Tri-ing my best: Ironman by 40

 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 th...

I've had a draft of this post partially written since the day after the race. Its fair to say I am overthinking it. Part of me wants to capture the perfect words for my first ever triathlon. But I don't know what those are. On September 7th I took my first real steps towards this goal, and in just a touch under 9 months I did the dang thing. I go back and forth between celebrating this accomplishment and reminding myself that this is just the first step towards my ultimate goal of 70.3.  So, to get down to it. Friday afternoon Pam arrived and we pretty much immediately got in the car to head to the race site. Once we arrived we waited in line to get my packet, which was a neat backpack with all my stuff in it, and then hung around waiting for Triathlon 101.  We stayed for about 45 minutes of it and then I was feeling a bit of a time crunch and also felt like at the pace they were going through things we would be there all night, so we left and headed back to Jackson to go to t...

 I am less than 1 week out from my first triathlon. I feel mostly ready. I would like to feel more confident about the swim, so I am really thinking that I just need one more good swim at the lake, and likely I will try to get that in early tomorrow morning. If I can just swim the distance (750 yards) one time, I will feel good. I don't think I've written about this here, but my original race was cancelled. It was in Lansing, which at the time at some of the highest COVID positivity in the state, and so the restrictions that were needed made it so the race organizers felt they could not proceed. So I found another race, and this course does present some challenges that will make things a bit more interesting. 1. Swim is longer - Prev swim was 450 or 500 yards, I cannot remember which. New swim is 750 yards. 2. Hills. This course is hilly. I have really only been training on flat land for my bike ride, so that hills will be a new challenge.  When considering those two things, I...

 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...

 Since I last wrote 2 pretty big milestones have happened, and I want to capture some of the feelings around those events. My first outdoor bike ride. I don't event really know where to start with this, because once I finally got riding, IT WAS AWESOME. I loved it. LOVED IT just like I LOVE running outside. Its amazing what fresh air and actually moving (and not running/riding in place) can do for ya hahaha. I rode with Marti and Mary, and for the majority of the ride we cruised a bit, around 11.5 MPH. They were not on road bikes, so it was a lot more work for them than it was for me haha. As we approached just over a mile left I let them know I was going to see what the bike could do and I would meet them back at the lot. I started cruising and got to around 15 mph and it just felt awesome. Interesting to see that 15 mph felt like a good, sustainable, yet challenging pace, when on my Peloton that is usually around 17 mph. I wonder if this is where not being clipped in comes into p...

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...

I am feeling a bit scattered right now. I am hoping that by typing and processing I can get myself focused. Shane and I got back from Vegas today. My goal for food/fitness in Vegas was balance. To me, balance means generally one meal that pretty much ticks the boxes health wise, and one that doesn't as much. Or one component of the meal is on the better side and one isn't. I overall accomplished this...kind of haha. It certainly was one of my healthier Vegas trips. A quick recap of things food/fitness wise Tuesday: I worked out before we left. This meant a 4a wake up but worth it to get it done. Did a 45 minute Arms and Intervals class, and then we were off to the airport. We arrived around lunch time. Went to Secret Pizza in the Cosmopolitan and I had a salad and one slice of pizza. For dinner we ate at Snacks in the Bellagio (where we stayed) which was like a pizza and sandwich place. I got the Chicken Caesar Salad and fried spaghetti. See...balance?! haha Wednesday: I ran th...