeks after that race, I was struggling through the first eight miles of a 20-mile training run with Eric. After the first four miles, I said: “If I knew I could get a full refund for the marathon, I would drop out right now.” What a chore it was to finish that 20 miles, very tired and very slow. My body had finally had enough. After the run, Eric messaged me, and said that he would drop out of the race if I did. And so we both decided to drop out of the December marathon.

I felt so relieved.

But the fatigued running did not go away. I displayed some classic symptoms of overtraining: decreased motivation, mental fatigue, physical fatigue, and especially decreased performance despite hard training. So I ended my year with a much needed two-week break from running. And as if to punctuate my body’s need for rest, I caught a bad flu on Christmas Day, which basically put me out of commission for the remainder of 2011.

I look forward to renewed training and racing in 2012. It sure beats sitting around the house feeling miserable with fever and congested sinuses!