2014 Tentative Race Schedule

Below is my tentative race schedule for 2014.  I have registered for the first 6 races. 
Hopefully, I am going to do my first back-to-back race weekend.  Minnetonka on Saturday and Manitou on Sunday, two sprints back-to-back.  It is about the average number of races I have been doing, 12, since I started in 2006.
This year, after I complete six races, I will have completed 100 multi-sport (triathlon and duathlon) races since I started in 2006.
It will be my 7th time starting St. Anthonys'.  If I finish it will be my 6th.  It will be my 8th Gear West Du.  My 3rd Lake Minnetonka.  4th Manitou, 6th Waconia, 3rd Heart of the Lakes, 6th Chisago Lakes Sprint, 2nd Graniteman Big Lake, 2nd Lake Marion Sprint, 5th Maple Grove Oly, 5th St. Croix Valley Oly (did the Sprint once), and my 7th Dousman Du (did it once as a relay).
I will also try to do as many Tuesday Night Time Trials (T'N'Ts) as possible.  Sprinkle in a few trail races and road races at the end, maybe one road race in March.

4/27 (Sun) - St. Anthonys' Triathlon (R) - St. Petersburg, FL
5/18 (Sun) - Gear West Duathlon (R) - Orono, MN
6/21 (Sat) - Lake Minnetonka (R) - Minnetonka, MN

6/22 (Sun) – Manitou Sprint Triathlon (R) – White Bear Lake, MN

6/29 (Sun) – Lake Waconia (R) – Waconia, MN

7/20 (Sun) – Heart of the Lakes (R) – Annandale, MN

7/27 (Sun) – Chisago Lakes Sprint Triathlon () – Chisago, MN

8/9 (Sat) – Graniteman Big Lake () – Big Lake, MN

8/17 (Sun) – Lake Marion Sprint Triathlon () – Lake Marion,MN

8/23 (Sat) - Maple Grove Triathlon () - Maple Grove, MN
8/30 (Sun) - St. Croix Valley Olympic Triathlon () - Hudson, WI

9/ (Sun) - Dousman Duathlon () - Dousman, WI

My Weight Update

Every year I post my weight update, sometimes twice a year. 
I do watch what my weight is doing, to see if it is trending in any particular way. 
Generally, I watch what I eat.  I try not to eat a lot of crap, which I think I am pretty good at. 
I do like craft beer, good beer, and I am not going to cut that out.  I try to watch how much of it I drink.  I do like to eat, I try to no overeat, but sometimes I do.  With the amount I workout, especially certain days, I get really hungry and it is hard not to eat a lot, and eat whatever I can get my hands on, so I try to have stuff around that is not too bad. 
My weakness is certain breakfast pastries (apple fritters, coffee cake, some doughnuts), but only with coffee in the morning.  I do like meats and pizza.  I will overeat pizza, it is a terrible habit, but I LOVE pizza.  Sometimes when I have a great hamburger or steak, I might overeat also.  I think I am getting better at not overeating.
Over the last two years, my weight has been pretty flat on average.  Over the last two years, it has been up a little over the years prior. 
So far in 2014, my weight has started out a couple pounds lower.  This is probably a combination of my wife starting a new diet, and, of course, me following suite, and working out more intense, and more than last year at this time, and in December.  Just eating less meat, smaller portions, more vegetables is probably helping too.
I have mentioned this before, I will mention it again, I weigh myself in the morning, usually every two weeks, and twice that week, typically.  I weigh myself in the morning, in the nude, after emptying my bladder and/or bowels.  I try to be consistent so that I am not weighing at different times of day under different conditions.
Below are charts showing my trends.  Click on charts to make larger.

Weight Since 2007

Average Weight Since 2007

 

2013 Summary of Racing and Training Data and Totals Since 2007

So listed below are my racing and training totals for 2013, with comparisons to previous years.  It is not all about the numbers,  but numbers have something to do with it.  You need to put time in to get results.  I had a blog post a bit back that compared training time (Oct-Oct) to racing results.  In this post I am just showing my training time for the calendar year(s).
This year I as up in swimming time and yardage from last year.  I would also say that my intensity was up.  My bike time was down, and has been on the decline for the last two years.  I would say that my intensity has also gone down a bit.  It shows in my bike times. 
In 2013 I spent just over 97.7 hours in the pool, which came out to about 275476 yards (~156 miles of swimming).  I spent just over 85.7 hours on the bike and a little over 55 hours running.  The total for those three is about 238.5 hours.  I spent about 13.5 hours strength training and about 1.1 hours on the elliptical trainer.  So the total for 2013 is 253.04 hours, up about 15 hours from 2012, and down about 30 hours from 2011.
Hopefully, in 2014 I can get back up to 100 hours, or at least over 90 hours, and get some intensity up.  Attending spin classes will help in this area.  My run time is down a little bit from last year, but my intensity was higher, and I think this showed in my race results this year.  The time I spent strength training in 2013 was about the same time I spent in 2012 and 2011 combined, which is a good thing.  I would like to pick it up again in 2014.  I think all strength training can do is help, and it is a nice change from swimming, biking and running.
I think in 2014 I can get over 100 hours of swimming and 100 hours of biking.  I don't think I want to go much over 60 hours of running.  I think my running will depend more on intensity, than necessarily on time.
Click on any below to expand.

Training and Racing Time, and Swim Yardage from Year-to-Year

Chart Breaking Down Time for Swim, Bike, Run for Each Year, and Total Time

2013 Monthly Totals