Sorry it has been so long since the last post.

 

Lots has happened, mostly though there will be no half marathon in December.  A combination of cost to travel and lots of aches and pains from the knees down made me have to pull out of the race.  I got up to 9 miles and everything just hurt.  I realized I had been training since January with out any break other than a few days.  I think my body just needed to rest.  So I am done racing for now.

 

It has been about 4 weeks since then and tomorrow starts ...

P90X

If I am not moving on Wednesday you will know why :)

I am planning on keeping track of my weight loss and measurements right in on the internet for all too see.

9 miles in 1:27:00.  That is the farthest I have EVER run. 

I am feeling it today.

WOWSERS!!! My knees hurt.

WOW!  It has been awhile since I posted here!!  Maybe because I haven't been doing any training!! HA

I took a week off after my last race.  I was just tired.  That week earned me a few extra pounds but it was worth it.

This week I was supposed to start my training for the half marathon and that sort of happened.

Monday - ran 4 miles

Tuesday - was sore, did nothing

Wednesday - had great intentions, did nothing

Thursday - Went on a easy bike ride (I don't know how many miles -- I forget my watch!!!)

Friday - did nothing

Saturday - Ran 7 miles in 1:06!  I felt pretty dang good!!  I found a great run, I will definitely be running it again.  Other than the WICKED hill about halfway through it was one of the prettiest runs I have been on. Seriously I didn't know there were even hill like that in my town!

It was one of those runs were the weather is just right, the scenery is beautiful, the MP3 player is rocking, the legs are feeling good.  Runner's high seriously kicked in at the end.  It made me really thing for the first time that I could actually do this half marathon.  And maybe even do it well.

Next week the training starts anew!   

I did one last race this past weekend.  I was feeling great after my race 2 weekends ago, I decided to throw one more in before the summer comes to a complete end.

It was at Yuba Lake.  About an hour away from my house.  That means the alarm went off at 5:05am.  Seriously dark outside.  Once again had that thought to roll back over and go back to sleep.

850 open water swim.

12.5 mile bike ride

5k run

 

I LOVED this race.  I wasn't as fast as I had wanted to be but the race itself, where it was, how it was run and the course were really great. 

SWIM

The swim was in the shallow boat ramp part and it was not cold at all.  Not to warm either.  There were no wave starts, we all took off at the same time.  I actually really liked that, I wasn't expecting too. 

This was my second open water swim and it felt ALOT better than the first time.  I actually freestyle swam the entire way, only stopping to spot which way I was going.  In fact after the first buoy (we swam in a triangle) I looked up and found what I thought was the next buoy.  Turns out I spotted the buoy at the finish of the swim.  Thankfully a volunteer who was hanging out at the first buoy grabbed my leg and asked where in the heck I was going!!!  I hadn't gotten far, Thank goodness!!!

The swim took me 20 minutes.  I was out of the water towards the front of the pack.  That made me very happy.

BIKE

The course was a great course.  It was kind of rolling hills.  No huge ups or downs.  The only part I kind of didn't like was we turned onto a frontage road and it was a ooober crappy bumpy road.  We were not in it for too long.  It was an out and back course.

The first half of the bike I was feeling great!  Then just after the turn around I just SUCKED.  I am not sure at all what happened.  I was getting passed left and right by people on freaking crappy commuter bikes while I am peddling as hard as I can.  I was very frustrated. 

The bike took me 43 minutes.  The first half was 19 minutes and the second was 24 minutes.

RUN

The run.  What can I say?  I was told that part of it was on dirt.  Okay it was actually more like half of it.  I just wasn't expecting that.  Running on dirt is always slower for me.  I stare at my feet so worried that I am going to roll an ankle.   I just wish I had know how much of it was dirt.  Next time I will be more prepared.  It was mostly flat with a few small hills.

It took me 31 minutes.  Way SLOW!! So embarrassing!!  That should have been at least 3-4 minutes faster. 

TRANSITIONS

I was pretty happy with my transitions.  No major hold ups or nothing.  That has actually never happened before.  Nathan helped strip my wetsuit off me so that helped a lot.

