It has been a while since I have posted. There has been so much going on in my life lately that the marathon started to take a back seat, but fortunately it was during "taper period" so it didn't really affect my training. All in all, my training was perfect. I had to scale back a bit from the "Intermediate II" schedule that Rick and I jumped into, but the main components remained: long run on the weekends (worked up to 3 X 20 miles), recovery on Tuesday, "short" long run on Wednesday, and either cross training or short run on Thursday. I tried to make Monday a swim day, but got a little lazy most of the time and just took it as another rest. But all in all, I was happy with my training and feel I did my best.
So the marathon was yesterday and I did it! Actually, I never doubted that I would finish. I know myself well enough by now to figure out how to make it through just about anything. But the feeling of being a marathoner is no less amazing. I feel so empowered. Three years ago I never would have imagined that I could do it; never would have wanted to do it. It is hard to fathom now that I am already thinking about my next one...what I would do differently...what advice I would be sure to take. I love to learn and grow and challenge myself. In some ways, my life is really just beginning...and I'm almost 40! Yes, it sounds dorky, but until you do something and push yourself through something that you never thought you could do, you probably wouldn't understand.
So here it is...my first marathon race report.
Taper Week:
God knew I needed Taper Week. Some events have recently unfolded in my life (one soon to be revealed) that made it impossible for me to physicaly and mentally handle much training last week. I followed Jennie V's carb-loading plan as best as I could. Good Lord, 600 grams of carbs is just about impossible to take in a day! I packed a bag for each day (for Rick and me) containing all kinds of snacks and meals that would bring us up to our carb-loading goal. Inevitably, my bag still had several items in it at the end of the day. I never thought I would ever say that I couldn't eat as much as I needed to. I felt bloated and sick every day. Then there was the water...1 gallon of water a day! I didn't quite make it, but I got close.Then there was the stretching...I ignored the advice to stretch my calves, hams and IT band all week. (My big mistake). I was able to sleep really well for a few nights leading up to the marathon. I haven't slept so well in a long time..all signs point to a great race day...or so I thought.
Race Morning:
Race morning was perfect. We woke up at 4:30, had coffee, breakfast, and puttered around with our gear. I really wasn't nervous at all. Unlike triathlons, there is very little that can go wrong on a marathon race day (in my mind, anyway). I wasn't trying to qualify for anything and I really didn't have a time goal, so for me...I tried to think of it as just another long run...a really long run. The worst that could happen is that I would have to walk some...I already planned on that. My friend Josh met us at the house and we drove to the race together. Nice mornng!
Race:
Wow, the weather was great. Cloudy, cool (but not cold), and just enough wind to feel good when running. I started out with a sweatshirt and then ditched it at about mile 3 or so. Josh, Rick and I started out together and it was nice talking the first few miles away. With all of the strange costumes and signs around, there was enough to talk about. Then, around mile 7 or so I had to pee, so Rick and I stopped at the port-o-pots, and Josh carried on without us. We never did see him again, as he started gunning it to a 7 min/mile pace for a while.
It was about then that I noticed my left knee hurting a little bit. Shit! It is way too early for this. In all of my training I have never had a knee problem...what the heck is going on? Then it hit me...the stretching...could it be that not stretching during taper week is causing this? Damn it! So I just ignored the pain for a few miles so it wouldn't get the best of me. Somewhere early on I passed my friends Holly and Greg as they were cheering us on. How cool it was to see someone we knew cheering for us. That really got me pumped. Then we saw Chuk and Jr, some students from school, and then Holly and Greg again. Awesome!
