South West Challenge series stratedgy

My first year competing in the SW Challenge series was by far the easiest year to try to make top 3 in my division. Even though I was slower then & there were a couple of REALLY fast triathletes who were competing at that time & are no longer racing in the series I.E. Arnold Ciniceros. The reason that year was easier was because I was watching those 2 other athletes race/point totals on the SW series web sight, they had completed more races earlier in the season than me. I was able to click on the series results & see how many points they had for the series at anytime during the year. I knew exactly how many races I still needed to complete & how well in those races I had to do to place top 3.

This year is going to be VERY hard for me to place because I'm no longer racing as a Clyd. I'm racing in the 30-34 AG. Those 30-34's are silly fast. Plus I told my coach, Pete Alfino, that my ultimate goal for 2009 was to finish IMAZ before the cut off time. So I have agreed to him being in complete control of which races I will do. If a SW series race fits into my IronMan training plan than he'll let me do that race. But if it doesn't he tells me "No, you can't do it. Stay focused on the goal." I'm glad he is doing that with me because I tend to be a little compulsive. I'll end up doing a race on a day when I should of been doing a specific workout with a specific goal for my IM. But let me tell you, it's going to make qualifying TOP 3 for the series a NIGHTMARE! Almost all of the SW races my coach is allowing me to do are very early in the season. That will make it more difficult to take top 3 because as of right now I'm less than 2 lbs below 200. Later in the season I plan on being lighter, thus faster. & the other reason is that any other 30-34 AG's will just need to look at the series points throughout the year to see how many races & what placing they will need to pass me just like I did with Arnold Ciniceros in 2006. Very easy to pass up someone like me when I'll be one of the slower competitors in my division & they have the edge of knowing exactly how many points I have for the series early in the season. Add in the fact that my last race of the SW series will be in July. That'll give the other athletes 4 months to match or surpass me.

What that means is that I'm just going to have to do as well as possible in the next 3 months of SW series racing & for the first time if I take top 3 will be based solely on quality of my racing rather than quantity of races It'll be one heck of a challenge, but one I'm looking forward to. By July or Aug I'll know if I did indeed have enough quality races to have placed top 3. I'll keep you updated. Wish me luck. Send prayers for speed & slimness my way if you're willing.

Thanks for tuning in.