In the meantime, in between time, O Canada, part deux, and the actual El Guapo

After Victoria 70.3 in mid-June, I've been enjoying some downtime. I still get up and exercise more days than not-I feel better and have more energy when I do-but I do what I want to do, not what a training plan says to do. It's a nice mental break I build into every year in late summer before beginning training for my fall/winter events.

In a few weeks I start my training plan for the Dallas Marathon Half this December. Having only done half marathons as training races or in the middle of triathlon training since my daughter was born it'll be fun to focus on shorter distances for a change. And since my long runs will only be 2 hours instead of 3-4 I'll have time to build in some cycling as well to build my base so I'm in better shape come spring.

O Canada, part deux

What will I be doing in spring? Well, my first Canadian half Ironman experience was so fun, why not do another? Next June I'll be doing the Mont-Tremblant, Quebec 70.3. I hadn't realized it's such a popular race but apparently it is since it sold out within 12 hours of registration opening. Glad I had done my research (and even booked a hotel) before so when registration day came I jumped right on it! I've visited western Canada quite a few times but never been to Quebec so excited to explore a new place and see how much I remember from my French class in high school.

It looks like a great course. Wetsuit-legal but not freezing lake swim, a bike course that's hilly but not particularly curvy (and on freshly paved and swept roads!), and a run course on a gravel trail on what used to be a railway in the Laurentian mountains.

While these would be good reasons to do Mont-Tremblant on their own, there's a bigger reason I chose this particular 70.3.

The Actual El Guapo

Mont-Tremblant is home to not only the 70.3 event in June but also a full Ironman distance race in August. The full distance race covers the same course as the half, 2 loops each on the bike and run instead of just 1. The plan is to use the 2016 70.3 as a recon mission to familiarize myself with the course so that in August 2017 I will do my first full Ironman on a course I know.

Yes, a full Ironman. On some level I've been looking ahead to this day ever since that first super sprint tri back in 2008. I've deliberately avoided focusing on it all this time, like not wanting to look directly at the sun. Each milestone on the journey has been worth celebrating in its own right and could well serve as a worthy pinnacle. I don't think I'd have enjoyed all those links in the chain if I only saw them as steps toward something bigger. Each one was the biggest race I'd ever done up to that point.

But the thing about finish lines is that they have a funny way of becoming the start lines of the next adventure as something that had seemed impossible becomes doable. Do enough half marathons and you begin to think you might have what it takes for a full. Finish a sprint triathlon and an international distance looks like an achievable goal. Do an international and you think how much more is a half Ironman, really? I just need to swim a little further, bike a few more hours, and run a half marathon, and a half marathon after a 56 mile bike doesn't sound so far when you've run the last half of a full marathon. Do a half Ironman and you wonder, do I have it in me to do the full? I'm going to find out.

I think sometimes about growing old. I imagine myself in my 90s or even 100s with grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. When that time comes I want to have a rich history of memories to look back on and feel that I spent my time well. I don't want to look back with regret and wonder what I might have accomplished in my younger years if only I had dared to try. 

I read a great post on a blog called Swim Bike Mom where she talked about how everyone should find their own Ironman. For some people it may not be an actual Ironman-may not be an athletic event at all-but something really hard and challenging, something that pushes you outside your comfort zone.

For me, that race is the Ironman.

"In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santo Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be *the actual* El Guapo!"

The Ironman, all 140.6 miles of it, is my El Guapo.

So, in the words of Stephen Covey, as I look ahead to next year I begin with the end in mind and know where I want to be by August 2017. I survived Victoria. I want to thrive in Mont-Tremblant. 

The biggest area of improvement is the bike. I've got to get faster but more importantly I've got to become more confident descending and riding in traffic. That means getting in quality miles, improving handling, and hill-specific work. To that end I'm planning to join a training group and do group rides with them. Just going out the other morning I could see the benefit. Riding in a group is different than riding solo and I need to gain some comfort with that. And I held a higher average riding with the group than I do on my own. I know I need to improve, but I also know I'm capable already of more than I'm doing. A group will help me reach for my limits and find out they're further out than I thought. When I run out of the lake and into transition next June I want to feel confident when I get on the bike and looking forward to the ride. I don't have to be competitive, but I don't want to be riding on the hoods just praying not to crash like I was while descending the hills in Victoria. The bike doesn't have to become my strength but it won't be such a weakness.

So even as the next few months will be targeted to my half marathon, I'll be getting in some saddle time. When spring training comes I'll be ready for it. Mont-Tremblant is waiting!

I survived Victoria 70.3!

This past Sunday was the culmination of 6 months of training and almost 10 years of aspiration. I finished my first half Ironman distance triathlon, the Victoria, BC 70.3. I did it! I'm a half Ironman finisher. It feels good to finally be able to say that.

