Welcome to 2015!

A quick look back

Consistency: The single best word to describe my 2014. The beginning of the New Year is a natural time to look back at the past 12 months to evaluate successes, failures and begin preparing for the next year. For me, 2014 was the year of consistency when I think about my racing results. I kicked off the year with a 6th place in Ironman South Africa, which confirmed my abilities in full-distance triathlon. I gained massive confidence from that result and quickly set out to continue my push into Ironman events. A few weeks after South Africa, I came in 7th at Ironman Lanzarote. Later on in the summer came another 6th place in Ironman Switzerland. I finished off the year with a 7th place in Ironman Cozumel in Mexico.

Domestically I maintained my place at FinnTriathlon Joroinen, which in many ways, is my favorite race of the year. I also won a few other shorter distance events including the sprint distance national championships. Consistency.

A deeper look forward

Given how consistent my season was, it is pretty easy to evaluate and plan where to go from here. I really enjoyed racing the full-distance events and that is for sure the long-term future for me. However, to reach the next level of Ironman racing, I feel like I actually need to take a step back. This means doing a new focus on developing my bike ability that used to be my biggest weapon, but recently has become secondary to my run ability. I also need to improve my swim level in order to advance at international events. The first half of 2015 will be geared toward this idea of moving back to shorter distance to address some of these limiting factors in my full-distance game. I have confidence in this strategy and I firmly believe by the end of 2015, you will see some changes in my performance at Ironman events.

2015: Finnish Triathlon exploding

As part of my strategy to step back to short distance to help my full-distance racing, I will have the opportunity to race in many of the amazing events that are developing in Finland. 2015 is a massive year for triathlon in Finland. There is the Finntriathlon series of races that are really evolving into world-class events. Lahti will be hosting the full-distance national championships in a new event that could be a future staple of the Finnish calendar. In the Helsinki are there are numerous events, both existing and new that will very popular. There are also individual races like Kisko triathlon that are selling out long before race day, which shows how popular triathlon has grown to be in the past couple years.

The most exciting addition to the 2015 race schedule in Finland will be the Turku Triathlon Weekend. This will be the first true city race ever done in Finland. The course will be centrally located in downtown Turku and swim right through the middle of the city in the river Aura. A scenic trip by bike will bring athletes out into the archipelago before heading back to the city where the run will really highlight the city by running along the banks of the river. The weekend will include many multisport events and happenings with a sprint race on Saturday and the main event of the ½ distance race on Sunday. There will also be a kids race to bring together the whole family.

I am truly disappointed to not be able to race in Turku this year, as I am sure it will be a historic and special event. While I won’t be able to race myself due to another race the day before, I am working with the organizers to make a truly exceptional experience for those lucky enough to participate! See you in Turku!