Is summer over?

 I feel like I blinked and summer was over. Not formally, but informally, as today is Labor Day. Tomorrow brings all the apples and pumpkin and hoodies and football (and then basketball!!). I am okay with all of those things, I just don't think I really can get over how fast time goes.

After I last wrote I ended up signing up for another Triathlon a few weeks later :) I participated in the Tri Goddess Tri, also put on by Epic Races. This is a woman's race and it was awesome. One I definitely want to do again next year. For this race I felt STRONG and I had big improvements in my performance on the bike.




After that I took a few weeks to really just keep moving and doing what I love, and then I moved into base training for the Indy Half Marathon. I am now in week 4 of 12, and really looking forward to this race. I still have lots of training to do and I am excited to see what I can do. 

I have continued to ride and started riding on the road, which was a big step for me. With the encouragement and support of a new friend, I have fallen even further in love with cycling. This past weekend Sarah completed DALMAC which is a ride from Lansing to Mackinaw to raise awareness for cycling and sharing the road. She road 400 miles in 4 days. AMAZING. And of course, it's got me thinking about it next year. 






And then I have to remind myself and ask myself, what do I want to be my focus for next year. I originally was thinking an Olympic triathlon in the early and late summer, and then plan on going into 2023 with a focus on my 70.3 goal. But a part of me thinks I want to go for 70.3 next summer. And if I do that, I should not also do DALMAC. I will need to decide that pretty soon actually to sign up for those events since they typically do fill up and sell out. What I do know is this winter I want to focus on strength. I don't know exactly what that means haha but I just have a sense that is the right plan going into whatever I do plan next summer. 

So, here we are. September is shaping up to be a truly amazing month. Shane and I seem like we actually will be able to do to London. Holy crap. If it all continues this way, in less than a week we will be landing at Heathrow. Many of you may remember our Berlin trip that was planned for May 2020 to go to Lost Evenings Festival. That all fell apart due to COVID. When the reschedule of Lost Evenings was announced back in May for September 2021 in London, I immediately knew we had to go. And then for months I battled the challenge of measured excitement but realism haha. And when the UK lifted the quarantine requirement for vaccinated US citizens on August 4, I knew it was game on. If that had not lifted, we would not be going. And so we prepare for our first ever trip abroad...and its still in the middle of a pandemic 😓. But there is no better person to embark on this journey with than Shane. So...BRING IT ON! We will of course be safe and smart. 




And when we return, I will go basically right into Relay for Life, and then Shane will leave to tour manage for Heartsick for 4 weeks. Yup, tour manage. For so long Shane has seen me achieve my goals and dreams. And now to see him doing what he loves and thriving...dang, doesn't get better. And when he returns it will practically be November and race day (November 6) with Pam. We blink, and two months are gone. Have to remember to take it all in because every single day is a once in a life time opportunity. 

I hope you are all staying healthy and safe. Love to you all. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pelofondo and Challenges

Image
After a few weeks of not writing, I have accumulated a few things to write about.  First and foremost, Pelofondo. Last Sunday was my fundraiser ride. In the month leading up to it I did a fundraiser for Relay for Life, and was overwhelmed at the support. We raised over $1,100. Yea. Crazy.  I structured the fundraiser in a way that offered "Sponsorships" for different donation amounts. Different sponsorship amounts would get you different benefits. For example, an Ironman Level ($75) sponsorship would get you baked goods of your choice, and I would lip-sync a song of your choosing via FB live. Every hour at the top of the hour (starting at 11a and finished just before 3p) I would go live and do an update of # of miles rode, sing a few songs, and talk about the people that donated. All of this was on the seven year anniversary of mom's passing and in her memory. In total I rode 62 miles in 3 hours 54 minutes.  Other fun stuff has happened since I last wrote too :) I have of...
Read more

Little update: 2 weeks until race day

Image
 I am two weeks out from my triathlon and to say I am getting excited is an understatement.  Today I had a 70 min ride and 20 min run on the schedule, and I was supposed to do it at race pace. This was my third time on my bike and it went really smooth. I was able to go faster than I have yet on the bike, getting up towards 18 mph at times. It just felt awesome to move that fast, I felt like I was flying.  After the ride I headed right out on the run and I still cannot get over how weird it feels to run after riding. Mainly that whole feeling of running through molasses. Because I found myself yet again just crushing the pace (for me) and feeling really awesome. I finished 2 miles in 17 min 25 seconds. This blows my mind. When I was running previously I would have be thrilled for a 10 minute mile. I 100% know that it is strength training and cycling that has helped my running tremendously. The turn over of the pedals when riding really feels like it helped my running, bec...
Read more

Pelofondo - Done!

Image
Well, that was something. In 3 hours and 10 minutes I rode for 51.63 miles! I literally cannot imagine riding 2.33 more miles, and then running a half marathon. I am glad I gave myself such a long window of time to complete this. I am not necessarily feeling like typing a blow by blow because well, it was not that exciting really during it. The last 30 minutes bordered on brutal but of course there was nothing that would stop me at that point. Last week and this week, I finished on the Hamilton ride, and there is a part near the end where Robyn talks about thinking of someone who inspires you, and it was just a boost I needed to get my head right for those last bits.  Outside of Pelofondo this past week brought a milestone in my weight loss. When setting my goal weight I picked literally the highest weight I could for a goal because I wanted to get there and stop paying for WW. Yup haha. Once you are lifetime it is free, as long as you maintain within a couple pounds of your goal w...
Read more