Pick your Poison: Race Selection

Technically we are still near the beginning of 2012 and if you are not totally committing to your race schedule, there still is time.  How do you choose your races?  How do you decide if you are racing this year?

About 2 years ago, I took a hiatus from racing.  I won't lie, it was almost as difficult as when I quit smoking (did you fall off your chair, yes, I used to smoke).  After a few months, I realized I had been training and racing for over 15 years with no break.  Crazy?  Clearly, I earned the monicker, Mad Norma!  I came to the realization that even though I haven't been racing, I still love to train.  I still love to feel fit.

Having including this disclaimer, how does one choose which races to do in a season?  I guess the best place to start is determining your goals for racing.  This becomes important when the training gets tough.  I like to go back to my motivation when I am less than happy about the upcoming workouts.  One year I was training for a race in Portugal which happened to be extremely hill (mountainous would be more accurate!).    During that season, each time I did hill repeats, I told myself that I would be better prepared for the race.  It kept me going!!!  Are you looking for a cool location or a nice vacation after the race?  Are you trying to qualify for another race (Ironman, ITU World Champs)?  Is this your first time?  All of these can be important factors.

If you are racing in Canada, keep in mind that our triathlon season is short (stating the obvious is my forte!).  Once I got myself to a reasonable level of fitness, I aimed for one race per month (May, June, July and August) and I chose one of those races to be the focus of the season.  My favourite distance is the half Ironman so I would use shorter distance racing to practice certain portions of the race (swim, bike or run).  If you have a coach or trainer, be sure to include them in your plans (stating the obvious, again).  

My last tip/advice is to work backwards from the races to plan the training.  This may be second nature to most of you but my experience of novice multi-sport racers is that they lack organization and discipline.  Perhaps part of the problem is that they don't know where to start.  Remember my interview with Teann?  She used a book the first time she did a triathlon.  It doesn't matter what research you do but do some!!

My post today is very general and my goal was simply to get you thinking about your race schedule.  For any of you that need more specifics, please send me a question or comment and I will do my best to help/support you.

Cheers :)