Looking back to the Fall of 2015 when I did my first triathlon in 8+ years, I am over-joyed with the progress I have made.  

My Swim:

      Even though I come from a collegiate swimming background it helps to remember that I was a Sprinter in college.  Infact most of my college teammates would be floored to hear that I swam 1500m without stopping (something they would claim I never did in college…).  I was your typical sprinter, all about the weight room and high intensity sets! FLY and DIE! GET HUGE!  

      Now I am looking for anyway to cut weight and settle into a sustainable pace.  

      In 2015 My swim times were around 20:30-45. About 200m into every race I would find myself settling into a long, loping, distance per-stroke maximizing swim.   My stroke rates were 40-45  per min.  

      In 2016 I improved my swims to 19:20-40.  I am learning how to keep my stroke rate up during longer swims. This year at my season-ender I was able to maintain an average of close to 60 strokes per min for the swim.  

My bike:  

Unfortunately I do not have a lot of hard data to show the improvement that I have made on the bike.  I am in need of a Power Meter but I can not figure out the right one or more importantly, the right price.  According to Zwift I have raised my FTP from 240 (winter 2015) to 314 (current) watts.   Bike courses in Korea are so unique and my individual experiences on them have been so unique that it is hard to quantify the exact gains I have made but I know they are there!

My Run:  

Oooh boy where do I start?

In high school I weighed about 140lbs and my best 5K time was around 16:30.

       Fall of 2015 I was approaching 200lbs, about 88kg.  This did not take a big toll on swimming or cycling, but my running was another story.  In October 2015 at the KTF (Korean Triathlon Federation) final my run time was 50 minutes for the 10K.  

      I worked hard during the winter on my run and my weight in general. By the 2016 season I was down to about 160 pounds and my run times started to show improvements.  In October 2016 at the KTF my run time was 40 minutes 50 seconds.  Over nine minutes faster than the previous year.  

Looking forward to 2017:

      Looking forward to 2017 I think I have room for plenty more Improvement. My swim has always had plenty of speed  but I'm looking forward training specifically for Open Water distance, especially now that my body type is more suitable for this.  I also need to get a wetsuit that fits better.

                   side note: * I've been racing in the same wetsuit since I was 88 kilograms. I have noticed                        quite a bit of drag form my weight loss and I think I need to get a new wetsuit.

      I would love to see my swim times mid 18 minutes next year.

      I am looking forward to having the bike become a weapon for me to gain time on my opponents.  Out of the 3 disciplines I believe I am most “gifted” in cycling and I would like to see my potential reached in the next few years.

      This off season I plan to spend plenty of time focusing on the run.  I will be doing interval repeats and hill workouts to increase speed along with a decent weekly mileage.  I think a goal of a 39min 10K next year is realistic.

~ Tim