This year I joined a triathlon club and participated in most of their weekly track workouts. I feel the workouts helped my running and my triathlons. If you don't already belong to a triathlon or running club you should consider joining one in 2014. I was planning to run the Philadelphia Marathon in 2013 but I'd been nursing an injury all year and skipped the event. The Philadelphia Marathon was moved up one week and the weather couldn't have been better, temperatures in the 50's and 60's all day. The following week when the race is typically held, the temperature was 24 degrees. If I run a marathon in 2014 I'm going to look for one in late September or early October so I can avoid those cold November temperatures.
I read somewhere that to become a better runner you need to become a better cyclist. I started using my bike trainer with plans from TrainerRoad and never rode outside unless I was racing. The bike trainer allowed me to focus on the training plan without dealing with traffic and road signs.
Here are my 2013 statistics from my TrainerRoad Career Page.
| Workouts | Time on Trainer | Time on Trainer | Avg Workout Time |
| 192 | 10.1 days | 242.4 hours | 1.3 hours |
This was my second year racing in the Age Group Nationals and since I was driving all the way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin I decided to race in the Olympic and Sprint races. I did very well against the clock but since I was racing "the best of the best" I finished way down in my age group. There was a great video of my sprint to the finish in the Sprint triathlon. What made the video so funny was the announcer telling the crowd that we were racing for 49th place. The guy I was sprinting against was awarded the exact same time as me. My cycling computer didn't work at all for the Olympic distance race and only started working half way through the Sprint race. I've never raced without my bike computer. I was able to adjust my effort and finished the cycling inline with my expected times. I've really come to rely on the computer so it was good to find out that I could adjust my cycling based on my perceived level of effort.
I raced the Nation's Triathlon for the third time. I used to love the one lap fast bike leg of the triathlon but this year the race director made the bike race a two lap course. The course had two no passing sections that many of the racers ignored and the course had some questionable turn around. As I final insult, on one of the big bumps near the end of the race my computer flew off the handlebars. There wasn't any free form feedback allowed on the post race survey which was very disappointing. I'm not going to race Nation's Triathlon in 2014.
My 2013 Races
| Date | Event | Distance | Place | Finished |
| Sunday April 28, 2013 | UMLY Triathlon | Sprint | Paoli, PA | 3rd in age group |
| Sunday May 5, 2013 | Broad Street Run | 10 Miles | Philadelphia, PA | 119th in age group |
| Saturday May 18, 2013 | Escape from Fort Delaware® Triathlon | Sprint | Delaware City, DE | 5th man across the finish line |
| Sunday June 9, 2013 | Ironman 70.3 Eagleman | Ironman 70.3 | Cambridge, MD | 49th in age group |
| Sunday June 23, 2013 | Philadelphia Triathlon | Olympic | Philadelphia, PA | 15th in age group |
| Thursday July 4, 2013 | Firecracker 5K | 5K | Broomall, PA | 4th in age group |
| Saturday, July 13, 2013 | Diamond in the Rough® Triathlon | International | Perryville, MD | 4th in age group |
| Saturday August 10, 2013 | Age Group Nationals | Olympic | Milwaukee, WI | 118 / 160 in age group |
| Sunday August 11, 2013 | Age Group Nationals | Sprint | Milwaukee, WI | 49 / 82 in age group |
| Sunday, August 25, 2013 | North East Triathlon | Sprint | North East, MD | 2 / 11 in age group |
| Sunday September 8, 2013 | Nations Triathlon | Olympic | Washington DC | 21 / 175 in age group |
| Sunday, September 15, 2013 | Marshman® Triathlon | Sprint | Downingtown, PA | 5th in age group |
| Saturday November 30, 2013 | Leftover Turkey Trot | 5K | The Villages, FL | 3rd in age group |
I received a new cycling computer and a new helmet as Christmas gifts. I'm really looking forward to 2014.
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