Well, ignoring my knee pain worked ok until about mile 15...it really started to hurt. So it was then that I took a little walk/stretch break at each of the aid stations (about every mile). That worked nicely for me, but it was killing Rick. The more he stopped, the worse his IT band felt. So at mile 17 I sent him on ahead and I continued my little stretching/walking breaks. It was then that I finally decided to turn on my i-pod and listen to some music. That really helped the miles pass by. At mile 20, those breaks turned up every half mile...and then the walks got a little longer. Mentally, I had to be ok with that. The alternative would have been to totally mess up my knee to the point of not being able to finish. No way! I was determined to do whatever I had to do to finish. So, I took my time. It was the longest hour and a half I can remember since my labor with Mary. I did my best to think of the awesomeness of the experience..."I'm doing a freakin marathon" and felt good about it, even though my body was definitely breaking down and I was all alone. I was also really worried about Rick. I knew he was in a tremendous amount of pain. I half expected to see him sitting on the side of the road. What would I do then? I wouldn't want to leave him, but he wouldn't want me to stay. I decided that if I did see him there, I would walk with him the rest of the way. We were both going to finish this race!
By now,even the songs on my ipod were annoying me. Push through it, push through it. No Rick on the side of the road... From then on, every mile marker was a beautiful sight. When # 26 came into focus, I remember looking at it hard and thinking "This is it...this is what you have been working toward." I stared at that sign as long as I could and I made damn sure that I was running when I passed it. The last .2 went by very quickly. There were specatators now cheering every step of the way. I actually felt much better and started to run faster and even passed a guy as I entered the finish chute. I clearly remember the point where I entered the orange cones and thought...I really did it...it's over. Just before I crossed the finish line, I looked to the right and saw Rick sitting on the lawn, smiling and waving to me. I burst out and screamed and waved my arms in the air...so happy that he had made it, too. We found eachother and were so happy...hugging and even a little crying. Very proud.
After changing and getting some water and chocolate milk, we saw our some friends, and joined Josh and his family at Huey's for some well-deserved food and beer.
Loking back, there is nothing Iwould have changed about the race. You can't always control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it. I couldn't control my knee pain, but the way I chose to react to it caused me to finish the race. My actual finish time was 4:51:07. Not exactly what I wanted, but I'll certainly take it. What's next? Half Ironman in July and The Disney Marathon in Florida next year...(that's a hint). :)
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
On to the next 20
Ok, so I am in the middle of week 13. I am doing much better with my stretching and weight training and have altered my schedule a bit. After the last fiasco and thinking that I really hurt my foot, I've decided not to do my pace runs the day after my longs. So the experts were right. BUT, I have decided to actually cut the pace runs in half so I am not completely tired out when I go to do my long runs.
2 weeks ago I actually made it all the way to 20! It was a rough one for sure. First I wasn't prepared nutritionally. I forgot to restock my Gu, so all I had for the whole 20 miles was water, gator aid, and 3 little shot blocks. I ate those at mile 8, so they were long gone by mile 15.
I ran with Rick and some new people which was fun. We started at 5:30 a.m. and it was cool running in the pitch blackness with a group. I am used to being alone. We saw the sun come up as we turned from Poplar to Houston Levy, thankfully. That was another problem...it was in the low 50's that morning and all I had on was a thin T-shirt. I never really did warm up.
I was able to hold their pace util about mile 14 when I started to lag behind. The lack of nutrition was catching up with me and my legs were so stiff that I felt like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. I caught up to them again at mile 17 at the water stop, so I stretched and felt a little better. Now I was just starving!
Finally, we made it to 20 miles, only to realize that we miscalculated the distance and still had a good 3 miles before we were back at the car. I felt like crying. Rick and I ended up walking/limping home.
So now I am looking at my second twenty miler this weekend. I am going to run with the same group, but this time have a LOT of nutritional supplements and even a granola bar stashed somewhere. I am hoping this one goes a little better, although I wouldn't say my last one was bad. I just think whenever a person runs that long it is always going to hurt and be uncomfortable.
Why am I doing this again?????
2 weeks ago I actually made it all the way to 20! It was a rough one for sure. First I wasn't prepared nutritionally. I forgot to restock my Gu, so all I had for the whole 20 miles was water, gator aid, and 3 little shot blocks. I ate those at mile 8, so they were long gone by mile 15.