The week before

10 days pre-race I decided to get in one last outdoor ride on the tri bike. At a 4-way stop, turning left, I was forced to come to a sudden stop when the car I thought was crossing the street ahead of me unexpectedly U-turned right in front of me and I couldn't get a foot down in time to steady myself. Down I went, in slow motion. I got some nice bruises and scratches but the bigger problem was that the handlebar jabbed me in the rib cage when I went down. I finished the ride but every breath hurt. From past rib injury experience I know they can take weeks if not months to heal. Not what you want 10 days before your A race.

In the following days I was able to bike and run without much pain but swimming the Monday of race week was a different story. Even going slowly in a heated pool without a wetsuit every stroke hurt. Not ideal 6 days out from an open water swim in cooler water, in a wetsuit, with fellow athletes thrashing and kicking around me.

I didn't bother going to a doctor. It made no difference whether it was just a soft tissue injury or a minor fracture, the advice would just be it'll heal on its own in time. I've had good luck with acupuncture before with shin splints so I figured that was worth a shot. My acupuncturist did a gua sha treatment which translates to "scrape the pain." I admit I had my doubts that scraping at my ribs with what looked like a shoehorn would help. But while it hurt at the time and for a day or so after, it did seem to help quite a bit.

Also, my cousin who works for a wellness tech company generously express-shipped me a loaner cold laser machine and light pad, which I also used a lot. Not sure what percentage of credit goes to the acupuncture and machines but the net effect was a dramatically faster recovery than with any previous rib injury. I wasn't 100% on race day, and still am not, but I felt much better on race day than I had any reason to expect 6 days out.

Another issue that came up before the race was that it rained ALL THE TIME in May, thwarting my plans for long rides and runs and open water swims. It should have been my biggest training month but wasn't. Even when it wasn't actually raining my Campion Trail was (and still is) flooded and the roads often had lots of water.

On June 5 I dropped my bike and a gear bag off at a local bike shop, where it was picked up by a truck and driven to Canada courtesy of Tri Bike Transport (totally worth it; made the logistics of a destination race easy). My car needing a jumpstart 2 hours before drop-off deadline added a bit of last-minute excitement but once everything was dropped off it was a big relief to have that detail taken care of.

Race week

Thursday before the race my family and I flew to Victoria. From the window of the plane I looked down at the lake I'd swim in and run around and the peninsula where I'd do the bike ride. When we stepped out into the bright sun and 60 degree weather and surveyed the gorgeous scenery, I thought "I'm going to love this race!"

After a few days of sightseeing I went to Ironman Village for packet pick-up and to reunite with my bike. I bought support crew shirts for Kevin and the kids and bought myself the race tee-shirt that included all the athletes' names in the M-Dot logo on the back (how do you not buy the shirt that has your name on it? ;)) 

Side note rant: Ironman Village is the first place I've seen shirts for my toddler daughter that suggest she's a future sports star but sports-related clothes for little boys are everywhere. I bought my daughter a shirt that says "When I grow up I want to be an Ironman." Why do I have to go to Ironman Village to find a sports star shirt for my daughter? It was a nice reminder that even though I do my events because I enjoy them, it's also very important to me for my children to grow up with the norm of women being strong and athletic.

I went back to the hotel and set out all my race stuff. One thing I like about race prep, and triathlon in particular, is the pre-race ritual of laying everything out: the clothes, the gear, the nutrition, the water bottles. I'd organized everything at home by leg: pre-race, swim, bike, run, and put them all in labeled ziplocs (triathlon is perfect for Type A, over-organized people like me), so Saturday prep didn't take that long.

Saturday night we ate at Old Spaghetti Factory for a predictable pre-race meal (chicken parmigiana), and by 10pm I was in bed, with alarm set for 3:45 and cab reserved for the morning. I set everything in the bathroom so I could get ready without disturbing Kevin and the kids, put water and grounds in the coffeemaker, and set 2 alarms.

Race morning

Race morning dawned early (though, as I hadn't really adjusted to PST, it didn't feel as early as it was), and I dressed, made my bulletproof(ish) coffee, English muffin and almond butter, and grabbed my gear bag and headed down to meet my cab. It wasn't yet 5 but already light out, and it was comfortable weather with sweats and windbreaker over my tri kit. A 15 minute ride (behind a cab driver with serious BO!) later, I was at the race start area at Hamsterly Beach, Elk Lake, just outside Victoria.

I set up my transition area (side note: was it just this race or are all M-Dot races stingy on rack space?) and before long it was nearly 6 and time to head down to the water. 

I put on my wetsuit, grabbed my goggles (brought mirrored and clear, opted for mirrored) and swim cap, and walked down to the sandy beach of the start area as O Canada played over the loudspeaker. My wave wasn't scheduled to start till 6:15, but what was nice about this race was that once everyone had "chipped in" we were allowed to get in the water to the left of the start area and do some warm-up swimming. Having swam in a wetsuit exactly once before this day (at TexasMan in early May) I was grateful for the chance to warm up. The water temp was a perfect 73 degrees and the water was pretty flat, so once I acclimated to the feel of the wetsuit I was ready to go.

