Back to it!

After doing absolutely nothing for nearly 2 weeks after the 1/2 marathon, I finally had a good weekend of training.

Saturday we did a duathlon rehearsal with the team. It was fun. I've never done one before at all. We did a sprint. 1 mile run, 11ish mile ride and 3.1 mile run. I was anything but fast but didn't matter. I had not been on my bike but once this year and as I said I hadn't run since the 1/2. It is not officially timed so all totals are from my Garmin. Total time was 1:45 First run, I had just short of a mile at .96 time 11:26, ride was 10.65 miles 46:23 (13.78 mph pretty good all things considered) and last run... slow 3.1 miles 45:22. Wow do I need to work on the bike run bricks too. Getting off the bike my legs were really wobbly. It was fun though.

Today I did the first open water "swim" of the year, in a wet suit for the very first time ever. Challenging I must say. I didn't do a whole lot of swimming as I just wasn't sure I was comfortable in it. I think next time I will try a sleeveless one. This was a full suit and I tell you it was kind of rough, and my shoulder are really stiff, this could also be from the bike too though. However I must say I was totally amazed at how much it helped with the water temps which were in the mid 60's. It made the water quite bearable, enjoyable even. It was a beautiful day the sun was shining and the outside temps were around 70 when we started the swim and by the time we finished the ride around 80 and the water would have felt pretty darn good then. The ride, although I was a little unsure after the duathlon yesterday was also good. Did 17 miles. The first 5 or so were kind of a false flat. Looks flat but you are headed up hill the whole time and I think we climbed about 500' or so, then there were just a few small hills, but some great downhills... I love going downhill! Only average 13.3 mph but I feel pretty good about it. I was in about the middle of the pack and considering I think everyone else had road bikes and I was on my Sissy (hybrid) I was pleased. Oh yea and saw some llamas...I love those things they are just so cute!

I'm looking forward to hitting things a little harder in June. I'm also possibly rethinking trying to do an Olympic distance this year. I'm just not sure. Although I have 2 1/2 months to train, I feel it may be more then I can do. I do plan to try an Olympic rehearsal and well who knows, if that goes well and there are still spots I just may go for it.

Couple of photos...

Approching the finish line with a big smile on my face and a wave for the family.

My big booty finishing it up!

Woo Hoo I ran a 1/2 marathon!

It's Done!!!!

Can I just say Woo Hoo! All in all it went pretty darn good I would say. Amazingly nothing really hurt (not even the toe/foot part that always hurts!) until the last couple of miles and then my a$$ was a bit sore. I did a lot more walking the last couple of miles too. I can't believe how really fast it went. Not a lot of people out on the course cheering which was kind of a bummer. In fact my Mom had told me last night that they were going to try and be some where around the mid point. I kept looking and looking and nobody there...Got a little emotional around mile 10ish felt like I wanted to cry for no good reason, because Mom wasn't there or just because of Auntie Flow who knows. One really weird thing, my heart rate monitor had my HR at over 200 almost the entire time. Not possible I don't think. Not sure why or what was up. Any way at the very end I kicked it up to the finish line and saw my Mom, Dad and Brother, between the kicking it up and the emotions I really started having a hard time breathing, it was a little freaky but after I crossed the finish line and stopped it took me a minute to catch my breath and I was fine. Wow I'm glad that's done. Will I do it again.....maybe.

Final time according to my Garmin 2:59:04 13:34 pace

Again can I just say Woo Hoo!!!! And guess who got a pedicure?

Had to pay a little tribute to those hard working feet!

Ain't nothing gonna break my stride....

nobody gonna slow me down...oh no...I got to keep on movin....

Getting a little nervous about the 1/2 mary tomorrow.

Mother's Day Milestones!

10 miles! I did it! And not only that most of the 1st have of the run was in the rain! Also a first! The first few miles were very good then had a couple not so good ones but all in all I was very happy with it. Now I'm slow, and will always probably be slow, but I was happy with my time average pace of 13:58 and that includes one bathroom stop, one stop at the car to refill water and slam some Gatorade, 2 phone calls from my son and walking the last 1/2 mile to cool down. Not to sore after, did some good stretching iced the knees and we will see what tomorrow brings. So for the week I ended up with a record 21 miles run and 2 swims for a 2400 yards. A good week. I really will be glad though after this 1/2 marathon training is over next weekend. I'm pretty sure that I have discovered I'm not into the distance running. I think I will stick to the shorter races maybe maxing out at 10k. Of course I've been known to change my mind too! :)

Now that was nice!

As if to make up for the awful run yesterday, today's swim was absolutely fantastic! Bar none the best swim I have evah had, EVAH! We swam outside and I debated long and hard if I was really ready for that. It was pretty overcast and maybe 50 degrees when I left home. But by the time I got to Boulder the sun was out. While still very sceptical, I was there and I was swimming. The water was fantastic! Not only that but all of my swimming just seemed to come together. Not that I still don't have a long way to go but I just felt really good. after we warmed up we did
3 x 100 swimming out any style and back freestyle
then for speed we did
1 x 400 (time 11:40)
1 x 200
1 x 100
1 x 50
trying to improve our speed each time. My 50 came in at 1:10 I think which is fantastic for me!

This is really the first time I had no problems inhaling water. I really had no idea that I could swim that much freestyle. I'm just thrilled with myself. And as I said the water was so nice, the temp and it didn't have near the chlorine in it that I've become used to. I'm just so excited about my swimming progress! Can you say WooHoo!!!

Oh the joys of running....NOT!!!!

Sagittarius
It's important for you to get out and run around for a little while.

Today's horoscope...do you think 8 miles is enough. :)

Long run this morning was suppose to be 9 miles. I just couldn't do it. Ended up just over 8 with the entire last mile walked, and the other 7 very, very, slow...even for me! I'm not sure what was wrong but from mile one everything just felt hard. I'm not sure that my new shoes are working for long runs. the feel great for shorter runs, but last week I ran with an older pair and things just felt so much better. Or maybe this run just sucked. I so just want to be done with this 1/2. I really think I bit off more then I can chew with this one. Before I head out for these runs, I just have such a nervous stomach it's crazy, I can't imagine what I'm going to be like on the actual day. And I still can't imagine actually going 13.1......that's pretty bad when it's only 2 weeks from tomorrow!

Did a little bike looking again today. Went to the Trek store...oh my....I'm in love I really like both the 7.3 and the 7.5 leaning a little toward the 7.5. I'm going to do some more thinking and keep trying to talk myself out of a new bike.

Plans for tomorrow are to swim. I plan on joining the group although it is not suppose to be nice and we are now swimming in an outdoor pool, so I'm having a bit of trouble with that idea. After the swim is a transition clinic which I'm sure will be helpful. But the weather may just see me swimming at the rec center instead. But I really need to get a swim in. I'm going to commit right here and now to swim at least 2 times next week. I'm going to sit down and plan my week as I seem to do better when I have a plan and am not trying to just fit it in where I can.