Getting Excited

Hello Folks,

My plan is to keep this short as I am kinda tired and not really in the mood to blog, but I’ve had a lot of big workouts I want to talk about so here we go!

Swim- Last night I did my longest swim ever. 21 lengths of the swim area at Keystone which works out to 2.02 miles. I did it in just under an hour and just going at a very leisurely pace so that gives me a boost of confidence for IMNY. I wasn’t going to set a swim goal, but now I think I would like to try and be in under 1:15. Lets see how that works out. The swim felt good, wetsuit fits perfectly, I was a happy girl

Bike- I just got done about 2 hours ago with my longest ride yet. 5 hours. ON.THE.TRAINER!!! Matt convinced me to do this and while I would have rather been outside, it didn’t suck. Its a great feeling to know that I can ride 5 hours straight (minus 3 pee breaks) and still feel good. I know that riding outside is A LOT different, but on the trainer there is no coasting or down hill, it’s constant work. I did do a few charges, just to try and be true to life and I kept it in a fairly challenging gear the whole time. I also feel that I am nailing my hydration and nutrition plan, so that is a huge plus.

Before- set up in Matts living room. Yes he has cheetah carpet. It’s a long story, lets not talk about it

During- I think this was about 2.5 hours in. We were both sweating bullets but otherwise doing well.

After! Refueling and happy to be done.

We both agreed that it didn’t suck as much as we were prepared for. Boredom did set it, but I think doing ANYTHING for 5 hours, would eventually get old.  Again, I don’ plan on doing that long of a workout inside again but it was nice to not have to worry about routes and traffic and wind and stuff. All in all, a successful training day.

Run- On Monday, I accomplished the longest run of my life (notice a theme? It was a big training week). Here’s what I did:

I was proud of myself for doing 15 miles, I just wish I was faster. Everything felt fine and again, nutrition and hydration seemed on point. I made sure to stretch really well after, but for some reason about an hour after I was done, I got a twinge in my right hip. I kept stretching it and foam rolling it, but it wasn’t helping. The pain wasn’t unbearable, but something was off. Tuesday (my rest day) was the same deal, but by the end of the day, it seemed a lot better. Yesterday I went to the chiropractor and got some stim stuff on it and it has been fine every since. No problems at all, so that makes me happy. Even now after the ride, my soft tissue is a little sore, but legs feel fine. Yay for that.

So to wrap up the training week I have a stair run in the am, strength in the afternoon and they relaying Yellow Creek on Saturday. I am doing all three sports, just for thee different teams. It’s a small, local race and it’s a lot of fun so I’m excited to do it with some members of the team that I normally don’t get to race with. It’s kind of like a mini sprint I guess, the swim is like 1000 yards, I think? the bike is 9 miles but 2 of them is this HUGE hill, so Texas Ranger will be called off the bench for this one and the run is 3 miles. I’ve done the swim and bike before, this will be the first year for the run. Last year the two teams I was in placed 1st and 2nd, hopefully that will happen again this year! A fun way to get a brick in. If we have time (I am on call this weekend and my dad is covering me for the race) I will do the bike and run again so that it is closer to what my actual BRICK should be. We’ll see.

After doing all this this week, I was convinced I’d be burned out, but I’m not. I’m excited. It’s all starting to come together. I am doing the workouts that I’ve read about and feared for about a year now, and I’m doing them well. I still don’t feel ready, but I’m not sure if you ever feel totally ready. I just feel confident that I have the tools now to build what I need to get this done and to not hate every moment of it. God I hope I do well.

On a parting note, yesterday was a very special day. Guinness turned 5!!! I love him so much. Enjoy some photos of his sweet sweet face.

Enjoying his frosty paws birthday treat (ok, that was from last year, but it looked the same this year)

Happy Birthday, Guinny Bear!!! You are my best friend and I can’t imagine life without you. I am dog obsessed.

 

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