Swim

After the wave immediately ahead of me started I made my way with the other green caps to the start area and we stood in waist-deep water awaiting the air horn that signaled our start. At 6:15 we were off. My day had begun. Time to put all that training to use.

While my rib was feeling much better by race day, I knew if it was going to bother me it would be on the swim. I was right. The arm extension didn't hurt but I found that breathing to the opposite side of the injury pulled on my rib. I'm usually a bilateral breather but had to favor the hurt side and go to breaststroke more often than usual. And kept a close watch on athletes passing on my right side so I didn't get a kick or elbow to the rib.

The race was an out, left turn, short leg to the next buoy, then another left to head back to shore. Aside from the short middle leg right into the sun, visibility was pretty good with mirrored goggles. I wasn't flying along but made decent time and finished in 48 minutes. The rib didn't slow me down too much. I reached the shore, crossed the timing mat, and the swim was over. 1 leg down, 2 to go.

T1

I was surprised that there were no wetsuit strippers on hand, especially given that virtually everyone I saw was in a wetsuit (had to look through lots of swim pictures to find the first person not in a wetsuit, and I was definitely in the minority in a sleeveless). It's not often that 7am on a Sunday morning finds me wishing for a stripper ;) 

I ran to my spot in transition, got out of the wetsuit, put Bodyglide on my feet, socks, bike shoes, arm warmers, sunglasses, and helmet, and grabbed my bike. I had calf sleeves and leg warmers with me and had planned to put them on but, standing in the warm sun, I talked myself out of it. Everyone else was just in shorts; maybe it didn't feel that cold out there...

The first few minutes on the bike in a tri are always an adjustment for me. Still wet from the swim, cold as I hit the air, fine motor skills a bit impaired, I generally spend the first few minutes on the brake hoods for better stability till I feel comfortable dropping into aero. This day was no exception. 

I had read it was a challenging bike course and immediately saw why. The first 10 miles or so felt like endless curves, climbs, and descents, and of course lots of other cyclists around including the fast aggressive ones. I found myself wondering if I'd have been better served on my road bike; I was constantly having to pop out of aero anyway and would have welcomed the easier handling. Plus, we were in heavy tree cover and it was in the low 50s so I was cold- so cold my legs were shaking on descents. Lesson learned: don't take wardrobe cues on a cool day from a bunch of Canadians ;) 

I had a little excitement when one of my saddle-mounted bottle holders dropped a bottle and then, miles later, the holder itself made a disconcerting sound as it rattled loose and then flew off. But even as I struggled to settle into a rhythm in those early miles I did make it a point to take in a Perpetuem tab or Shot Blok at least every 15-20 minutes and drink my Skratch solution. I was determined to get my calories in.

It took the better part of an hour but eventually the course opened up into straighter roads, I was in the sun more, and it got comfortable. Once I wasn't fearing a crash around every corner I could appreciate that it really was a beautiful course as the thick wooded area gave way to rolling farmland and beyond, I could see the sea that surrounded the peninsula. 

One thing I've noticed in races is that while I'm not a particularly strong cyclist I'm a decent climber. Most of my passes of other cyclists were on climbs, and I didn't feel like I was working too hard to do it and generally stayed in saddle. Which is something to keep in mind as I consider future races...I don't mind some climbing, but don't like lots of turns and curves.

I finished the first loop in around 2 hours; I had hoped for a total bike time of 3:30 which I could now see wasn't going to happen. The second loop went much better though. The early stretch that was scary the first time didn't look so fearsome a second time around, especially with less traffic. Still, after around 4 hours it was nice to take the turnoff back to transition, and I've never been so happy to get off a bike as when I hit the dismount line. 2 legs down, 1 to go. Run and done.

T2

I put another layer of Bodyglide on my feet (and since the stick had melted in the sun I got a much more generous application than planned), put on my running shoes, A&M visor, sunglasses, fuel belt, and race belt and sprayed another round of sunscreen on, popping a few more chews into my mouth before I headed out.

After 5ish hours of racing, 6 months of training, and the better part of a decade aspiring, only a half marathon run stood between me and my goal.

Run

For the first few miles I felt good; one benefit of being slow on the bike is my legs felt pretty fresh, and I had stuck to my calorie plan pretty well. I didn't do many brick workouts but in both tris this year my legs have felt fine. The hard part has been pacing myself and not going out too fast.

A few miles in, the long day caught up with me. My legs were fine, my lungs were fine, I was just tired. And while I ate the sport beans I had packed, my tummy was just done with race food, I wanted REAL food. I was hoping for pretzels or even just a banana at the aid stations but it was just powerbars and gels. I did grab Pepsi (which normally, yuck, but that day tasted great) and poured ice down my jersey pretty much every chance I got.

