I can count to 100...

... Which is a good thing.  Considering that's how many laps were in my main set this morning for my long swim.  That was preceeded by a 200m warmup and a 4x50 cooldown for a grand total of 2900m in just under an hour.  I surprised myself with my endurance.  100 laps continuous .. as in no breaks.. as in quick breaths every three strokes ... that's not easy.  But it was good reassurance that my training is coming along just fine. 

In other news, lots has been happening even though I haven't posted since Friday.  I've started tracking my workouts on dailymile.com which is easier than making a blog post about every workout and it tracks with this cool little widget over there -------->

It also gives me cool data like how many donuts I've earned since I started training for Ironman (173), how many televisions I've powered (5,900) and what percentage of the globe I've travelled in my mileage (2%).  Pretty cool.  I think I can make friends on dailymile.com too - like a facebook for workout addicts but I haven't totally explored it yet.

Anyways, many of those donuts were earned and tv's were powered this past weekend : ) I ran the Sanger Blossom Trail 10K on Saturday morning.  I completely surprised myself by PR'ing by almost a minute - 42:11 - I was second overall female, 1st in my age group and got to run most of the race with my friend, Katie, who also PR'd big time. 

Then we got to cheer/run in the rest of our Team in Training participants - many of whom were completing their first 10K.  It was so exciting to see their determination and accomplishments!

Of course, racing a short race on Saturday meant I had to get both my long bike and long run in on Sunday ... which made for quite the unexpected brick.  My schedule called for a 15 mile run and 90 minute bike ride .. but I'm an overachiever, and a bit of a massochist.  I started at 6am and ran 17 miles at an 8:05 pace with Mark, Steve and Katie.  It was a great run - perfect pace, good conversation and beautiful weather.  I made it back to the Starbucks parking lot at 8:30, raced back to my house, did a quick transition to the bike and rode back to Starbucks by 9.  We rode to Sheri's ... and then to Humphrey's... and then somehow Kurtze convinced me and Kelly that it wouldn't be that much further to just go to Prather with the rest of the group.  So we did.  When it was all said and done, the bike ride was almost 4 and a half hours and 64 miles long.  I thought I was going to fall off my bike.  Kurtze literally pushed me up the last two hills home.  I got home at like 1:30, raced to Chipotle and devoured a carnitas burrito in a PR of 4 minutes flat. 

I know it sounds crazy, and probably isn't a great idea to go so far beyond what my schedule calls for, especially in a dramatic brick fashion ... but those are the kind of days that made me want to train for an Ironman - because really it just mean I was hanging out with my friends, playing outside all day.  Like being a kid again ... except with more expensive toys.  And still with chocolate milk : )

And I got one step closer to earning the awesome headband that my friend Katie made for me:

Of course, Monday came and I was so freaking exhausted that I thought I was actually going to drown in the 3.5 foot deep gym pool during an easy 45 minute swim.  But that's the challenge of being an Ironman in training, right?  I decided to skip the bike and run that were also on my schedule for Monday on account of the extra credit Sunday and almost drowning Monday morning.  I feel like I'm finally getting into the groove of Ironman training, remembering the 'schedule' is a 'guideline' and to listen to my body and trust that I will be ready when I get to Idaho.

Oh, and then I came yesterday to the best reminder ever to just never give up .. cuz you might get some bling no matter how unlikely it seems...

That's right - 3rd place in my age division at the 50K 56K from hell a few weeks ago.  I'm fairly certain there could have been no more than 3 women in my age group.  Jason was probably right when he commented that they probably had to mail it to me since they'd already done awards before I finished : )  But who cares.  I'm turning this bad boy into a key chain or something to remind me to be tough!  Ironman here I come!