Well the holidays came and went. December was filled with bridal events for my best friend’s wedding, endless Christmas parties and an awesome New Year’s Eve Celebration to top off the year.
The fiancé got me a Garmin Forerunner 15 for Christmas and I was thrilled! I’ve used it a couple of times and let me tell you how much I love it! It is SO much easier to just glance down at your wrist to check your distance rather than fumble around with an app on your phone (and your armband).
The end of one year and the start of another always means looking back at the year you’ve had and what you hope to accomplish in the next.
I did 16 races in 2014, adding up to 142.8 miles. I know those numbers don’t mean much to non-runners, but to those who understand what it’s like to look back and remember every mile, every early morning, every sore aching body part – you know the feeling of accomplishment and also the feeling of wanting to crush that number in the next year ahead of you.
Looking back on 2014 my favorite race is a tie between the Akron Marathon (if you know anything about me you know I LOVE this race) and my first triathlon at West Branch State Park. The triathlon stands out to me because it was a goal of mine and I was petrified beyond belief to do the swim. I had no idea what I was doing. In fact, I still know very little about triathlons in general, but that’s what made the race so special to me. I went after something that scared the living daylights out of me and came out afterwards with a smile on my face. That’s living.
This past weekend was the Lifetime Indoor Tri. This was my second time doing the race so I kind of knew what to expect. I did so much better than I did last year, which makes me hopeful for the race season. I was not in very good shape either considering I haven’t swam since September.
This week marked the first week back to training since the holidays. I’ve got a big race schedule coming up and my training decreased in December (like it always does) with the holidays, parties and the wedding. It’s time to stay focused and become dedicated again, which makes me excited because half the fun of racing is training.
Here’s an overview of my 2015 races:
Jan-March – Training and finding another indoor tri to compete in
April 12 – 20 Mile Drop
May 3 – Fly Pig Half Marathon
May 31 – Twinsburg Duathlon
June 7 – West Branch Triathlon (sprint)
June 10 (tentative date) – Mentor Flag Day 5K
July 12 – Johnny Cake Jog (5 miler)
July 19 – Fairport Harbor Triathlon (sprint)
July 26 – Cleveland Triathlon (aiming for the Olympic distance)
August 23 (tentative date) – Shaker Heights Biathlon
September – Akron Marathon
Oct/Nov – I’d like to find a fall half marathon that isn’t too cold!
The weather in Cleveland has been cold and miserable, so unfortunately a lot of my training will have to be done indoors. Luckily I got a spin bike on Black Friday which is super handy on cold, winter mornings in Northeast Ohio, plus in training for the Olympic distance in July.
I’ve also held myself to two of my resolutions for 2015 so far – join Northeast Running Club and The Cleveland Triathlon Club. Done and done. I’m looking forward to group training sessions come spring!
For now I need to focus on hitting all my training goals and working on my diet. Because eating cookies and drinking wine every day is only acceptable behavior in December 😉
I’m looking forward to 2015, especially because I get to marry my favorite person in the entire world in August!
Happy New Year!
She Writes & Runs 
Thanks for replying! I think I waited about an hour after I sent you that comment and went ahead and bought it. I’ve done a handful of runs with it and it works great! I’m really happy with it. I’ve been using it on my bike, too, which has messed up my running PR’s on the watch, but that’s no biggie. I did my first 5K with it this past Saturday and I think it made me run faster because it’s easier for me to see my time and want to push harder, versus having to fumble with my phone in an armband. I also bought the SanDisk Clip Sport MP3 player which works awesome, too! Excited to have these tools to help me achieve my goals!
ps are you on Strava?
Hi Andrea – honestly I have not had much experience using it yet! I’ve been running inside all winter so there hasn’t been a great need for the watch. I can say that it is super easy to get started and the few times I did use it, it worked like a charm! I have not uploaded any of my runs yet since I’ve only used it for a handful. I will say that I tried to use it in the pool a few weeks ago. We looked online and it is water proof. I had my doubts that it might be be able to pick up a satellite signal since the pool sits pretty far back in the gym. It started working and then froze up and then died a few minutes later (when it was all the way charged). The watch then reset itself to default settings, which is annoying. I have not used it since, and am curious to make sure everything functions previous to the swim episode! I can def keep you updated! Thanks for reading!
Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me how you are liking your Garmin Forerunner 15. I am thinking about getting the same watch but comparing it to the two older versions of it to try and save money. What app are you using to track your activity? If it’s not the Garmin app, how easily are you able to upload your activity to whatever app you’re using? Any other details would be appreciated.
Thanks for the motivation! My goal this year is to also do at least one race a month. I’m only able to do 5K’s now, but hopefully by the end of the year I can do a 10K or maybe even a half marathon. We’ll see!