Summer Training Update

I’ve got to be honest…I haven’t posted a training update in quite some time because I felt like a broken record.  I mean, there are only so many things one can say and so many pictures one can post about their training.  So, I took a hiatus.

But lots of things are going on and I feel I have something new to say! 🙂  So here is a long overdue training update:

Let’s start with swimming – tris do

Swimming.  When I look back to the time I started in February, I can hardly believe it.  Don’t get me wrong……I am not the best swimmer…YET.  I can’t even believe that I was afraid to swim 200 yards in the tri that is coming up NEXT WEEKEND.  I am now doing actual workouts in the pool, including some speed workouts.  I NEVER thought that I would be able to do that!  I have gained so much confidence in the pool.  I feel so empowered because I stuck with it through the SUCK even though I wanted to do ANYTHING except swim!  I have transformed from thinking I could never swim 200 yards in a triathlon to believing that I can (and will) swim 2.4 (eventually) in an IRONMAN.  The feeling of conquering another demon is indescribable!

The challenges of the bike

First, I’ll share the saga of trying to secure a tri bike.  I had decided to try to find a used one so that I wouldn’t appear like I had completely lost my mind in the eyes of my family.  Plus, I mean, what if I don’t actually like triathlons and decide to get out of it??  It was a real struggle to decide what to do.  In May, I found one on eBay, won the auction and was on my way to transitioning into the time trial bike world.  The bike arrived and I took it to the bike shop to be assembled.  The guy from the shop had offered to look it over to make sure that all was OK in case of any damage.  When he started the build, he texted me to tell me that the derailleur and rear dropout were damaged.  He told me that he wouldn’t repair the dropout – that repaired it would still be weak and prone to break at anytime.  I started a claim with eBay and the seller started a claim with FedEx.  FedEx *supposedly* had ten business days to get to work on the claim.  Ten business days came and went and I contacted the seller, who in turn contacted FedEx, who in turn said they had send the original requests for info to eBay <FACE PALM>.  Things moved pretty quickly the next few days…I sent the seller info for the claim as requested by FedEx and then heard nothing for a couple weeks.  I finally asked eBay to step in, as things didn’t seem to be moving with the FedEx claim and honestly, that is the seller’s deal.  He was ultimately responsible for the bike arriving safely, whether he got a reimbursement from FedEx or not.  eBay instructed the seller to send me a return label for the bike and arrange for pick-up.  After that, the seller had 3 days to refund my money.  When I realized that I would actually be getting a refund (YAY!!), I started looking for bikes again.

I ended up finding a bike in Dallas and actually went to look at it the day after the bike was picked up by FedEx.  My good friend, Josh, told me in no uncertain terms that I WOULD NOT be going alone and that I would be picking him up on my way.  LOL  I mean, everyone needs a friend that could double as a bodyguard, right?!?  Seriously though, I really appreciate his concern and his friendship even more!

He is seriously one of my BEST friends!

I checked values online just to make sure the price was in line with what the seller was asking (and they were) and Josh and I were off for an adventure!  I loved the bike, of course, and the fact that he offered Zipp wheels as part of the deal pretty much made it hard to turn down!  If there was any doubt about how the bike had been cared for, it was all removed when the guy practically refused to leave it with me.  He was clearly VERY attached to it and hated to sell it.  At one point, I thought he might be about to cry.

Since getting the bike, I took it to a tri shop to have it fitted.  However, while I was there I learned that the front wheel was recalled and the tri shop took care of sending it in for repair.  I feel lucky that it was caught, actually, because apparently Zipp had just issued the recall.  Soooooo, that is going to take another 3-4 weeks to get back so I’ll be racing with regular wheels next weekend.  LOL

Other than that, things are going OK on the bike.  I think I have transitioned to tri bike fairly well, but I still don’t feel that confident about what I’ll be able to do come race day.  I’m trying not to focus on that….I’ll do the best I can and learn from it so that next time will be better.

Run, Jen, Run!