I ran with Rick and some new people which was fun. We started at 5:30 a.m. and it was cool running in the pitch blackness with a group. I am used to being alone. We saw the sun come up as we turned from Poplar to Houston Levy, thankfully. That was another problem...it was in the low 50's that morning and all I had on was a thin T-shirt. I never really did warm up.
I was able to hold their pace util about mile 14 when I started to lag behind. The lack of nutrition was catching up with me and my legs were so stiff that I felt like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. I caught up to them again at mile 17 at the water stop, so I stretched and felt a little better. Now I was just starving!
Finally, we made it to 20 miles, only to realize that we miscalculated the distance and still had a good 3 miles before we were back at the car. I felt like crying. Rick and I ended up walking/limping home.
So now I am looking at my second twenty miler this weekend. I am going to run with the same group, but this time have a LOT of nutritional supplements and even a granola bar stashed somewhere. I am hoping this one goes a little better, although I wouldn't say my last one was bad. I just think whenever a person runs that long it is always going to hurt and be uncomfortable.
Why am I doing this again?????
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Um...This is harder than I thought!
Why I thought training for a marathon would be easier than training for a triathlon is beyond me. I am starting to rethink my plan, or at least my schedule. In retrospect, jumping past the Novice and Intermediate training plans may not have been the best idea.
Both the Novice II and Intermediate I programs would have had me run a total of 36 miles this week. In the Intermediate II, I am running 43 miles this week. I guess that 7 miles really makes a difference in an untrained body. I didn't get to run my mid-week 9 or 4 miler due to hip issues. I did run 19 yesterday and felt OK, but today was supposed to be 9 at pace (9:15) and I just couldn't do it. I managed about a 10:00-10:30 pace for about 6 miles, but then had to call it quits due to a new pain, this time on the outside arch of my foot. It got so bad that I decided to walk the last 3 miles rather than risk an injury.
Now for my altered schedule...
a. I am going to follow Hal's advice and do my pace runs on Saturday and my long runs on Sunday. I reversed them initially because I wanted to get my long run out of the way and feel like I could relax a bit for the rest of the weekend and still do a pretty good pace run Sunday. That actually worked out until this weekend; week 10. After a 19 miler, I realize I just don't have the body to get out the next day and do a good pace run.
b. I AM going to make myself crosstrain Monday (swim) and Thursday (bike) and do two days of light weights and core. The reason my hips are having issues is because the rest of my body is weak, so they are working overtime. I need to strengthen all of my muscles if I am going to make it through in one piece.
c. Stretching!! I have not been stretching at all and that is not good. I know I will not be able to make it to Yoga with this schedule, but I can at least stretch at home each day. I've added some good stretching and weight training sites here, so I intend to use them!
d. New running shoes. It is time. I've had these since April and trained and raced for 4 triathlons and 1/2 way through this marathon program. I am headed to Fleet Feet today and am so excited.
So that's it. If I stick to this, hopefully that will help. If not, I may need to drop down to one of the lower training programs. We'll see. I do know that I am learning a lot and with each marathon I do, my body will be in better condition. I really want to just enjoy this journey and keep in mind how awesome it is that I am even doing this in the first place. :)
Both the Novice II and Intermediate I programs would have had me run a total of 36 miles this week. In the Intermediate II, I am running 43 miles this week. I guess that 7 miles really makes a difference in an untrained body. I didn't get to run my mid-week 9 or 4 miler due to hip issues. I did run 19 yesterday and felt OK, but today was supposed to be 9 at pace (9:15) and I just couldn't do it. I managed about a 10:00-10:30 pace for about 6 miles, but then had to call it quits due to a new pain, this time on the outside arch of my foot. It got so bad that I decided to walk the last 3 miles rather than risk an injury.
