With little training, I was pleasantly surprised with my
performance last weekend. I came in 7th in my age division and had a
great race with no injuries, flat tires or shark bites, great weather and great
support. For this race I felt like I was actually competing against people
instead of watching everyone fly by me. Granted I still felt like that during
the swim, but on the bike and run course I was actually PASSING people. I have
a lot of swim work to do before my next race since it’s without a doubt my
weakest area, but overall it felt really great. And FUN! Again… love the sprint
distances. For anyone reading this who hasn’t done a tri (but I know you
wannnnt tooooo!!), please do what normal people do & sign up for the sprint
distance FIRST.
Do as I say, not as I do ;)
Now I can “fully” concentrate on my upcoming marathon. Yes I
know – it never ends! I have about 5 weeks to feel comfortable running 26.2
miles, which at this point seems really scary and unattainable. WHY a FULL
marathon?? It hurts. The training hurts my body more than it did for the
triathlon. I’m also still swimming a few times a week & incorporating yoga
in as much as I can for cross-training. I’m realizing that training for a
marathon requires yoga and foam rollers as much as it does running!
It’s crazy to think that one year ago I was training for the
half-marathon which, at the time, seemed like a huge undertaking. Now I’m running
distances longer than the half as my TRAINING runs. My legs are absolutely not
happy about this, but my ego thinks it’s pretty cool. As much as I complain, I
really love it though. Not the pain, but everything else. Pushing your body
(& mind a lot of the time) and being temporarily (super) uncomfortable is
worth the rewards that come with it. Double entendre? Kidding?
Not sure that I
can be a marathon advocate as much as one for doing a triathlon at this point.
Will keep you posted as promised. I can say though… running 15 miles yesterday
has erased ALL guilt of me sitting here right now listening to Louis Armstong’s
“La Vie En Rose”, enjoy the “Fall” weather & write… with chai tea… and
cookies… sleeping in until 8, even. I’m not sure I can sell you on running 20+
miles, but I can sell you on how great recovery days can be.
I’ll try & do
a better job keeping up with blogging with my last few intense weeks of
training for the year. I’m hoping I won’t have too many training woes. Maybe I’ll
just it into a running forum: ex: “what 4-5 hours of music do you listen to on your iPod?”, “how long am I allowed to stay in the ice bath?”
I digressed a bit
from my original plan to have this entry be a race report on Carp. So…. ahhh, yes
basically Carp is really as great as everyone says it is & I would most definitely
do it again. J
P.S. If anyone knows
great Seattle running routes (cough, Maddie) let me know
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