What's in Store in 2009

Yes, yes. I know it's already the end of February and I'm just making my first post of the year. Work has put a beat-down on the free time. Come the end of March, things will either be much better under control or much worse--in either case, I'm expecting to have more Dave-time.

My big race for '09 is Escape from Alcatraz! I'm pretty excited about the multiple challenges this race offers:

• It's relatively early (June 14). I know there's plenty of racing before that but I've never had an "A" race that early in the season. Looking forward to a June peak.
  
• The swim is well known as being very tough. I'm not looking past that challenge but I'm very comfortable with it. In 2005, I finished 4th of about 90 in my age group at an Alcatraz swim. I made a tactical error near the end of the race that probably cost me the age group win. With a few hundred meters to the opening of the marina, I jumped on with a small group that was working together instead of continuing to navigate on my own. We misjudged the current, missing the marina opening, and had to swim back (directly against the current) to get in--costing us at least a minute. Had I stayed in position on my own, I would have hit the opening perfectly and sailed through. I recall the gap between my time and the age group winner was 52 seconds. So I have a few demons to avenge on the swim.
  
• The bike is relatively short but goes up and down the hills of San Fran. Climbing isn't my strength on the bike but I'll be working hard this spring on that skill.
  
• The run. Oh, the run. I could write a thousand words, but you know the saying about what a picture's worth?

So, yeah, that should be fun. I'm already laying a solid base and am working out the details of getting from here to there. Will be keeping you posted on my training progress.

As for the rest of the season, some of it's up in the air. I'll be at Cycle for Sight (please consider sponsoring me) the weekend following Alcatraz. The only other race I'm currently registered for is the Boulder Peak--a crown jewel of Olympic distance racing (and right here in my backyard). Beyond that, I'm just not sure. I'll likely look to peak again at a late summer or early fall long course race like the 5430 or Harvest Moon. Then probably the Denver Marathon again to close out the year. Should be interesting.