At the end of last season, I wrote down a whole series of things I wanted to do, in order to try and improve as a triathlete for the 2020 race season.  Obviously the 2020 race season is on hold for now, but my opportunity to improve is not.  So I thought I would take a look back, and grade myself on how I am doing versus the goals that I set last October.

I set goals in four areas: swim, bike, run and ‘other’.  With swimming completely shut down, let’s look at the bike goals in this blog post.

1. Better equipment for more aero savings (buy aero helmet, change cockpit / brakes on the Cervelo P2) :  A+  –  This one was not hard to complete as it mostly required spending money.  I have a brand new aero helmet and my bike is upgraded.  The ‘work’ that I did do, was completing the cockpit/brake upgrade myself, rather than sending my bike to a mechanic.  I loved working on my bike and the photo above shows the final result.

2. Refine position on bike for better aero with comfort (narrower at front, consider higher hand position) :  B-   –  This one is still a work in progress.  I am narrower at the front, courtesy of the new front end I installed.  I have also positioned my hands slightly higher with the new set up.  However, I still need to get a professional bike fit, with the new set up.  I did have an appointment to get that done this month, but the coronavirus situation shut that down.  I still have time to make this grade better before my next race.

3. Improve flexibility to enable a better bike position :  D   –  I did start on this one, but it completely fell by the wayside over the Holidays.  This is why I like looking back at goals; I am now fired up to get back after this one.

4. Push harder during hard sessions to build more power :  A-   –  I am pretty happy with my progress on this one.  My coach has given me some really tough bike sessions these past few months, and I have pushed really hard on them.  We are seeing good gains in my power, so the hard work is paying off.

5. Review and experiment with electrolytes in nutrition to help with cramping on the run :  C   –  I gave myself a “C”,  because I haven’t started on this one yet.  I had however, planned to only tackle this one when doing long rides outside.  I am only just getting into ‘outside bike’ season, so it’s time to jump on this one really soon.

I think overall, I have made progress, but as is typical with our sport, there is always room for improvement.  I will tackle my run goals tomorrow … that report card is not so pretty!