 

I am so planning on this race next year.  I am excited to do the same races next summer as I did this summer so I can really compare and see how much better (or worse) and am getting.

So I had so much fun doing my last triathlon I decided to do anther this weekend. 

Apparently falling on my bike was so much fun I feel the need to do it again :) 

Either that or I am just avoiding starting to train for the half marathon.

So the race this weekend is another sprint:

800m open water swim

12.4 mile bike

3.1 mile run

I have heard that the part of the lake we swim in is quite shallow, so it should be nice and warm.  That will be nice!!

Results to follow!!

One more race is HISTORY!!

Does anyone else ever question why they do these races when you alarm goes off at 5:30am?

How about when you get to the race and are unloading all your stuff and it is still dark outside?

I certainly did on Saturday :)

 

I am not sure why but I just wasn't as nervous for this race as I have been for other races. 

This particular race is a charity race to raise money for a new dental clinic for the homeless.  I did this race last year but the novice length.

So that being said I cannot complain too much about how it is organized.  Or not organized the race was, it is all by volunteers.

When I picked up my packet on Friday afternoon they wanted to body mark me!  Really?

Then when I got there Sat. morning I learned they would be no timing chips!  Really?

We started about 45 minutes late. For no reason other than un-organization.

But once we got going it was good.

The weather was great, cool and a little cloudy.

 

The swim was in a pool and you self seeded yourself by time.  The people I were around did a pretty good job of it because until the second to the last lap I never got passed nor passed anyone.  The guy who passed me annoyed me though because the next lane over he decided to start doing the breast stroke and then won't let me pass him.   I think his ego got in the way of a girl passing him. :)

Got out of the water in I have no idea how fast or slow since there where no timing chips.  It felt fine.  I am assuming it was close to my goal.

 

Hopped on my bike, got out on the road and hit a nasty head wind!!!  It was so frustrating because I knew I wasn't going as fast as I needed to to hit my goal.

The course was a 2 loop one and with a FUN downhill and a short but STEEP hill back up.

I was half way up the hill and tried to shift my front de-railer.

WHAM off comes the entire chain!!!

With my feet clipped in and losing all momentum that fast I went DOWN!!!

I am the scrapes and bruises to prove it.

I had to hop off and get my chain back on, then walk up the rest of the hill.

Get going again and am trying to now make up for the head wind and the fall.

Get back around to the hill and shift again.

WHAM off comes the entire chain!!! AGAIN!!!

You have got to be kidding me!!

Put the chain back on, again.

So needless to say my bike was 42 minutes (according to my Garmin)

7 minutes slower than I wanted but I figure stopping twice and then having to run up the hill (no way I am starting on a hill!!!!) takes all those 7 minutes.

 

The run was fantastic.  It was also a 2 loop course.  I have just decided that the first 3/4 of a mile SUCK.  The self doubt that goes on in my head and the jello feeling in my legs is terrible.  I had to really focus in order to get past it all.

Then I hit the half way point looked down at my watch and I was cruising at a 8:30 pace.  It was felt good and I cruised through the second lap and crossed the finish line.  I did the run in 28:30 minutes (I think, I forgot to stop my watch right at the finish line.  I always do that!!)

 

According the the times they posted at the race before I left it took me 1:18.  When they posted the results online it said 1:25.  I don't know what to believe.  Again the entire organizational thing.  I am going with the 1:18 because that is faster :)

Time to set some goals!

My last triathlon of the season is Saturday.  It is a short one (even for Sprint distance).  I did this one last year as my first one ever, but I did the novice race.  Hey, I had only trained for 3 weeks for it!!!

400m swim = 9:06

10.5 mile bike = 35:00

3.1 mile run = 28:00 minutes

 

I plan on going all out for this race.  Even if it means I fall down after the finish line.  I want to see what my body can do.  So I will update next week on how I did. 

I plan on taking a few days off then I start my training for a half marathon in December.  No worries, it is in warmer weather -- Las Vegas!!