Running has been going very well.  I think I can safely say that the psoas issue has been put to bed.  When I first returned to running mid-May, in my mere 3 weeks off the weather had gotten very warm.  Throw in the psoas that was still a quite angry and it was a recipe for feeling very inadequate.  It was a struggle, physically and mentally.  There were days that I went out, ran a less-than-stellar run (by my assessment, anyway) and questioned my sanity for trying to qualify for Boston.  I allowed quite a bit of negative self-talk for a while.  I know how detrimental that negative self-talk can be and I finally had enough and stopped it.  I had to reassess and re-prioritize my expectations.  Seriously, I had already expected to be slower during the summer heat…..why was this such a surprise??  In any case, when I stopped the negativity going on in my brain, my fitness started responding.  Maybe it was absence of negativity.  Maybe it was just that I was finally getting acclimated to the heat.  Regardless, I can tell my fitness is improving and I never even know my psoas is there!!  Speed work is even starting to creep back to a satisfactory level.

This pic doesn’t do the heat justice.

Cue the races

Pioneer Power Sprint Tri

Next weekend, I will be racing in my very first triathlon!  I am so excited and incredibly nervous at the same time.  This will be a sprint tri: 200 yard pool swim, 16.1 (hilly) bike, 3.1 run.  I can’t believe I was so afraid of the swim in the beginning.  Now I’m scared to death that I’m going to bomb the bike!  LOL

Seriously though, I am going in looking at this as a learning experience, so I’ll be happy with whatever the outcome is.  A neat twist is that this tri is held at Texas Woman’s University (Taylor’s undergrad alma mater) and she is racing it with me.  I am looking very forward to this mother-daughter race!

Hottest Half

This race is on August 14.  In Texas.  I know….I’m stupid.  In my defense, Brent told me to pick a half marathon in August as a warm-up for my next marathon….which I’ll talk about next!  My goal in this race is: NOT TO DIE.

Rochester Marathon (NY edition)

Way back when I was scheduled to do the 50 miler in November, Brent told me to find a hilly marathon in late September/early October as a warm up.  I ended up picking Rochester Marathon when I realized that a) it was in September; b) it was HILLY and c) my friend Jenn would be running it as her first marathon.  It was perfect!!!  The best thing is that I would be there with Jenn as she accomplished this big goal.

As the idea of trying to qualify for Boston tugged at my heartstrings more and more, I realized that there was no way I could train for the 50 miler and truly give my best to a BQ attempt.  I backed out of that race, but there was no way that I would back out of this marathon with my Sole Sister!  As soon as the triathlon is done, marathon training officially begins and I could not be more excited!!  I would LOVE to BQ at this race, but given the psoas setback and the fact that a BQ would have been a long shot in the first place due to the hills, I’m going to use it as a gauge of where I am and where I need to go.

Ragnar Hill Country Ultra

Who can say no to Ragnar and an Ultra??  This race is in October, so I should still have plenty of time to work on speed for my official BQ attempt at Houston Marathon in January.  This will be my first soiree with the trails and I. AM. PUMPED!  Plus, I get to run 31 miles with 3 other crazy Renegades….doesn’t get much better!

Beer Fit Beer Mile

Ok….this is just a bucket list item.  I’m running the Beer Mile in Dallas in November.  I may need to train for this, though, by DRINKING MORE BEER!

Dallas Marathon – Half

Oh my goodness, it pains me to type that.  I realllyyyyyyy want to run the full.  But, this is just a warm-up for the BQ attempt at Houston, so the half will have to do this year!

Houston Chevron Marathon

Even though this is still a long way away, this is going to be THE race of the year for me, obviously.  This will *hopefully* be the BQ race.  I am prepared to pour my heart and soul and body into training for this race and I plan to leave it ALL on the course.  Whatever happens will happen.  I actually do believe that I can run a 3:45, but I also know that anything can happen on any given race day.  So I am mentally preparing to do everything I can and I’ll be OK if the end result isn’t what I wanted.

IRONMAN Texas 70.3

Yes, you read that right.  I signed up for Galveston last week….the day that registration opened.  The fact that there isn’t a deferral option or refund policy is probably good – it will keep me from trying to find excuses to get out of it.

Honestly, though, I’m pretty darn excited (and freaking nervous)!  The biggest challenge, hands down, will not be the race itself but finding the time to train with club volleyball in full swing.  I’m going to take the Scarlett O’Hara approach and think about that tomorrow (or January, actually 😉

 

I’m so excited about the progress that I’ve been making and all the fun races that I have coming up.  I’m ready to ramp up the marathon miles!!

Happy Friday!

Jen