So, today was a really good day…truly getting excited about the big race! Last night, I posed a question to Tony regarding my upcoming Ironman……. I asked, “What have I gotten myself into?” He calmly replied by saying…..”I think you have a screw loose!” Awesome! I thinks he’s right. :)  It got me thinking about this crazy thing I do and how far I’ve come this year! Here’s a little recap and then some! 

This is my 4th year of doing triathlons and I can say it’s my first year that I really have been focused on improving my splits and pushing myself to do better each time. I came with a mindset ready to race!

Signing up for Ironman: I signed up for Ironman Arizona in November of 2008 and officially started training towards the end of May / beginning of June. I really hadn’t thought about doing an Ironman before last summer (well maybe a small inkling but that was before I had kids)…..even early last year (2008) I was happy just doing sprints. I told myself I didn’t need to do anything more than a sprint……that distance is just great and fine for me! Well....I started training and hanging out with David Garza! ;) Some how I signed up for my first olympic distance over the summer of ‘08 (Austin Tri) then my first half ironman in Oct. 2008 (Longhorn)......so….2 olympics, 3 half ironman races, and a dozen sprints later and I am doing a freaking Ironman. I remember David telling me on one of our long rides last summer that his wife, Mindy, and he decided that it was a great time for him to do an Ironman. I just said, “Have fun with that!”

Different start: The funny thing is that I started out the 2008 season with a super sprint race (500 meter swim, 11 mile bike and 2 mile run)…..and this year with a half iron distance (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run)…..quite a difference but I think it was a good decision!

Lonestar half Iron: My first race of the 2009 season was the half iron distance in April in Galveston (Lonestar). It was the second race I’d done at this distance and I was excited to do a race out of town. My friend, Kina, and I drove down together and really had fun.  I was excited for her as well b/c she was doing the Aquabike distance for the first time. Swimming at the gulf really wasn’t any different than swimming at Town Lake (other than a couple gulps of salt water). I did smell/taste what seemed like boat gasoline at one point……and that was gross, but not too choppy and it was pretty much a straight shot to our swim out. I felt really strong and overall had a good race. The only thing I fought was a horrible back pain and burning inner thighs on the bike (like on fire crazy burn). I stopped once at the very beginning b/c I felt like my back brake was rubbing (I always think that though….especially when I’m trying to keep up with David…ha)!  It was the first flat bike course I’d done……probably the first flat ride I’d ever done….. When you are used to hills you’d think flat would be easy…..it was actually a lot tougher than I thought it would be. You never get a break and always seem to be pushing those gears….especially when you wanna go fast!

I felt darn good on the run….maybe just happy to be off the bike, but I definitely had my running legs early on and didn’t slow down much at all. It was very windy that day…..there were certain spots on the run course that you knew were coming and you’d have to push through the wind with all your might……coming around certain corners without the wind was like heaven! I think it was a 4 loop run course so it was fun to see everyone and cheer on my friends out there. I had a smile on my face for most of the run….. :) I placed 2nd in my age division!! That was a great start to my season and helped set the mood for a great race season!



Skeese Greets Sprint:  The second race I did was a sprint in May…..yes! I love sprint distances b/c they are short and sweet and you get to go balls to the walls!! It’s a rush! So, I did the Skeese Greets and again got 2nd. I did this one in 2008 and got 3rd….I improved my run pace by a little and had a stronger bike……but slowed down on the swim…..dangit (overall improvement by 2 mins. though)!  


Tri it in Spanish and Pflugerville Tri: Next up would be Pflugerville Tri and a small sprint called Tri it in Spanish….that one was interesting…..pretty much all I can say about that. It was fun though b/c some of the tri group from LifeTime did it and it’s way more fun when there’s people there you can cheer on. I got overall female at Tri it in Spanish…..yahoo!
Lake Pflugerville Tri is a blast! Love this race…..very well organized, great course all the way around and it’s just the right size in terms of the amount of people there. I won my age group and got 4th overall……missing 3rd overall by 2 secs. That’s just how it goes! Again, a great race…..felt strong and finally got a sub 7 on my run. I put in a few weeks of track work in b/f this race (and a lot since then) with my run coach (Nick, who rocks) and it payed off. It’s definitely a love hate relationship with speed work b/c it is a killer, but man does it work. Honestly, I now miss being able to do those track workouts in the mornings……and holy cow was it a hot summer to pick up track work…….dreadful heat (guess it made me stronger though)!! I improved my time from last year’s race at Pflugerville by over 4 mins. 

Sweet!

More to come about 2009 race season!

11 days to go!!!