last week in photos

highlights

• awesome 67 mile bike ride, had the company of a friend for half of it which always makes a ride better
• fast and easy 13 mile run 
• red mango frozen yogurt
• gorgeous weather
• spending time with dave, dash & family

5/5/2012-5/9/2012 in pictures

February in review

February Stats:

Running: 87.2 miles, 12:39 hours, average pace of 8:43 min/mile

Swimming: 26,000 yards, 9:20 hours, average pace of 2:07 min/yard (debatable, includes extra resting.  I don't wear a watch at Master's and always just use the whole time I'm in the pool to log, not just time moving. 100s are comfortable on the 1:40ish for me now.

Biking: no mileage since it's all indoor, 16 hours

All of these are sure to increase in March. I'm feeling pretty good this month though, didn't miss any workouts. Nailed my tempo run yesterday (6 miles with 4 at 7:43, 7:32, 7:30, 7:30). My legs surprised me when they showed up for that run since my 12 miler a few days before was a huge struggle (average 9:10, so not awful). I felt like crap and just got through it. Those are the runs that make us stronger though. And then my run just 13 hours before the tempo, on Tuesday evening was 9:48/mile which was the slowest I've been in awhile, so I thought I was sure to struggle with Wednesday morning's tempo run but I actually didn't at all and my legs felt great.

We also did one of my favorite swim workouts at the pool this morning, so that was good too!

Not too much else going on ... most of the wedding planning is done. I need my bridesmaids to pick their dresses, our Save the Dates to be finalized and sent out ... and a few other things but we have all of our vendors besides transportation so we're doing pretty decent.

Dash is awesome as always, she's getting so big and so smart. We've been doing puppy training and she's doing really well, graduation is on Saturday!

That's about it these days ....

2012 Schedule

Yep, I know it's the middle of February but I just finished figuring out this years race schedule

March 31 - Cooper River Bridge Run (10K)
May 20 - Columbia Triathlon
June 16 - Patriot Half
July 21 - GETTING MARRIED
August 18 - Age Group Nationals
September 9 - Pumpkinman Half

October - Honeymoon and buy a house

Looks like a low key, relaxed 2012 is ahead ... yeah right. 

As if we weren't crazy enough by getting a puppy, getting married and having me do 2 half distance triathlons and 2 Olympic distance triathlons, now we're looking into buying a house this year. 

We are insane. But might as well get it all done at once, right? 

All I know is 2013 better be relatively calm in comparison.

And now that I have my schedule decided, it's time to buckle down and lose some weight both for racing and the wedding. I need to be accountable, so here it is. I currently weight (as of 2/13/2012) 134.8 and my goal weight for 06/16/2012 is 120. ~15 pounds in 18 weeks ... may be a bit difficult with training but it should be do-able. Just need to cut out the unhealthy snacks and soda once and for all and focus on eating real food, which I/we do most of the time anyway. And Dave is on board which always helps.

2012 Houston Half Marathon

2 weeks ago, my coach emailed me a goal time for the Houston Half Marathon. The goal was 1:40:24. I admit, I freaked out a bit seeing this. My previous half marathon PR was 1:48:3x. But my training had gone well ... still 13.1 miles with average minute per mile under 8 min? I wasn't so sure. But I knew I wanted to give it my all. So going in, my A goal was 1:40:24 or faster, my A- goal was sub 1:43, my B goal sub 1:45 and my C goal was a new PR.

We got to Houston on Friday after leaving Boston at 6:30am. I went with Dave & my mom. Our first stop was the expo, which was big and well organized. I did a pull up hang for 60+ seconds at the Marine's station to get a coffee mug. That killed my arms. After the expo we headed to my uncle's house, where we were staying. We hit up Whole Foods for lunch and it was delish! After lunch, Dave & I went for an easy 4 mile run, it was warm out! My legs felt great during this run and I was feeling good. We had a delicious dinner that night and went to bed before 8.

Saturday morning we were up at 6:30am and heading into Houston at 7am. Thank God for Starbucks! Needed my coffee. We watched the Olympic Marathon Trials that morning and it was so inspiring. I was so happy for the top 3, and devastated for the 4th place finishers. It was amazing to be there watching these athletes accomplishing the goals they had been working so hard for. We saw the runners at mile 2, 10, 18 and 26. I loved watching Meb finish especially, he was so thrilled!

We spent the rest of Saturday relaxing and fueling. I watched the first half of the Patriots game on Saturday night, I was very thankful they had a sizable lead so I could go to bed early. Dave, of course, stayed up to watch.

