2011 Goals

With the arrival of a new baby daughter over the Christmas period, I've been waiting for things to settle down a bit before committing to any new goals for 2011. I think there are likely to be less events this year but I'd still like to have a few key events in the diary to keep me motivated. Things are still not fully settled but I do now have a few challenging goals for the year ahead that still seem achievable given the upheaval a new baby can bring.

Fred Whitton

I was very pleased to get an entry for the Fred Whitton Challenge again this year. Last year I turned up to the start line with a knee injury and shouldn't have cycled 60 yards never mind the 60 miles I managed before having to abort mission. Going that far was a stupid thing to do as I made the injury far worse and carried it for the rest of the season, which adversely affected my training and my ride on the Etape. I would like to turn up fighting fit this time around and finish the job.

La Marmotte

Following the Etape du Tour last year I felt drawn to the Alps and very nearly entered the Alpine leg of this year's Etape. However, given that it follows the same route as the latter stages of La Marmotte, I decided to go for the full monty and enter that. To be honest I'm still unsure whether I'll be able to put the training in to be ready for such a stiff test but I'm going to proceed on this basis and hope for the best.

Beachy Head Marathon

This is a really tough looking trail marathon held in October in the Sussex South Downs. I have entered it with my wife Em who has targeted this as her come back marathon following the birth of Holly. We've recently moved to the area and so I've run parts of the course, which looks great but very challenging. Not the easiest to choose for a come back run!

Triathlon

The UK Ironman market is really booming, I did the inaugural Outlaw triathlon last year and this year there are another two new entrants - Challenge Henley and Ironman Wales. These both look like they could be great events but I really don't feel able to commit to an Ironman at this point. They are both to be held in September however and aren't likely to fill up given the competition so if it looks plausible as the year progresses I may get tempted. Alternatively, I will likely focus on the Olympic distance and breaking the 2hr 30min mark - possibly at Bala in September.

Good luck with whatever you have planned for the year - I hope you have a good season