Month-Long Iron Man DONE!

I finished last night with a 6.2 mile bike ride and a .58 mile (or 20 lap) swim.  Woo hoo!  Grand total 26.2 miles running, 112 miles biking, and 2.4 miles swimming in 29 days.  Now I am anxiously awaiting my commemorative t-shirt.  Pics to follow as soon as I get it.

Things I learned from this challenge:

Creeper Trail 10k

Ran my first trail race today is Abingdon, VA.  Good choice for my first trail run, the trail itself wasn't bad with rocks and tree stumps, etc., but it was different on my feet, ankles, and legs to run that distance unpaved.  The first three miles went gradually downhill, which meant, YEAH!!, second half was all gradual uphill.  Was happy I kept pretty close to my regular 10k pace for more than half the race, and didn't slow down the pace much after that.  I ended up 10th overall in the females.  I'm having trouble getting my eating down for longer races, run out of fuel by about mile 4 to 5, but the cliff blocks helped today.  Just need to start eating them BEFORE I start running out of energy next time and maybe my times will improve.
Another first for the day, my first race in a thunderstorm.  Right before 5 miles it started storming and pouring the rain.  That I can do without.  I will definately trail run again, but hopefully I won't run in the lightning again.
Serious props to my husband.  I didn't want to do my first trail run alone, wasn't sure what the trail would be like and didn't want to end up creeping the creeper trail after everyone else had go home.  He stayed with me instead of racing for himself.  Love him.
Virginia is now the fifth state we have raced in since last May.

Month Long Iron Man Update - Almost Done

I finished the 26.2 miles of running last night.  I am 78% done with the swimming & should finish it Sunday. (Side note - ear plugs made a huge difference - definitely worth it.). I am 73% done with the biking.  As long as the weather stays nice, if I do 6 miles a day I will finish on Monday.

It's been a lot harder than I expected to do all this in one month, especially the biking. I've really enjoyed swimming again & plan to keep swimming until the pool closes for Fall.  I'm not a very strong swimmer, but it's still a very refreshing workout.  

Velo4Yellow 2013

The Velo4Yellow 34 mile race that I completed on Saturday was my first big ride after my back injury last month.  I was very nervous as to whether I would be able to do it without hurting the entire time.  I was also nervous because my riding partner was told by her doctor that she couldn't do the ride, so I was going solo, not knowing anyone else that was participating.  The course was very challenging, quite a few hills, but my trainer has done great getting my legs strong for the hills!  My back did hurt on and off, but was never in a constant spasm like last month.  Around mile 20 I was a little nervous that it was going to start hurting worse, but the rest stop at mile 22 really helped.  And I feel I did very good with my hydration and fueling, as I was able to finish very strong.  I feel I could have ridden a little more, but I don't think my back is quite ready for another 64 attempt.  I wish I could find a 50 mile ride.  I will keep looking.

 I really appreciate all the prayers and thoughts...I could feel them on the ride!

Pew to Half Training, Week 4

This week's run was 6 miles, which was a mental hill for me as I'd done 5 miles several times but never gone any farther. We met again at the same park, but this time decided not to run together since we all run at different paces.  It was nice knowing we'd see each other along the way, since we were running out & back, without worrying about keeping up or feeling bad about holding people back. 

I'm definitely going to have to start carrying water with me. That's just too far to run in this heat, even when I've been hydrating.  And though it may feel like it at 90% humidity, you cannot actually drink the air.  I do have a runners belt that holds a water bottle.  I'm going to start using it even on my short weeknight runs just to gets used to it. 

The most important thing I got out of this long run was that I did it! 6 miles, average pace of 13:27 min/mile.  I'm very happy with that. 

East Side Bike Ride

Several of us at work decided to start a regular bike-riding group.  We are calling it the East Side Bike Ride, since we start on the east side, but we will vary our routes each time to explore the wonderful trails & greenways in Indianapolis.

