Week One of Marathon training

I just finished my first week of training for my first full marathon. Being me, I signed up for a May marathon that has a lot of hills in Cincinnati OH. That means not only will I be training in the cold and dark months of the year, but I will need to run hills! Bleh! BUT I am not going for speed, only for completion and I also want to finish the marathon and be ready to start Tri season in May. Anyway, my first week of training is under my belt and it was good! I am following a Novice program that allows for 4 running days, 2 rest days and 1 cross training day. I am planning to do 4 running days, 2 cross train days, and 1 rest day to be ready for Triathlon season:) Can't let my swimming and biking suffer too much. This week I did 3 3 mile runs and 1 6.5 mile run. I felt good on all of them and we had great weather this week, so that helped! Paul is training for the same marathon and so most days of the week one of us is setting an alarm and heading out to run in the dark and the cold. We both have lots of reflective gear, road ID, and headlamps:) I am off, Paul needs to head out on his run for the day!

New bike!

YAY! New bike! 2012 triathlons here I come:)

Another 70.3?

I am contemplating another 70.3 race for 2012....I am also thinking about a full marathon as well. Hmmmm both in one year? I think its something I can do, but I know I have to make sure I can handle everything else life raising 2 little girls will throw at me before I fully commit. The marathon would be in May and the 70.3 would be in September which would mean I could train all summer, which is nice because of the longer days:) Decisions decisions!

70.3 DONE!!

I did it and it was awesome!! I am going to re-cap the day, so I apologize if its boring, but when I decide to do another one of these I want to have this to look back on:)

The day started very early. I slept at home since Fishers is only about 50 minutes away from Muncie. The girls were at my parents house so it was just Paul and I. I got up at about 3:30am! I ate a fried egg on toast with cheese and of course sprinkled with salt and some gatorade to wash it down:) I woke Paul up and we headed up to meet my friends at 5:00am.

We arrived at the site of the race at 6:10am. I had 2 bagels with cream cheese and more gatorade on the way up there. Well, I saved one bagel to eat while waiting for the race to start. We parked our car and loaded up to head to the transition area to organize our stuff. We had checked our bikes in the day before, so that was nice to not have to deal with everyone's bike. We pumped up bike tires (brought our pump) and got water bottles organized, sunscreen on, and then we waited! My swim wave didn't start until 8:25am so I had some time to get nervous! There were so many people who looked like they were such good athletes and had awesome bikes (I WILL be getting a new bike ASAP!)

We watched the sprint triathlon finish and then went over to the swim start. The Pro's started at 8:00am so that was fun to watch, they are crazy fast! They were getting out of the water right when I was starting (that's a 25 minute swim)

My wave was finally coming up so I got my cap on and got in line with my group. I was really nervous and really had to pee!! HA! I got into the water and the gun was off. The swim was busy, but awesome. All of my open water swims had paid off, because this was a breeze. The people everywhere didn't bother me and neither did not being able to see where I was going. I just settled in to my stroke and swam. I passed a lot of people. I passed my whole group, then the next two groups in front of me...but honestly I felt like I could have gone faster, but wanted to save some for the bike and run. My swim time was 40 min which put me right about 500 overall!

I got out of the water and jogged UPHILL to the transition area and got ready for the bike. I was happy to see most of the bikes around me were still on the rack. I took off on the bike (with a 5 min T1 time) and settled in for the bike. The bike is my least favorite, but I was determined to be positive. I felt great the whole time. I did a gel right at the beginning of the bike. I really ate and drank the whole bike. I took in 5 peanut butter crackers, 5 salt tablets, a cliff bar, about 30 ounces of Ironman Perform, and 40 ounces of water. I felt really good the whole time, but I am SLOW and need to improve my biking. I felt like everyone in the race passed me! I tried not to let it get me down, because I was really out there to finish:) Anyway I was good on the bike until about mile 50 and then I was ready to get off the bike. My butt hurt and I wanted to be able to unclip my feet. I rode the whole way with no stopping and even grabbed a bottle of water to refill my aero bottle from a volunteer on the go! My time for the bike was 3:15, which was about what I thought it would be. I was just glad to get off the bike!