Now for my altered schedule...
a. I am going to follow Hal's advice and do my pace runs on Saturday and my long runs on Sunday. I reversed them initially because I wanted to get my long run out of the way and feel like I could relax a bit for the rest of the weekend and still do a pretty good pace run Sunday. That actually worked out until this weekend; week 10. After a 19 miler, I realize I just don't have the body to get out the next day and do a good pace run.
b. I AM going to make myself crosstrain Monday (swim) and Thursday (bike) and do two days of light weights and core. The reason my hips are having issues is because the rest of my body is weak, so they are working overtime. I need to strengthen all of my muscles if I am going to make it through in one piece.
c. Stretching!! I have not been stretching at all and that is not good. I know I will not be able to make it to Yoga with this schedule, but I can at least stretch at home each day. I've added some good stretching and weight training sites here, so I intend to use them!
d. New running shoes. It is time. I've had these since April and trained and raced for 4 triathlons and 1/2 way through this marathon program. I am headed to Fleet Feet today and am so excited.
So that's it. If I stick to this, hopefully that will help. If not, I may need to drop down to one of the lower training programs. We'll see. I do know that I am learning a lot and with each marathon I do, my body will be in better condition. I really want to just enjoy this journey and keep in mind how awesome it is that I am even doing this in the first place. :)
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Pain in the Middle
Rick and I have ventured into week 10 (just past the mid-way point) of our marathon training and are running into unchartered territory. So far, our longest run has been about 18 miles 2 weeks ago, and last week it went down to 12. This was an interesting couple of weeks.
Both of us had a fantastic 18 miler. Rick ran by himself so that he could keep his goal pace (which he did) and I ran with Chuk and Adam: half on the new Greenway, and half on the Yellow trail. It was a nice slow run (about 9:30-10:00 pace) and I felt pretty strong the whole way. The last mile is when my knees started hurting, but I was amazed it didn't happen sooner. If it wasn't for that, I know I could have gone longer.
The 12 miler the following week seemed harder, strangely. It was a little warmer, I ran by myself, and it was a hillier route through Germantown. I didn't have any pain, though. In the next day or so, my hips really started bothering me...mainly after running and throughout the day.
My weekend pace runs have been good, especially when someone is there pacing me. Last week I ran half of it with the team and the other half with Rick and Raul. Having Rick pace me is a little hard because he always goes a bit faster than my goal, but I'm glad for it afterward. On marathon day, I am going to try to stay with the 9:15 pace group that Jennie Vee is leading.
Gradually, my hip pain got worse, so I made the decision to take 3 days off this week in the hopes that I can do my long runs this weekend. So here I sit with ice packs stuffed in my sweats and a bottle of Alieve. I did dust off my road bike yesterday and got out for a fantastic 32 mile ride. It was a beautiful day and I forgot that I actually enjoy the bike. I did't try to kill it, but averaged about 16.9-17 which I was pretty happy with at this point. It is much better than where I was last year at this time, so that is encouraging! I actually felt excited thinking about tri season. I may go for a swim today, or maybe another ride. It sure is nice not to be so structured during the off season.
Next week's plan...
Sat: 19 miles
Sun: 9 mile pace
Mon: Cross
Tue: 5 mile recovery
Wed:10 miles
Thurs:5 miles or cross
Fri: off
Sat:20 miles
Sun:10 miles
Both of us had a fantastic 18 miler. Rick ran by himself so that he could keep his goal pace (which he did) and I ran with Chuk and Adam: half on the new Greenway, and half on the Yellow trail. It was a nice slow run (about 9:30-10:00 pace) and I felt pretty strong the whole way. The last mile is when my knees started hurting, but I was amazed it didn't happen sooner. If it wasn't for that, I know I could have gone longer.
The 12 miler the following week seemed harder, strangely. It was a little warmer, I ran by myself, and it was a hillier route through Germantown. I didn't have any pain, though. In the next day or so, my hips really started bothering me...mainly after running and throughout the day.
