2011 and 2012

I know that 2011 is not over yet but I doubt that anything huge will happen in next 3 days so recap and next year goals post is in order.

I had a few huge plans for 2011 so let’s recap:

- finish school in June. FAIL. It was kind of a necessity not to finish school if I wanted to stay in the US past May, plus there were some other great benefits for continuing to be a student so no a big deal.
- become a mature adult and find a job (either US, Canada or Australia) FAIL. Ok, I did find a job but cannot do it because of work visa issues. But I hope that the work visa problem will turn out to be one of the best things that has ever happened to me because it might allow me to go to work in Germany for few months before coming to work in the US. So keep your fingers crossed because unfortunately it does not depend on me one bit. It is on other people’s hands.

- get very close to 18min in 5k. FAIL. I have not even run 5k.
- run sub 39min for 10k FAIL. I have not run a 10k. I did two 10k in triathlons but that does not count here.
- do at least 3 triathlons. FAIL. I did only 2.
- let's see whether I can swim sub-1:20 for 100 and keep 1:30s for 400-500m. Hm, maybe this one is not a complete fail. I can go sub1:15 for 100 yards and maybe if I tried really really hard I can do one 100m in 1:20 if I had a meter pool somewhere here. No way I can hold 1:30 for 400-500m though. But since these are only “maybes and ifs”, I must consider this one a FAIL as well.
- see whether I can run a half-marathon in fall, which means that I need to take care of my IT band FAIL!

Bummer, all my 2011 goals were fails. But of course none of that is my direct fault:) Well, maybe that 1:20/100m is, that one was totally in my hands. It is that stupid ITB that has caused most of those fails.

But I still think that 2011 was a great year. But honestly, all my years are good! I tend to complain quite a lot but that’s just my nature, I love my life, so do not listen to my complains.
As I said 2011 was a good year. Except for several hick ups, but those were nothing to be overly worried about. I hope at least.
I did two triathlons, which I loved loved loved (I love swimming, biking, running!!!), I loved training for them, I liked my job, I did not mind sleeping on a floor for past ~6 weeks, I made a lot of new friends. Good year indeed.


Now let's move to 2012 goals:
1, take care of that ITB!!!! I.NEED.TO.FIX.IT!!!!!
2, finish school and find a job – there is nothing that should prevent me from graduating. And then hoping for that Germany/US job. Plus law school. I shall see how this all plays out.
3, become a kick-ass triathlete. Michelle has promised this to me:) But this of course depends on both #1 and #2 above.
She has not defined a kick-ass athlete so considering my current fitness for me it means:
3a, run sub-19min for a 5k
3b, run sub-40min for a 10k in a triathlon.
3c, swim 1:20/100yards comfortably. I think that it is doable. Of course it depends on a day but I can swim ~1:27 somehow comfortably now so there is no reason why with consistent training I should not be able to get it down to 1:20, right?
3d, be able to hold 170 watts for ~150HR for 3+ hours. Not sure about this one, since I have zero idea how it works, so maybe it is more like longer-term goal but whatever.
3e, lose/amintain weight. I have never cared about this but maybe it is time to start. It is part of being the best athlete one can be, isn’t it?
4, I have no goal races because as usual I do not know which continent or country I will be living in next year so no point in really planning something.
I am still sad about that Ironman next year. I really wanted to do it! I am 99% sure I will not but there is still that 1% chance that my ITB get miraculously healed in next month and I can put a decent running training in.