One nice thing about being in the, shall we say "getting the most from our race dollar" crowd is that those of us still on the course at that point (and earlier, on loop 2 of the bike) were encouraging each other on, talking about where we were from, etc. There was no competitiveness; the winners had finished hours ago. We were all doing this for ourselves. 

Crowds were generally just at the finish area but it was a nice surprise to encounter some Aggie spectators along the trail. They saw my visor and cheered loudly for me each loop around. That little taste of home was a highlight of a long day and it's because of experiences like that that I will always wear some piece of Aggie gear on every race. Can't underestimate the value of some bonus cheering on a long day!

I had hoped to finish within 6:30 or so but it was clear that wasn't going to happen. The first loop took around 1:15, and by then Kevin and the kids were there which was great for me but I felt bad knowing they'd have to wait longer on me (fortunately, there was a nice playground right by the finish line). It was tough to run past them, past the finish line as faster racers turned in to finish their day, and head out for that second loop. Still, I knew the next time I saw my family and that finish line, I would be steps away from my own finish. Just one more loop and I was done.

Second loop was much the same. Legs were fine but even as I was throwing down calories my stomach wanted real food. I had debated between just a handheld flask and my 3-flask fuel belt and was glad I went with the belt. 65 degrees with no breeze proved warmer than I'd hoped. I did have to talk some walk breaks but kept moving forward.

One big difference between triathlons and pure running events is not getting to wear headphones. A few years ago it would have been hard to imagine running so long with no distraction but I didn't really miss it that day. Not that music wouldn't have given me a little energy but all those long 3 and 4 hour marathon training runs gave me practice at finding things to focus on. It's interesting what comes to mind on a long headphones-free run. Surprisingly perhaps, few radio songs come up; they're too instrumental-based I guess. I went to the usual well of favorite poems: If by Rudyard Kipling, Invictus, and The Road Not Taken. And the Morning Prayer service. But a preschool song my kids learned came to mind too: If I Were A Butterfly.  And one line from a song at church a few weeks earlier, "the waves they don't seem so high from on top of them looking down."

When I reached the beach area on the opposite side of the lake from the finish line, I forced myself to pick up the pace and finish strong, knowing that I had walked that distance in under 10 minutes on packet pickup day. About a quarter mile from the finish line came the best surprise of the day. Daniel and Kevin were waiting by the side of the trail to follow me in, and Daniel gave me a flower he had picked to help me run fast. Whether it was the flower or seeing my people, I found a little extra speed and headed in to finish the run in about 2:40. Yes it was a slow run, but it was now minutes from over.

As I approached the finisher chute I saw my parents, Rebecca, and my aunt and uncle cheering me on. Then the moment I had pictured every day since early November arrived. I entered the finisher chute. The announcer called "Ellen Williamson, welcome to the finish line!" Smile on my face (after a few seconds of ugly cry), arms held high, I ran across. 

It took me 7 hours and 51 minutes, far longer than I had hoped, but I had done it. I was a Half Ironman finisher. And now I had the medal to prove it.

Post-race

Having spent the whole run craving real food I headed over to the finisher tent. Alas, they had run out, so after hurriedly taking a few pictures and dropping off my bike and gear bag at the Tri Bike Transport tent and riding the shuttle bus back to our cars, my first postrace meal was a mozza burger, fries, and root beer at A&W. Canadian A&W burgers are really good (and they don't seem to offer the same menu at their US stores) so it was nice to check it off the Canada trip to-do list. Even if I am annoyed at the race for running out of food.

After lunch it was back to the hotel for the most-needed shower and nap in the world, then a nice seafood dinner a few blocks' walk from our hotel to celebrate our last night in Canada (dessert? of course). Then back to the hotel to pack up for our early morning flight, and our Canada trip was in the books.

I'm glad to have done my first 70.3 and I think Victoria was a great place for it. I've already been scoping out destination possibilities for next summer, so this definitely won't be a one-off. Criteria for a good destination: cool weather, nice scenery, bike course that isn't so challenging.

I'm proud of my finish, but having done one, I feel like I know better how to prepare for the next. I think I can finish significantly faster with better training and a different nutrition plan. I think a PB&J sandwich on the bike and a bag of chips in T2 would have made a big difference in my run. I don't care about being competitive, just finishing strong. I survived this race, but want to thrive in the next one.

While my swim time wasn't fast, I've done enough open water swims now that they don't scare me and I can swim without burning too much energy. It would be nice to be a little faster but I'm satisfied with my swim. My run was slow but I think that was more a function of how long my day was and needing more food than anything. Which leaves...the bike. The good news is I didn't use up my legs on the bike. But I need to get stronger on the bike so I can finish the ride 30 minutes to an hour faster and still feel good and get to the run with more energy. I haven't always been good about cross-training during marathon/half training, but since I'm only running half marathons and shorter distances this fall, I'll make a point of riding on cross-train days and work to improve my base.