I got off the bike and changed into my running shoes. I hit the bathroom and sprayed myself with sun screen. I was so thrilled to have made it this far I knew I could get through the run. I started running and within the first mile I knew I was good! People were already walking and cramping, but thankfully I was feeling great, no goosebumps, no throbbing head, just ready to go! I had 2 gels with me and about 6 salt tabs. I took a gel right away and got water at the first aid station. Basically every mile was an aid station so I knew that was coming which kept me going. They had these awesome sponges that were in tubs of ice water and they were great! So I ran every mile and walked through each aid station. Most people were running/walking because by this point it was in the high 80's and 1 or 2pm. I took in 5 of my salt tabs and lots of water and some flat soda which was refreshing after all the water and Ironman perform. I got to the finish and felt great and ran down the chute and smiled big for the camera! IT WAS AWESOME!!! My overall time was 6:35. I wanted to be less then 7 hours so I am happy with my time.

All of my training paid off. I am so thankful for all the support I received from my friends and family. I didn't love every minute of training but I kept my eyes on the goal and I am so glad I did! I know my money was well spent on the nutritionist I met with because I didn't have one health issue during the race. I am also so thankful that I didn't have any mechanical issues with my bike! WHEW! I will be getting a tri bike very soon though, because my bike weighs a million pounds and is a beast!

A special thanks to all of my training friends and especially my husband Paul. Thanks for being there to lift me up when I didn't want to keep going, putting up with my anxiety and my grumpiness and cheering me on the whole way.

This was my first half Ironman, but I don't think it will be my last!!

24 Hours!

In a little over 24 hours I will be starting the race! Its crazy that about 7 months of training have finally led to this weekend. I am as ready as I am going to be. I am very nervous and have major butterflies in my stomach.

I head up today to check in and then a pasta dinner with my fellow Team Funcie members tonight. Tomorrow the race!

If you want to follow me on the race go to ironmanlive.com and I am bib number 659.

I will write a recap of the race sometime Sunday or Monday!

T minus 5 days!

5 Days!! I made it through week 1 of the taper, but it wasn't pretty. I had no idea I would feel so sluggish, antsy, and achy! I actually googled it and talked to some of my friends who are in the midst of the taper as well and my feelings were confirmed. I just didn't expect to feel this way and it caught me off guard. Anyway I made it through the week and then did a long-ish bike ride yesterday and then a run and a swim this morning. I felt a million times better after the long bike ride...I know I need to be slowing down and I have been but with all of this training the longer the swim, the bike, or run the better I feel. It takes me awhile to get in the groove and feel good so when I go a long distance I feel good:)

Everything is all set for this weekend. My parents will have the girls from Friday afternoon and over night Friday night and all day on Saturday. Paul is coming with me on Saturday (which will be a long day for him) because we have to get up early and be there early but the race doesn't start until 8am and I am sure my wave doesn't start until later then that. Friday afternoon I have to go up to Muncie to check in and attend the pre-race meeting. Plus I want to go into the Ironman shop! I might need a 70.3 sticker for my car:)

I will update once more this week before the race...

Taper Week 1

I made it to the taper weeks! Woohoo! I have looked ahead in my training so many times and have looked at the taper wondering if I would make it and now its here. I did my last really long workout yesterday, a long run. I ran a little over 12 miles and for the most part I felt great.

I am proud of myself for sticking to the training program for 18 weeks so far and for dedicating so much of my time and energy towards this race. No matter what happens on race day I know I couldn't have done much more to prepare for this race. My body has impressed me as well as annoyed me, but mostly I have been happy with my training and the preparation for this race. There have been countless early mornings, long evenings, and tired days because of all this working out, but hopefully come July 9 it will all be worth it.

I was supposed to take today off because Saturday which is usually my day off I had to be on an indoor cycle for about 3 hours! I was getting my Group Cycling Instructor Certification and we all taught about 15 min each and the instructor took us through an hour ride as well. Then Sunday I needed to get my long run in and today I teach spinning. Tomorrow is just an open water swim and then I think I will take Wednesday off and then Saturday off. Other then that no other days off besides the day before the race!

I will update again when the second week of taper begins and again closer to the race. For now I am trying not to be too anxious about the race but that is proving near impossible! I am freaking out;)

This week of taper still has a couple long-ish workouts, but nothing too taxing and then next week is very light, with small run through's of each sport (like tiny little triathlons) to keep every thing fresh.