My weekend pace runs have been good, especially when someone is there pacing me. Last week I ran half of it with the team and the other half with Rick and Raul. Having Rick pace me is a little hard because he always goes a bit faster than my goal, but I'm glad for it afterward. On marathon day, I am going to try to stay with the 9:15 pace group that Jennie Vee is leading.
Gradually, my hip pain got worse, so I made the decision to take 3 days off this week in the hopes that I can do my long runs this weekend. So here I sit with ice packs stuffed in my sweats and a bottle of Alieve. I did dust off my road bike yesterday and got out for a fantastic 32 mile ride. It was a beautiful day and I forgot that I actually enjoy the bike. I did't try to kill it, but averaged about 16.9-17 which I was pretty happy with at this point. It is much better than where I was last year at this time, so that is encouraging! I actually felt excited thinking about tri season. I may go for a swim today, or maybe another ride. It sure is nice not to be so structured during the off season.
Next week's plan...
Sat: 19 miles
Sun: 9 mile pace
Mon: Cross
Tue: 5 mile recovery
Wed:10 miles
Thurs:5 miles or cross
Fri: off
Sat:20 miles
Sun:10 miles
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Nutrition
Ok, it's time for me to get serious about my calorie, carb, protein intake as the mileage revs up. Anyone have any good marathon training nutrition plans??
Sweet Sixteen
This weekend marks a significant jump in my mileage. Sixteen miles this morning. After talking to some friends, I decided that the best way for me to make the whole 26.2 was to use the run-walk method. So, today I did the 16 as run for 10 minutes and walk for 1 minute. I really felt good for the first 10 miles as the walking helped to break up the time. The first 8 miles seemed to go by extremely fast. It wasn't until mile 13 that I began feeling fatigued, but I was definitely able to keep up the running while always looking forward to that minute. The route that Rick mapped out had some surprise hills toward the end and they almost did me in, but was able to finish without too much of a problem. With the minutes of walking, the whole run was at a 10:18, which isn't too bad for me. I had originally wanted to stay at a 9:30 pace or so, but am not sure that is going to be possible. I am determined not to worry about time. I can really say that I enjoyed this long run more than I have enjoyed any of the others, so that in itself is a success.
Now it's time to relax at the Redneck Riviera with some cool folks.
Here's my plan for this week:
Sunday: 8 miles at marathon pace. Will try for 9:30.
Monday: swim drills and core
Tuesday: 4 mile recovery run
Wednesday: 8 mile tempo run
Thursday: Easy bike or 4 mile run
Friday: Off!
Saturday: 17 miles
Now it's time to relax at the Redneck Riviera with some cool folks.
Here's my plan for this week:
Sunday: 8 miles at marathon pace. Will try for 9:30.
Monday: swim drills and core
Tuesday: 4 mile recovery run
Wednesday: 8 mile tempo run
Thursday: Easy bike or 4 mile run
Friday: Off!
Saturday: 17 miles
Monday, September 13, 2010
A Little Water Heals Everything!
I had a pretty crummy day at work today...just in sort of a bad mood all day. Thank goodness I had swimming on my agenda for crosstraining tonight. I always feel a little annoyed when I know I have to swim, but when I am done I feel soooo much better. It's not like running when you just have to get your shoes and ipod and start moving your feet. Swimming is a little more high maintenance, and since I was already annoyed...
However, by the time I got to the pool and saw that the outdoor lanes were still open, my mood quickly changed. The sun was still shining and I realized I haven't been out in the sun very much lately with all of this early morning running. I absolutely love swimming outdoors in the fresh air. I will be so sad when it turns colder and I am forced into that humid, noisy indoor pool area.
I did a bunch of Total Immesrion drills (which are getting easier, by the way) and then just did a few hundred meters of pure swimming. Overall swim time was about 50 minutes.