I slept surprisingly well that night until waking up for good at 4am. I took my time eating and getting ready before we left at 5am. There was a bit of traffic getting there but not too bad. We porta potty hopped until finishing some with basically no lines, after taking care of business, it was off to the corrals. Since I was in Corral A, I had to be in by 6:40am. Then I just stood around for 20 minutes, boring ... took a gel and retied my right shoe at least 3 times. I think the retying thing comes from my figure skating days.

At 7am, we were off. It was a bit crowded for the first mile. And there was an bit of an uphill but I was fine, settling in well.

(Garmin splits, 1.01 time (pace))
Mile 1: 8:02 (7:57)
Mile 2: 7:38 (7:33), definitely spread out here ... didn't realize I ran the 2nd mile this fast, probably a bit of a mistake.
Mile 3: 7:42 (7:37), don't remember anything other than joining the marathoners here
Mile 4: 7:41 (7:36) ... find the 3:20 marathon pace group and try to run just behind them ... they're going a bit faster than I expected though
Mile 5: 7:33 (7:29) ... ooops
Mile 6: 7:34 (7:29) ... consistent at least ... ideally I should have been in the high 730s here I'm thinking. Took a gel with caffeine here ...
Mile 7: 7:39 (7:34) ... feeling good
Mile 8: 7:37 (7:32), I remember thinking just hold it in the 730s for 2 more miles, I can drop down to the 720s the last 5K and maybe run sub 140 ...
Mile 9: 7:40 (7:35), separate from the marathoners here
Mile 10: 7:43 (7:38) ... take another gel and try to drop the pace but can't ... just hang on to the 730s ...
Mile 11: 7:49 (7:44) and we're heading in the wrong direction ... keep repeating 1 line mantras to myself ... cannot stop, cannot walk, just go ... you can do anything for 20 minutes
Mile 12: 7:51 (7:46), just hanging on
Mile 13: 7:44 (7:39), ok maybe sub 141? Into the wind here, it sucked
Last .11: 7:12 pace
Total: 1:41:00 and I'm thrilled. Not sub 1:40, not 1:40:24 but a 7+ min PR and a great race for me!

Lessons learned:
- Still need to hold back for the first few miles
- I can run a whole half marathon without walking
- I am mentally strong
- Setting hard too reach goals is a good thing
- I need to believe in myself more, my coach knew I could do it, I was doubtful.
- Don't do a pull up hang the day before - my arms and shoulders were killing after the race
- Concrete sucks to run on

I'm still feeling great about this race, yeah I didn't reach my goal but I was close and I will get under 1:40 next time! I usually have major stomach issues during and after races and I didn't deal with this at all ... so awesome.

A quote that really describes how I've been feeling:

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."
~ Michelangelo

Up next: Cooper River Bridge Run (10K) ... not sure if I'm racing it or running it yet.

2012

2012 is going to be a big year for me. I'm getting married. As if that's not enough, I'm also going to be training for my first (and second) half ironman. I think a lot of people think I'm crazy to do this but for me, I need more than one big thing to focus on. That doesn't mean I won't get stressed out or everything will go perfectly smoothly but I'm pretty sure I can do it. I have a lot of help, my fiance especially. He makes us dinner every night so that I can just come home and relax. He doesn't care that I go to bed before 9pm most nights of the week and he does a lot of the cleaning too. I'm very blessed to have him. I also only work 4 days a week, so I have a whole extra day to rest and work out. So while the next 7+ months will probably be crazy, they'll be manageable and fun too! Of course, we're adding a 4 month old puppy to the mix on Monday so we must love the crazy!

Isn't she adorable?

But before Dash comes home, we're off to Houston for a race. Dave & I are both racing the Houston Half Marathon on Sunday. I have a pretty big goal. When I got my schedule for this month from my coach, I freaked out a little when I saw the time goal. But she knows I can do it and so do I. I'm going to have to be mentally tough for sure. Being mentally tough is definitely harder for me than being physically tough. I mean I was a figure skater for years, and I fell so many times everyday. My body is used to pain, it's used to falling and hurting. But my head has always held me back and it's time for me to fight that. I posted this on facebook yesterday:

“The greatest battle is not physical but psychological. The demons telling us to give up when we push ourselves to the limit, cannot be silenced for good. They must always be answered by the dignity that simply refuses to give in: Courage. We all suffer. Keep going.” — Graeme Fife

I'm going to be courageous this weekend. Yeah, I'm going to suffer but that's a part of racing. I'm ready to push myself out of my comfort zone. This is my year.