And once I can get my 70.3 finish time down closer to 6:00, that would lead me to think about signing up for a full 140.6 Ironman. Why? Why did Richard Gere want the penthouse in Pretty Woman? Because it's the best. There are a lot of people out there who are Ironmen, and while a few are pros, most of them are just everyday people like me who have jobs and families. They put in the work one day at a time to train. If they can, I can. But, aside from needing to improve on the bike, I also want to wait till my kids are at least a little older. During training I'm always conscious to minimize how much my training leaves Kevin watching the kids by himself and IM training is going to mean some really long practice rides. I think it's only fair if I'm going to ask that that I wait till the kids are at least old enough to dress, feed, and somewhat entertain themselves. And I may only do 1 full IM in my life. I want them to be old enough to understand and remember it.

For now, I'm going to enjoy being a 70.3 finisher. I did it! I'm not just "a runner who does triathlons in the offseason." I'm a triathlete, and one who has now completed the penultimate event in the sport. Not bad for someone who, 3 years ago, had never done anything longer than a sprint.

TexasMan X-50

This past Sunday I did my first triathlon of the season: The TexasMan X-50. It included a 1 mile lake swim, a 40 mile bike, and 9 mile run. I added it to the schedule primarily because the distance, timing (6 weeks out from Victoria 70.3), and set up (wetstuit-legal open water swim, 2 loop bike course with rolling hills, run at least partly on paved trails through the forest) made it an ideal practice race. But, though it was "only" a B-race for me, it was also my longest event to date, as it was about 30 minutes longer than my first marathon.

Going in, my goals reflected its status as a training race:

- Get some wetsuit and open water swim practice

- Test-drive my nutrition/hydration strategy, specifically making sure I take in enough on the bike leg

- Take it easy on the bike, and enter T2 with enough gas in the tank and fresh legs so I'd feel strong on the run

In short, a successful day would be one after which I felt confident I was ready for Victoria 70.3. And by that measure it was a successful day indeed.

The day before I did my standard pre-tri routine: transition practice, organizing my drinks and nutrition, laying out all my gear, packing my bag. I woke up race morning, had my coffee/coconut oil/milk/vanilla extract blend (bulletproof coffee without the butter and half the coconut oil, basically) and English muffin with almond butter, both things that I usually consume before a big workout and always sits well. Then it was time for the almost hour-long drive north to the race site in the early morning dark. Got my transition area set up, TriSlide and wetsuit on, and headed down to the beach for the start.

My wave was the 3rd to start so we had the benefit of watching the 1st group (the young men doing the X-50 distance) turn too early and have to swim back onto course, thus saving the later groups from the same mistake. Soon it was time for my wave to enter the water and when the horn went on, we ran in and settled into our swim.

It was my first time to swim in my wetsuit and it took a little getting used to at first. It's sleeveless so it didn't affect my stroke but the tight feeling in my chest combined with the cold water made it hard to draw in a deep breath for a few minutes. I didn't panic, but did breaststroke it for awhile till I settled into a groove.

Overall the swim went well. I wasn't fast but was moving well enough without expending too much effort. There was one weird spot though after the final turn as we were headed back to shore where it felt like no matter how hard I swam I was stuck in place. Everyone seemed to be gliding past me and I didn't feel like I was moving at all. Slowly though, the next buoys grew closer, and then the shore. 41 minutes afterI started, I was out, feeling satisfied and ready for the bike.

My T1 could have been a little faster but not bad. Soon I was at the mount line ready to begin the bike leg. I checked in on my speed every few minutes but did the bike more by perceived effort than anything. The course had lots of rolling hills so I took advantage of every chance to coast and always shited into the small gear on the ups. The more I ride this bike the more impressed I am by it. I've had it 3 years but still feel like I'm getting to know it due to my pregnancy hiatus and then limited riding in subsequent years due to my focus on marathons. But shifting is smooth as silk, and the new saddle I got recently left me far less sore post-race than I'd have expected. That bike deserves more time from tme than it's gotten, and will get just that in the remaining weeks before Victoria.

I packed a Ziploc with Shot Bloks and Perpetuem tabs and water bottles of Skratch electrolyte solution. My goal was to take in a shot blok or tab every 15 minutes or so, go through 16oz of fluid an hour, and take a salt tab every hour. It's on the higher end of the recommended calories for my size but I find that I tend to get light-headed and weak if I let my blood sugars get low. This strategy seemed to work well. I never felt hungry thirsty, full or bloated. I got off the bike after about 2:40 on it, with legs that felt strong and a stomach that felt good.

T2 was a little long, but mainly because it was my only bathroom stop of the day. I headed out on the run feeling good-so good, in fact, that I had to slow it down a little so I didn't peak too early. As the day went on and I hit some stretches that weren't shaded the heat and cloudless sky slowed me down enough on their own, but to the pace I had anticipated holding, about a 10 minute mile.