I quickly found out that my swimming fitness has definitely decreased. Since Musselman in July, I have mainly been doing TI drills to rebuild my stroke. It has helped my stroke for sure, but my aerobic fitness has suffered. I used to be able to swim a good 800 m or so without really stopping, but now I find myself huffing and puffing after just 50-100. I guess I will have to add one more swim day to my schedule for just some good ole' aerobic swimming in addition to my day of drills. The problem is, I am getting fatigued with this jump in marathon miles. Since Tuesday's a.m. run is just a 4-mile recovery, I should try to swim Tuesday after school. Ok, that's my plan! Back at the pool tomorrow for some more water therapy!
The absulute best part about afternoon swimming outdoors in the cooler temps...sitting in the outdoor hot tub afterwards. Beautiful!!
However, by the time I got to the pool and saw that the outdoor lanes were still open, my mood quickly changed. The sun was still shining and I realized I haven't been out in the sun very much lately with all of this early morning running. I absolutely love swimming outdoors in the fresh air. I will be so sad when it turns colder and I am forced into that humid, noisy indoor pool area.
I did a bunch of Total Immesrion drills (which are getting easier, by the way) and then just did a few hundred meters of pure swimming. Overall swim time was about 50 minutes.
I quickly found out that my swimming fitness has definitely decreased. Since Musselman in July, I have mainly been doing TI drills to rebuild my stroke. It has helped my stroke for sure, but my aerobic fitness has suffered. I used to be able to swim a good 800 m or so without really stopping, but now I find myself huffing and puffing after just 50-100. I guess I will have to add one more swim day to my schedule for just some good ole' aerobic swimming in addition to my day of drills. The problem is, I am getting fatigued with this jump in marathon miles. Since Tuesday's a.m. run is just a 4-mile recovery, I should try to swim Tuesday after school. Ok, that's my plan! Back at the pool tomorrow for some more water therapy!
The absulute best part about afternoon swimming outdoors in the cooler temps...sitting in the outdoor hot tub afterwards. Beautiful!!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Training for My First Full Marathon
My husband, Rick, and I have just completed week 6 of our full marathon training. We are following Hal Higdon's Intermediate II plan. I was originally going to do his Novice Plan, like I did for my first half-marathon, but my husband thought we were beyond that already and would get much better training with this one. So far, I think he's right. However I am a little worried as last week's long run had me venturing into unchartered territory...14 miles. Prior to this, 13.1 was the longest I had run. Boy, did I feel it! By the end, my knees were aching so bad. All my shorter runs in the days following felt like crap! My legs felt like they weighed 100 lbs each, my knees hurt, and I just felt slow and sluggish. Rick says that it's part of the plan...breaking us down so we can come back the next week and build up. Well, I wasn't buying a word of that. I felt defeated and wondered what the hell I was doing...thinking I could run a full marathon!
Well, as much as it pains me to say this twice in one post, I think Rick was right again. This weekend's long run went back down to 10 miles (I never understood that up and down long run thing) and it went sooo much better. Yeah, great, I thought...but next week is 15!! Today (the day after the 10) I had to do 7 at marathon pace which I think is around 9:30-10:00 per mile, but not really sure since I haven't done one yet. We ended up joining a 10K race and doing an extra mile. I was very worried because of how I had felt the week before. Plus, I drank a whole bottle of wine by myself last night. Not the best idea, but I teach school, so wine on the weekends is a must! :) Anyway, I had a fantastic run...I mean awesome. I felt so strong. My time wasn't great...avgd a 9:20 pace, but that is because I started way in the back and for the first 2 miles I was stuck behind slower runners and walkers. I had to weave in and out until it finally opened up around 2/12-3 miles. Then I really kicked it in gear. So, anyway, I guess this is my "building back up" week, or something like that.
The rest of my week will go as follows:
Monday: Crosstrain (after school). I HAVE to swim! I skipped my swim last week and I need to keep it up or I will be in BIG trouble when tri season starts for me again in Jan/Feb.
