But that said, I'm almost there. In 19 days, I will be an Ironman. *Note that confidence - this is not "I'm going to try to be an Ironman." or "I might die." I know now - I've got this.
Last week's trainings were a little sketchy because I was travelling for work, but I was ok with that considering the crazy weekend I'd had (90 miles bike, 20 miles run, Alcatraz swim). This weekend was pretty great too.
On Saturday, Jason and I did the Bass Lake Olympic Distance Tri. I was very happy with how I did - no PR or anything on this super hilly course, but I placed in my age division for the first time ever in a triathlon (2nd place, missing 1st by just 4 seconds!) and just overall felt really good. I also tried out my race day wardrobe (tight run shorts - aka booty shorts - under the wetsuit for the swim, pulling on cycling shorts over booty shorts for the bike only and then off again for the run to save time in transition- winning!) and nutrition (margarita shot blocks, gu, and then pop tarts will be my secret weapon). Overall, a good dress rehearsal.
 |
| My mom came to spectate and was pleasantly surprised to see that I seemed so happy and not in pain at the end. Not true of some of the events she has seen me at before : ) |
 |
| I'm smiling bigger than him because I beat him. |
The swim felt like it was too long (and it was only 2 minutes faster than my Wildflower swim which should have been .3 miles longer .. hmm..) but I felt strong regardless, especially at the end of the swim.
My goal on the bike was to keep it in a low gear on the hills and just spin up - no getting up out of the saddle and trashing the legs for the run. I really focused on thinking about a lot of the tips my friends have been giving me for bike form and technique too and worked on staying in the aeros as much as possible. The run is my strength, so I need to save myself for that. And it worked! Aside from a quick pause to give poor Jason my extra tube as he sat stranded on the side of the road with a flat and a busted replacement tube, my bike was good. Oh, and that of course meant that I beat him. (Which he quickly said didn't count and accused me of sabatoging him since I had been nice enough to pump his tires before we started - nice guy ; )
Then came the run. I. Rocked. It. 45 minutes flat for the 10K. That's only 3 minutes off my 10K PR and here's the clencher - I was not necessarily trying to run fast. I knew I had a long day of running the next day, so I told myself to just let the pace come to me. It felt great - even on a somewhat hilly course.
We celebrated with Forks Burgers and then drove home to Fresno so I could make a quick shower/pack transition and get down to San Diego ... except for one little glitch. On the way home, Jason's new tri bike flew off the freaking rack on the top of his car. Crazy. The carbon fork had snapped. This is the second time in the 6 months he's had it that something bad has happened to that bike. It's cursed. I swear. Poor Jason. I felt really bad for him. Good news is, the repair will only be like $400, but still, no bueno.
So, onto my quick shower/pack and then headed on down to San Diego with my fellow Team in Training coaches, Mark and Katie, who had both rocked the Shadow of the Giants 50K that day while I was doing the tri up in Bass Lake. We made it to SD a little after 10 and were up at 3:30am to get out to the San Diego Marathon.
This was my first event coaching for Team and I had a BLAST. Mark and I ran back and forth on the freeway portion of the course (Miles 6-11) for the first three or four hours and then cut up to Fiesta Island where the runners finish their final three mile loop. We got to run with almost every single one of the runners we coached, including running most of them in for that final 3 mile loop to their first marathon finish. I was so proud of each and every one of them and it was amazing to share that special experience with them. Even cooler, when I looked down at my watch after running in our last runner, I had exactly 26 miles logged. So, of course I left my Garmin on until we got to the Team in Training tent and it said 26.2, and then asked them for my medal. Lol. I accepted a sandwich and a soda instead.
That long day of running was also good training for me -- I really feel like the Energizer Bunny right now. I'm confident that I can swim/bike/run forever right now - as long as you let me do it at a slow pace : ) In 19 days, I'll get to prove it!
This week is my last week of double days. Yesterday, I slept in because I didn't get home until midnight after a long drive, so I just swam 3000m in an hour at the gym after work, but skipped the bike because it was really windy anyways. Today I've got a short bike/long run brick in the evening. Tomorrow is an open water swim in the am and a bike ride in the pm. Friday might be a good day to revive Friday night lake swim/potluck. And then this weekend has another short bike/long run brick on Saturday followed by the highlight of my training season - our ride to Superior Dairy in Hanford for ice cream on Sunday! Woo hoo!
And then it's really time to shut it down and rest up... We're almost there...
No comments:
Post a Comment