Other than the heat the run went fine. I should have taken in my last calories about 15 minutes earlier than I did but recognized the hunger sign quickly enough that it wasn't a big deal. I had largely taken the last few weeks off from running due to some recurrent pain in my inner shins (posterior). I assumed it was probably just pain due to running on a treadmill, which tends to bother my lower legs more than pavement, but in the back of my mind I had the nagging worry of, what if it's stress fractures? I figured I'd take a few weeks off to let any inflammation go down and then see how the race went. If all went well, I'd know it was just treadmill pain. If it was a stress fracture, as I knew from experience, that would be all too clear within a mile or two. My shins felt fine. In fact, the only pain I felt on the run was a hot spot on the ball of one foot which turned out to be a blister. Mental note to apply bodyglide to my feet again before putting on socks, but will also take sandals down to the swim so I don't hurt my feet on a rough gravel surface like this event had in spots.

After about an hour and a half of running I crossed the finish line with an overall time around 5:08. Not a competitive time by any means, but I felt good. I had another 20.3 in me, if that had been the big day. I accomplished the goals I set out to and the day gave me a nice boost of confidence as I head into the home stretch of my training. It also reminds me what I already knew: I need to maintain in the swim and run, fine-tune transitions, and try to gain a little better bike fitness so I can finish faster with the same or less perceived effort.

In the days since I've been much less sore than I'd have expected. Neck, wrist, quads, achilles all a little stiff and sore but I was moving around pretty well. I probably could have exercised Monday morning but after such an early start and full day I took a well-earned opportunity to sleep in a bit. Tuesday I intended to take it easy with a casual rollerblading outing but Daniel was already awake and downstairs and wanted to go with me, so my planned relaxing skate ended up involving pushing some 60ish pounds of boy and stroller. It was fun to get that time together, and I can see where it could be a good leg workout when I want a change of pace.

Looking ahead, Memorial Day brings my next training race, the CapTexTri. I'm "only" doing the international distance there but will be additional practice. Then, June 14, the day will come. I will get to earn my first Half Ironman finisher medal.

TexasMan was certainly a great practice event but was a good race in its own right, and one I'd enjoy doing again in the future if it works with my schedule. 1 down, 2 to go for the season! I tend to think of myself more as a runner who sometimes swims and bikes than a triathlete, but triathlon is working well for me. It's a nice change of pace from strictly running and I can tell the cross-training is making me stronger. Marathon runner/Half Ironman Finisher? I'll take that.

Busy spring

Since mid-February I've done 4 races. Given that my focus is training for the Victoria 70.3, which looms just 9 weeks away, I haven't done as much running as usual. But with 3 PRs in 4 races I guess it worked out anyway ;)

Heart and Sole 5k

Some friends from my DAYL Leadership class are part of the Lawyers in the Community organization that put this event on, so a group of us in the class decided to show our support and run the 5k. It was from Winfrey Point at White Rock lake, at least my 3rd race to run there, so I knew the terrain well, and while I usually run solo it was fun to catch up with friends on this day. 

I finished in 23:59, not my fastest 5k but among the top 2 or 3 fastest. One of these days I want to pick a 5k to actually train for and see what I can do when I really focus on that distance.

Rhythm & Blues Quarter Marathon

I was looking for another event to get a 10k in before the Rock N Roll Half, and this was close enough. A new event right in my backyard in downtown Las Colinas and at 6.55 miles it was just a little longer than a 10k. It was cool and rainy and the event wasn't the best-organized, owing perhaps to it being its first year, but the course was familiar and as I was reminded, rain doesn't really matter once you're moving. I forget my exact time, 53ish minutes or so, but since it was the only time I've raced that distance, by definition it was a PR ;) It gave me hope that when I ran the same course the next month I'd be able to earn a new 10k PR.

Rock N Roll Half Marathon

Besides Victoria 70.3, this is the race I focused my spring on. In theory I followed a training plan that was a mix of half Ironman and advanced half marathon. In practice I've been dealing with lingering posterior shin pain so I skipped some weekday runs to give them more time to recover. I had targeted this for months as a chance at a new PR but didn't know if that was still realistic given that I wouldn't really have a taper period and with my training geared more to triathlon than pure running. Nevertheless, it's a race I've always enjoyed and I was looking forward to it even when the weather forecast looked cool and rainy.

Fortunately, the rain was accomodating enough to hold off so it ended up being 50s and cloudy, pretty much perfect race weather (and preferable to the 70s on race day 2012 and 40s and windy last year). The course was changed this year so I was interested to see how the new course would go. The new course was interesting as I saw areas I hadn't explored before and I was able to hold my planned 8:23 pace over the first 10 miles. Then, around mile 10, it all went uphill. Not steep, but steadily inclining for the better part of the next 2 miles. I had been feeling strong and was hoping for a sub-1:50 finish but hills on tired legs forced me to slow a bit. Still, as I entered the final mile (which, fortunately, was downhill) I knew a PR was still within reach if I could hold a good pace. I ended up finishing in 1:51:34, a PR by only about 20 seconds, but a PR nonetheless. I was satisfied.