Tuesday: 4 mile recovery run (5:00 a.m.) and strength training
Wednesday: 8 mile fartlek (my Lord, I will have to get up at 4 a.m. to fit this one in. I can't run after school...too hot and too tired.Yikes!!!)
Thursday: Crosstrain: (Ride the trainer at 5 a.m.) or Day Off
Friday: Day off, OR Cooper Young 4-miler. If I do this race, I will forgo Thursday's trainer ride.
Saturday: 16 mile Long Run
Sunday: 7 mile pace run
(I may switch Sat & Sunday...not sure yet.)
Have a great week!
Well, as much as it pains me to say this twice in one post, I think Rick was right again. This weekend's long run went back down to 10 miles (I never understood that up and down long run thing) and it went sooo much better. Yeah, great, I thought...but next week is 15!! Today (the day after the 10) I had to do 7 at marathon pace which I think is around 9:30-10:00 per mile, but not really sure since I haven't done one yet. We ended up joining a 10K race and doing an extra mile. I was very worried because of how I had felt the week before. Plus, I drank a whole bottle of wine by myself last night. Not the best idea, but I teach school, so wine on the weekends is a must! :) Anyway, I had a fantastic run...I mean awesome. I felt so strong. My time wasn't great...avgd a 9:20 pace, but that is because I started way in the back and for the first 2 miles I was stuck behind slower runners and walkers. I had to weave in and out until it finally opened up around 2/12-3 miles. Then I really kicked it in gear. So, anyway, I guess this is my "building back up" week, or something like that.
The rest of my week will go as follows:
Monday: Crosstrain (after school). I HAVE to swim! I skipped my swim last week and I need to keep it up or I will be in BIG trouble when tri season starts for me again in Jan/Feb.
Tuesday: 4 mile recovery run (5:00 a.m.) and strength training
Wednesday: 8 mile fartlek (my Lord, I will have to get up at 4 a.m. to fit this one in. I can't run after school...too hot and too tired.Yikes!!!)
Thursday: Crosstrain: (Ride the trainer at 5 a.m.) or Day Off
Friday: Day off, OR Cooper Young 4-miler. If I do this race, I will forgo Thursday's trainer ride.
Saturday: 16 mile Long Run
Sunday: 7 mile pace run
(I may switch Sat & Sunday...not sure yet.)
Have a great week!
Welcome!
Welcome, all, to my very first blog! This is a blog about my experiences as a middle-aged, middle distance, and middle of the pack triathlete.
If you are a veteran triathlete, or a triathlete who usually brings home the "hardware" from your races, you will probably find this a bit amusing. I am fairly new to the life of multisport, but am completely hooked and in it for the long haul. My goals may seem small, but for me they are huge!
If you are a novice, you may find my story a bit inspiring. I kind of fell into this new lifestyle completely on a whim as an overweight woman in my late 30's lacking direction, goals, and personal fulfullment. Within six months, I became a triathlete with my eye on an Ironman somewhere in my future.
If you are like me, not a veteran and not quite a novice anymore, then I hope you join me in the middle. It is kind of a neat place to be. There are plenty of athletes ahead of us to drive and inspire us, and plenty following us and working toward what we have already accomplished. I think both are important for the kind of growth that we need as triathletes!
If you are a veteran triathlete, or a triathlete who usually brings home the "hardware" from your races, you will probably find this a bit amusing. I am fairly new to the life of multisport, but am completely hooked and in it for the long haul. My goals may seem small, but for me they are huge!
If you are a novice, you may find my story a bit inspiring. I kind of fell into this new lifestyle completely on a whim as an overweight woman in my late 30's lacking direction, goals, and personal fulfullment. Within six months, I became a triathlete with my eye on an Ironman somewhere in my future.
If you are like me, not a veteran and not quite a novice anymore, then I hope you join me in the middle. It is kind of a neat place to be. There are plenty of athletes ahead of us to drive and inspire us, and plenty following us and working toward what we have already accomplished. I think both are important for the kind of growth that we need as triathletes!
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