Changed Woman

WEEKLY WORKOUTS
SWIMMING 2:45 (3 days)
BIKING 2:45 (3 days)
RUNNING 3:30 (2 days with 2 bricks)
WEIGHTS :45 (1 day)

Before this whole triathlon thing got started, I was LAZY, LAZY, LAZY! Seriously, I would workout maybe 4 days a week for 3 weeks and then take at least 2 or 3 months off. I was an athlete growing up, but for some reason the thought of working out just never seemed like it was in the cards for me. When I started doing tris about 4 years ago, it was to achieve a personal goal and maybe get in shape. I also decided if I was going to do something like this, I might as well do it to raise money for a great cause, which was The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Funny enough over the years the getting in shape/losing weight part has kind of gone out the window. I train because I have a race, not to be healthy. Maybe that's the wrong attitude to take because if I'm not training I go back to Lazy McLazy. In the past, even during race season, I haven't always stuck to the workouts. If I missed a couple it never really bothered me. Well I am a completely different person now. I still don't necessarily care about the fitness part, but since I've started Ironman training I get those workouts in. This week I became completely proud of myself. Tuesday night I finished work later then I anticipated. On my way home I called my sister-in-law and she told me they made chicken and steak for dinner. I am not one to turn down steak. There was a problem though. It was already 715, I was still in the car and I had a 30 minute bike to do with a 20 minute run. Oh and I also had to fix something on my bike, so it was basically going to be 9 by the time I made it to their house. UGH! What does one do? The old me would've probably just gone straight for the steak. The new me decided to just do the trainer ride and maybe a 10 minute run, if that. Well while I was on the trainer I thought about it and said, "Self, are you going to just walk away in the middle of a race because you have somewhere better to be?" The answer is absolutely not, so I got on that trainer, did a 30 minute ride and a 20 minute run. Oh and I still got steak. I really like this athlete I've become.

This week I had a 1x3000 swim. Man was that a long swim and I still have another 1000 to reach race distance. It took me a little less then an hour, but I still did another 25 minutes of swimming. I felt more sluggish then I had in previous swims, but I still had a pretty good workout. I also have been really getting into one arm swim drills. It's amazing how much stronger my right side is then my left. I really need to work on the strength on my left side, especially since now I'm trying to breathe on both sides.

Luckily I didn't have any long bike rides this week. I'm not sure if Andrew was being Mr. Nice guy or he really was just trying to take it easy on my legs for the 1/2 marathon. Either way, I appreciated it. I actually took my bike into the shop to get a compact crank on it. I'm hoping this gives me some room to be able to climb hills. I have such an issue with hills, but I'm willing to do anything to help me...just short of performance enhancement drugs of course. Talking to friends who are also training for an Ironman this season has kind of helped put things into perspective for me. One girl I know is a very strong biker and she said she's struggling to keep a 15mph, which is super slow for her. That's good to know because I'm struggling to keep a 13mph pace. Another girl got the same bike as me and came from a road bike with 3 gears in the front and she said that she can't climb hills either. Not that I'm happy for other people's misery, but it's comforting knowing I'm not the only one who feels this. We're doing a lot of training on our legs and it's only natural that at some point we'll struggle. I just wish that it wasn't every weekend.

I had my 1st 1/2 marathon in 1.5 years today (not including the one attached to the Augusta 1/2 Ironman). I actually had a pretty decent race. I heard this was a really hard course and super hilly. It definitely wasn't an easy course, but I expected it to be harder. Luckily most of the hills weren't super steep. I had a pretty good race (2:04:48). I was hoping to be under 2 hours, but I'm definitely ok with what I did. I kept a fairly consistent pace each mile. I fatigued with a mile to go, but still kept a decent pace. I was so happy to see some familiar faces out there. Erika brought Zack (one of my kids). The poor kid hates loud noises. As I ran up to them he was hysterically crying. It absolutely broke my heart. I stopped for a couple of minutes to hold him and try to calm him down. Unfortunately it didn't work. It was still awesome seeing them. I also got to see Team Destin out there. All in all it was a good day and the mileage will only increase from here, but I'm ready for it.