My old half marathon PR was 3 years old and due for replacement. Since Rebecca was born I haven't made a half marathon my target race so I feel like the distance hasn't gotten my best shot in awhile. But even before this event, I had decided that after 70.3, I wouldn't do anything longer than a half marathon for the rest of the year. I like the marathon distance and will do it again, but will enjoy the change of training schedule and the chance to really focus on gaining speed at the half distance and shorter. With a focused training plan, good weather, and a proper taper, I'm hoping I can shed a few minutes off my time. My plan is to make my focus for the rest of the year after 70.3 the Dallas Marathon Half in December, with some 5ks and 10ks thrown in throughout the fall as practice and for fun. It'll be fun to focus on shorter, more intense training runs and I'm hopeful that that plus more strength training will help me down the line to become a faster marathoner.

Irving Marathon 10k

The Irving Marathon series is in its 3rd year. In year 1, 10 weeks postpartum, I ran the 5k distance and, to my great surprise, finished 3rd in my age group despite what I considered a rather slow time (the age group placement was entirely reflective of the field, not me, but, well, all those people I beat probably hadn't just had a baby ;)). Last year I did the 10k and earned a new PR and 1st in my age group. I had my sights set on achieving the same thing this year. I set a target pace for myself of 7:55/mile and finished just a little over at 7:57, still good for a 49:20 finish and a new PR by almost a minute. At first the results showed I earned 2nd in my age group but when final results were tallied, the person ahead of me moved into the overall female finisher awards and I moved up to 1st in age group. 2 years in a row...I've got a streak to defend now!

I really like the 10k race distance. Long enough that it's not all-out, but short enough that I can hold a pretty aggressive pace the whole time. Looking forward to seeing what I can do at this distance when I really focus on it.

And I guess that's the takeaway from my spring. I had 4 good events and 3 PRs despite being in triathlon training. So what can I do when I shift focus to shorter running distances? It'll be fun to find out.

What's next

As I enter the home stretch of 70.3 training, I've got 2 tris I'm using as practice events. One, an "X-50" in early May, includes a 1 mile swim, 40 mile bike, and 9 mile run. The other, the LifeTime CapTexTri in Austin later in May, is an international distance event-.93 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, and 10k run. I won free entry to it and it'll be good practice for racing away from home. Both will give me good practice swimming in and getting into and out of my new wetsuit (scored on clearance for $50!). After all that? Time to go to Canada and put all these hours and miles of training to use. 

I feel confident I could do the event today, but will use the remaining time to focus on building my bike strength. At this point I feel like my swim is as good as it's going to be, and with it being such a small portion of the race it's not the best use of my time to try to get a few minutes faster there. Likewise, my run is solid. But I feel like I can get faster and stronger on the bike, and improvement there will give me the best bang for the buck, so to speak. So my plan for the balance of the training time is to maintain fitness on the swim and run, improve on the bike, and get to the start line healthy.

For the past few months I've been going to one Orange Theory Fitness class a week and it seems to be a great addition to my routine. The hourlong class is equal parts weight training and high intensity interval cardio, and I find that both of those aspects fill previous holes in my training. I've long known I needed to add some strength training but never enjoyed it. I'm sure it would be better to do it more than once a week but this is 30 minutes more per week than I was doing before. And the HIIT training has forced me to push myself harder and realize I can do more than I thought. I was able to work at an average heart rate of 164 over the RNR Half, which I don't think I could have done before. So with OTF as part of my routine going forward I'm optimistic for 70.3 and into the fall.My plan for the rest of the summer is to keep active most days but without a specific schedule. I may add a 2nd OTF class in the week, run, rollerblade, whatever gets me out the door. I'll shift focus to half marathon training by early September.

New year, new challenge

Tomorrow will mark one month since the Dallas Marathon but it already feels like it was a long time ago. Partly that's because of the holidays but it's also because I shifted focus pretty quickly to my next big event and put the marathon in the rearview.

What's next? Well, March 22 brings the Rock N Roll Half Marathon. It'll be my 3rd year to do this race and it's my favorite half. Good course, well-run event. If all goes to plan I'll earn a new PR there. But it's also a training race ahead of something bigger. I also won a free registration to the CapTexTri in Austin on May 25 so that will be my second international distance triathlon. That too will be a fun event and nice to race in familiar surroundings. But it's not my A race either, it'll be a training race.

My big event for this year is the Victoria, BC 70.3 Half Ironman. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run. Almost twice as far as my longest tri to date and will be my longest endurance event ever (except labor, which is its own category of endurance event!). How did we get here? It's been years in the making.