Anyone in the area is welcome to join us - we ride on the 1st & 3rd Wednesdays of each month, weather permitting.  We leave at 6:15 pm from behind the John H. Boner Community Center.  Follow us on Twitter @UglyPaxtonSIs to be updated if weather cancels our plans.

Month-Long Iron Man Update

Just a quick update - I'm 52% done with my running and 52% done with swimming, so both of those are about where they should be for slightly over halfway through the month.  I'm only 25% done with the biking, but I do have the East Side Bike Ride tonight after work, so that should help.

I did rediscover the fact that I'm prone to swimmer's ear.  It had been so long since I'd swum that I'd completely forgotten.  So this weekend I'm going to get some ear plugs & maybe a swim cap, before I hit the pool again next week.

Next up, first trail run, Abingdon Creeper Trail Service Above Self 10K in Abingdon, VA  Saturday, July 27 at 8:30am

Crazy8 8K

Ran the Crazy8 8K in Kingsport, TN, which is known as the world's fastest 8k last night.  The world record for both men and women in an 8k is held here and people come from all over to try to break the record.  Boy was this one fast paced race.  It started at 9:58pm and was run along main roads and side roads lit by luminaries, and people lined the roads for all 5 miles cheering everyone on.  The support from the crowds was so inspiring and pushed me to my second fastet average pace per mile in my life.  I was surprised when I found out I came in 10th in my age group out of 167 women, and was in the top 25% of the 2773 people who ran the race.  Also super proud of my husband who of course beat me by about 4 minutes and was 20th in his age group.  If possible, we will do this race again.  It was different and so much fun, and was very well organized.

Month-Long Iron man, 1/3 Done

Okay, I'm not really 1/3 done, although I should be since the month of July is 1/3 done.  Kevin & I are doing this month-long Iron man through our local parks department.  We have the month of July to log 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and 26.2 miles of running.  I am at 28% on swimming, 15% on biking, and 21% on running, so I need to step it up a bit.  I can't even use the fact that last week was a holiday week as an excuse, because that should've given me more time to get some activity in.

Uncertainty

I am still trying to decide when my next bike race will be.  I meet with a personal trainer weekly.  This week we are doing an assessment since we have had 12 sessions together.  Maybe after this evaluation, I'll know more about her opinion on when I should try again.  There is another metric century on July 20, but I'm afraid that might be too soon.  I feel like my back is about 90% back to what it was before the June attempt at the 62 miles.  I wonder if I might need to do a 31 miler before trying the bigger one again.  I hate not knowing what I should do!!!

Patriot Challenge

You can't tell it in this picture of me approaching the finish line, but I am having fun.  The Patriot Challenge was a 3 mile obstacle
course at Lucas Oil Raceway.  Billed as a family-friendly course with obstacles that are challenging but still doable for anyone 10 and above.  I do not see how any 10 year-old kids could have done a few of those climbing obstacles, however, without some help.  Especially since even I was not able to pull myself up a couple of them where I had to use only my arms.

Duathalon, kind of

Yesterday I biked 4.25 miles into town to see the 4th of July parade, then biked back home for a total of 8.5 miles. After lunch & a nap I decided to go for a run too.

Just as I headed out it started raining, but since there was no thunder I kept going. I may have to run some events in the rain so it could be good training. I ran 2.4 miles and was able to keep my 12 min/mile pace. 

I'm still feeling tempted by a women-only sprint triathlon in August, but it would be just 3 weeks before my first Half. Not sure I should mix up my training like that or chance getting hurt.

Pew to Half Training, Week 1

On Saturday, I met up with some other runners from my church to train for a half marathon on Sept. 14.  Some of them have run a half before, but it will be my first.  This week was just a 3 mile run, and each week we will add a mile.  The other runners all do about a 10 minute mile, though, while I normally run a 12 minute mile.  I was really pushing to keep up with them, and later just to keep them in sight.  I did okay, but I learned a couple of lessons: