♪♪ A-B-C-D-E-F-G....What do these races mean to me? ♪♪♪

As I came up with my list of races for this year, and am sticking to one a month (with the exception of ones thrown in there through the Striders Series) I need to pick out which ones mean what to me.  What are my goals?  How do I prioritize my training for them?  In the tri world I have heard people say, which one is your A race?  Or the one that is most important or means the most to you.  So, with that in mind, and looking over my 2013 schedule, I would say the following are my A races:

SLC Half Marathon 4/21 - I really want to have a sub 2 half marathon.  I think that I can do it with good consistent training, and I was only 8 minutes off last Spring.  If this one doesn't go as planned, I may have to add one at the end of the season to just try again.  With the Striders series, I should be in great shape for this as we would have run these distances, and had a half marathon already as a "practice" race for this one.

Spudman Oly Tri 7/27 - I am really seeking a sub 3 hour Oly distance tri.  I think it is easier to have a PR at an Oly distance where the discipline distances are more standardized.  In a sprint, they are all over the place, so with an Oly, I would love to have a sub 3.  With the down river swim, and the flat course for run/bike, I am hoping this happens.

St George 26.2 10/5 - I always want to do well with a marathon.  After seeing my huge improvement from one year to the next with this past race, I REALLY want to keep that going.  I don't know what it is about a marathon, but they mean the most to me.  I only do one a year, and that is only if I get in through the registration.  The challenge is so great in any marathon, regardless of how many you have done, that I just really want to see improvement.  And, I also have a career goal of qualifying for Boston, and even though I am currently 45 minutes away from that, any move in that direction is a good thing :)

B races (still important, but like good practice for the A ones):

Icebreaker Tri - a mini sprint.  I can compare with last year since it is virtually the same course as Women of Steel was.  A good one for measuring progress, but that's about it.

St. George Oly - a practice for Spudman, and I love Southern Utah for races.  I can use this as a test run for Spudman, and then have a few months to improve where needed.

Ogden Valley Tri - (I am assuming of course they are even bringing it back) I love this one.  It will be a good progress measuring race.  I loved it last year, and it will be good to just see progress over a year, do one close to home, and have fun.

C Races (just for fun):

Everything else.  I love racing just to race, and I use them to gauge where I am and where I need to go.  I also like to have fun, so that is where everything else falls.