I remember years ago when my friend Meredith talked about training with Team in Training for a half ironman. Back then I had never done an endurance event and it sounded so intimidating. But it planted a seed. Maybe someday. A few years later I did my first triathlon, a super sprint in 2008. I had such poor running form I got a stress fracture running to train for it. (Yes, you can get a stress fracture running less than 15 miles a week, apparently. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise though as it forced me to learn proper form.)

I remember at one point writing out the race distances of various tris on post-its and sticking them up at my desk. I'd look at them and think it through. At that point I was more of a cyclist so I imagined my limiting factor would be the run.

After Daniel was born in summer 2010 I decided I wanted to try my first half marathon. If I could make it through 37 hours of unmedicated labor, how hard could it be to put one foot in front of the other for a few hours? But my goal was a year too ambitious as I adjusted to life with a newborn, so it wasn't till fall 2011 I began training for the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon. That fall at age 33 I became a runner and even before I crossed that finish line I knew this wasn't a one-off but the first of many. 6 more halfs followed in the next 6 months, along with 2 sprint tris, then as I got deeper into my pregnancy with Rebecca, I took some time off but looked ahead to bigger goals in coming years.

My goal for 2013 was to complete my first marathon and I did. In June 2014 I did my first international distance triathlon at the Playtri Festival in downtown Las Colinas, practically in my backyard. My race day didn't go particularly well, to be honest, due in no small part to the heat. Still, it led me to believe I could take the next step to the half ironman distance.

I've never done a destination event-Austin doesn't really count to me since I grew up there and my parents still live there. But none of the 70.3 events in Texas grabbed my interest. And I've always loved western Canada. Initially I was looking to the Calgary 70.3 in late July but then I saw the Victoria event-new to the Ironman series but a 20 year old event. The mid-June date was ideal for several reasons-cooler temps on race day, I avoid training in the heat of summer here, and I can take a few weeks off afterward and still have a solid base to head into marathon season.

I also liked what I read about the course. A one-loop lake swim that's wetsuit-eligible but not freezing, a 2-loop bike course, and best of all, a shaded run course through the woods around the lake. Compared to the miserable run I experienced in my tri last summer with no scenery and no reprieve from the heat, this sounded perfect. I'd been to Victoria once on a family vacation when I was younger and thought it would be fun to go back. Kevin and the kids will come but so will my parents and an aunt and uncle. It'll be fun to explore the city with them and have a big cheering section on race day.

So finally, after weeks of thinking about it, on my 36th birthday I registered for my first half ironman. One of the races I'd looked at on a post-it years ago was going to become reality. I hadn't felt such butterflies submitting my registration for an event since that White Rock Half in 2011. I was going to take the next step and become a Half Ironman finisher.

June 14 feels so far away yet also so close. 5 months from tonight, I'll go to bed in a Victoria hotel after laying out all my race gear. I'll rise early the next morning, dress, have breakfast, and head out to the race site. As the race start approaches I'll put my wetsuit on. Before the race starts I'll hear O Canada sung by a singer and many of my fellow racers. When it's my wave's turn, I'll hop into some cold chest-deep water and, when the gun goes off, begin to swim. After the longest race distance I'll have ever swum (though not much further than the .9 mile international distance), I'll run out of the water, take off the wetsuit, and head out for a few hours on the bike. I'll probably see family members as I head out on the 2nd loop but mostly, it'll just be me and a hilly bike course by the ocean. 2 loops later I'll run into transition, re-rack my bike, switch to running shoes, and only 13.1 miles will stand between me and my goal of finishing my first half ironman. 

Finally, many hours after I first hopped in that water, 7 months after signing up, almost 10 years after the seed was first planted, and after hundreds of hours and miles of training, the moment I've visualized many times already will come. I'll finish my second loop of the run course and I'll take the fork that leads to the finisher chute. I'll see my family cheering, see the excitement on my kids' faces as I make them proud, hear the announcer call my name. And then I'll cross the finish line and forever join the ranks of the half ironman finishers. I'll get my finisher's medal, celebrate with family and then, somehow, drag my tired, sore body out of bed early the next morning to fly back home.

It's still 5 months away but I've got plenty to do between now and then to get myself to race shape. Having just finished marathon training I've got a great running training base to build on, but I haven't done much biking and swimming in awhile. So it is that after not darkening the doorstep of my gym for months, I'm back several days a week to ride the stationary bikes or do spin class (it's too cold to ride outside, and I don't feel like setting up the trainer yet) and swim. Right now I'm just looking to do base-building for the swim and bike and prepare for the RNR Half in running. I'll always consider myself a runner first and foremost but tris bring a nice change of pace and while I'll always prefer exercising outside to a gym, it's nice to have some variety in my schedule instead of just running, running, running.

1.2 mile swim. 56 mile bike. 13.1 mile run. A goal that seemed so far away years ago on a post-it. Now just 5 short months away. I'm excited and a little terrified all at once. But I know I can do it, and can't wait for race day to arrive. This year I get to do a half ironman!