Catching Up (AGAIN)

Let the blogging begin….
I haven’t updated in several weeks, so here’s what been going on….

I ran the Aramco Houston ½ Marathon 2 weeks ago. The weather sucked, but it could have been much worse. We were expecting major thunderstorms, but only managed to get drizzle. And, the temps were close to 70 degrees, which I hated. But, the end result was a 3+ minute PR….and a huge blister on the arch of my right foot. I’ll see if I can come up with an actual race report at some point.

I decided to commit…I am doing the Lone Star Half Ironman race in April. Yeah, that’s 8 weeks away and I need to make up for lost time – especially in the pool. I have been so focused on the ½ marathon, that I had been in the pool only one time in January. Bad! I took most of the week after the ½ off, because my quads were killing me (especially the left one). But, I did get in 8.5 on Friday after the race. Also, my friends and I did a 35 mile ride last weekend and my legs felt horrible afterwards…I was sure there was no way I could do 56 miles and then run a ½ marathon. But, I went home and ate and viola…I felt fine. Funny how important nutrition can be….Doh! Lesson learned.

So that brings we to this week…I got back into my tri-training routine. Swam 2x last week, rode on the trainer 2x and ran 2x. And, I did my 1st 40 miler on my road bike on Sunday! It was 42 miles to be exact. This is my longest ride so far on my road bike, so it was a major milestone for me.

I rode with a group that some of my tri friends are training with. The group consisted of a pretty hard core group of cyclists, many who have competed in ironman distance races. I felt a bit out of place without a tri bike and all the fancy gear. And, I’ll admit, they were much, much faster than me and my friends who have never done more than 35 miles and have only done sprint distance triathlons.

I’ve mainly been riding in some of the local neighborhoods near my house, which is flat. Pancake flat. The route on Sunday was freaking hilly! I won’t lie, I wanted to turn around so many times – at the 10 mile point I thought “Screw this, I’m doing the Oly! I’m turning around”. That same thought crossed my mind at mile 12 and 15, too. But, I kept going and by the time I made it to 17 miles, I was committed to getting to the turnaround at mile 21.

But then I had to ride back.

I think the toughest thing was just being alone for a majority of the time. On the way out, I was excited to catch up to a couple of people, including my friend Kelly. It also helped that the coaches were waiting for us at the turnaround and that gave me a burst of energy. But then I was pretty much alone again the entire way back which sucked. On the way back, it was also very windy, so that combined with the hills pretty much kicked my butt! And, an 18-wheeler went flying by one time and the wind from that freaked me the heck out!!! Seeing no one almost entire way back was hard – the negative thoughts were going through my head A LOT. But, I kept telling myself to HTFU and get back. It was quite a humbling experience. I honestly don’t know how people can ride for 60, 80 or 100 miles. I used to want to do a century ride, but now I’m positive that I don’t!

One thing I was careful about on this week's ride – nutrition. I did not want a repeat of last week– I drank my gatorade, I had some Bee Stinger Energy Chews and at the ½ way point I had a small Cliff Bar. I think that really helped me get through the ride better than the week before.

But anyway, I did it!!! And, my legs felt good afterwards...almost like I could go and run a few miles. (But I didn’t)

This morning, I ran an easy peasy 3-miler. My legs were a little tired, but not too bad. I will probably not ride the trainer this week, but will run one more time and spend some time in the pool....the hubby and I are getting ready for the Austin Half-Marathon on Sunday!!!