Goals:Failure Success Excuses Disclaimers

In laying out my training plan for Ironman St George, I directed my training toward the accomplishment of some goals. I failed with some goals and succeeded in others. Here is how I did.

Swimming FAIL: Goal 1650 Yards in 23:59: April 20th I attempted this and only mustered up a 25:10. 25:10 is still a PR for me but not what I set out to do.
Excuse #1 I was tired. I swam 4000 epic meters each of the previous 2 days.
Excuse #2 I didn't shave my hairy face so the friction slowed me down.
Excuse #3 My swim cap split as I went to put it on so the no swim cap cost me many seconds per hundred.
Excuse #4 I don't have floppy ankles.
Excuse #5 I am a loser
On the bright side I have improved my long endurance. I have done a lot of continuous intense swims. It isn't great but I have worked it down to where I can hold a 1:45 per 100 meter for 3400 Meters with a pull buoy.

Bike 2 hour power Success: Goal: 2 hour average power of 345: February 11th I got 348. I got this one early, since then I have consistently had rides with good power.
Disclaimer: I am addicted to my trainer and don't know how to ride outside.

Bike 20 minute power FAIL: Goal: 20 minute average power of 400: My best effort was 389 on February 4th
Excuse #1 20 minutes all out is really hard
Excuse #2 Doing fast run workouts tears me up and makes it difficult for me to hit big numbers on efforts over threshold.
Excuse #3 The 389 that I got came as the best 20 minutes of an all out 30 minute effort. I could have done better had I just done 20 not the 30.
Excuse #4 This was a secondary goal to my running goals and my 2 hour power goal. My legs can only handle so much intensity and I had to cut something, so I cut out a lot of my real high power efforts.
I can't think of anymore bogus excuses, I just didn't get it.

Running Speed Success(mostly): Goal: 5x 1 mile repeats at 11 mph on the treadmill. April 20th I finally got this.
Disclaimer: I was supposed to jog a 1/4 mile between each mile. I did this jogging a 1/4 mile between each mile until after mile 4 I was wasted and I walked instead of jogged the last 1/4 mile before doing mile 5.

Running Endurance Success: Goal: 15 treadmill miles in 90 minutes. April 23 (with IM St George 14 days away)the last possible day I could attempt this I got it.
Disclaimer #1 It was on a treadmill and I just stuck it on 10 mph and held that.
Disclaimer #2 Near perfect conditions.I had the room temperature at 55 to start and it only raised 5 degrees.
Disclaimer #3 I had a system of 4 fans blowing on me. One of them a 650 watt blower used to blow up large inflatable slides.
Disclaimer #4 I stopped once (very briefly) to go poop.
This was my #1 goal, my highest priority. About 30 minutes into it I didn't feel great but the fans helped a lot to keep me from overheating and though it was very tough when I finished I was OK and not completely fried.

Weight: Goal Weigh 177 FAIL: I will probably get the scale to say 177 before May 7th but it will not be my true weight. It will be in the morning before I eat or drink and after my bowels have been completely emptied. I will probably have to spit in the toilet a few times to finally get it to say 177, but then I will be up over 180 after breakfast and a tall glass of water. I have lost some weight though.
Excuse #1 My body just does not want to get any smaller. I lost weight easily until I hit around the 190ish range and every pound lost after 190ish is a gazillion times harder than the weight lost before.
Excuse #2 It is a hard balance between fueling for performance and also cutting weight.
Excuse #3 I get hungry............and......I..eat.