44 Days

I am such a bad blogger mommy.  This poor thing has been neglected for MONTHS!  It's weird.  I can't help but compare my CAC training to what I did for Lake Placid in 2011.  Blogging included.  I loved chronicling all my new adventures while I logged more miles than I ever thought I could.  This year, I'm logging the miles, but it doesn't feel "new" to me.  I'm not saying it's easy; it's far from that. It's just different. I don't feel like I need to tell the world what I've been up to.  And that's ok.  Until now!

Here's what I've been up to since February!

My thoughts on biking indoors during the worst winter EVER

My favorite winter running outfit.  VERY visible and warm.

MARCH
My legs took a little longer to recover from the Feb half than I would have liked.  So training went on but it was a little easier for a week or so. I was able to get outside on the bike for the first time and that was awesome!

First outdoor bike ride down the shore! It was also the first time I wore my new spermy aero helmet

The good thing about March was that my consistency picked upped immensely and I really started to get back on track after being sick and sick of snow in February.

Looks pretty right?  That is until you have to SHOVEL it!

I also raced!  Well, my performance was more of a, "hey let's see if my legs remember how to run after a riding a bike" kinda race.  It was the Central Park Duathlon and this is a race I've done a few times when I lived in the city.  Of course, it POURED all night and was very cold at the start of the race.  Every time I've raced this I've always come in first place in my age group.  Now, this was not an A race by any means, but it's always fun to win, so I expected the best out of myself.  After a tough run the day before, my racing legs did not show up on the run.  I finished about 5 minutes slower than the past years and came in third in my age group.  I was pretty disappointed.  It also showed that I can't just show up to a race and expect to win my age group. If you live in or near NYC, this is a really fun duathlon to do! I recommend it!

Poor dirty Roo post-race

APRIL
April brought even more outdoor riding (hooray!) and another half marathon.  I traveled down the shore to my parents house and biked the CAC bike loop on a Saturday.  It was great to see the very flat course and to battle the winds!  I was seriously either going 22 mph or 11!  It was nuts.  But it was a very solid outdoor ride on the course so I can't complain.

My Roo trying to stay upright up during the windiest part of the course.

The very next day I ran the Atlantic City Half Marathon. I was going to do a long run anyway so I figured running on the boardwalk would be good prep for CAC.  I had a blast running this half marathon!  I loved that the race start was in a Casino, Revel, and it was my very first flat half marathon.

Play slots before a half marathon?! Sure!

Again, I thought I could go under 1:50 here, but after the long bike the day before that did not happen. But I came close to a PR, at 1:51:37.  I also recommend this Half Marathon as a good spring option.

Beer, beach, boardwalk, sun and a medal.  A perfect Sunday.

The rest of April brought on longer and longer bike rides and runs.  I did a 4 hour ride on Long Beach Island.  The Island is 18 miles long so that meant I went tip-to-tip 4 times!  It was tedious but really beneficial for staying aero and practicing on a flat course.

Roo resting at the Barnegat Lighthouse!

MAY
I raced my first Half Ironman of the year at Bassman.  It's a low key, super UNorganized race, but it was perfect timing to test how my fitness was coming along.  I swam in the lake the day before the race and that helped me kick some of my "oh my god lake zombies are going to eat me" thoughts. The day of the race I was nervous and I felt like a newbie setting up transition for the very first time.  I got myself together and got in the water early to get used to the cold.  I try and do this for every race because it eases my anxiety of open water swimming. The gun went off and I didn't have any panic attacks!  Hooray!  I've been logging some long swims (minus the times my pool has been closed but that is another story for another time) so I was curious to see how it translated to open water.  I thought I would be done around 36/37 minutes but I came out at 39.  I didn't feel tired or any real discomfort so I'm not sure why I was so slow!

No swimming?! Liars!

I spent too much time in T1 trying to figure out what I wanted to do.  But I got out of there and hopped on my Roo for a fast and flat 56 mile ride!  I cannot say it enough -- I LOVE my Roo.  I feel so comfortable on her and we were having a really solid ride.  I wanted to break 3 hours on the 3-loop course and I was on my way to do that until I got a flat at the beginning of my third loop!  Gosh darn it!  But I am really proud of what happened next.  I didn't get flustered.  Say what?! I didn't cry, curse (ok well maybe a little bit) or freak out.  I just changed my rear tube out and was back on the road within 7 minutes.  My tire actually had a gash in it so I knew I was on borrowed time at that point.  So I booked it through the last loop and made it back into transition in 3:04.  So close to my goal!  I would have been under if I didn't get a flat!

Love my chevron kit!

My legs felt a little fatigued and I worried that I went too hard on the bike.  I wanted to run around a 1:53ish half mary.  Well, folks, that did not happen.  I ran a 1:59, just sneaking in under the 2 hour mark.  I ate all of my planned nutrition on the bike so I wasn't in the hole, but I was just tired.  I guess because this was my first 5+ hour day and I didn't have the time on my feet I needed to run well. The bottoms of my feet just hurt and I could not get them to move. The only thing that really kept me moving was what I was telling myself. "Listen up Jill.  If you think this hurts and think this is hard.... just WAIT til you're running a marathon AFTER a 112 mile bike!  Suck it up!"  I scared myself really bad by saying all this but it's true.  If I can't keep it together during a half, how can I keep it together at CAC?! I made it to the finish line in 5:46, a 5+ minute PR. My "in my head" goal was 5:3X so I was close!  As for the race itself.... if you want to dust off the tri cobwebs in the early season without any frills, this race is fine.  This is not a race with big fanfare, music or organization.

Empty finish line makes me look like I creamed my competition!

It was a successful race and I wound up winning my age group and coming in 6th woman overall. I also learned what I need to work on.  I think my biggest limiter was not having many brick runs.  My Coach has been remedying that cause the very next weekend I had a 5 hour bike with a 2 mile run THEN a 2 1/2 hour run the next day.  It was a huge weekend and I was tired and I was cranky and I had no idea how I was gonna run for over 2 hours on Sunday.  But you know what, I did it.  It wasn't pretty, but I did it.

Hanging with my pup post 15.5 mile run.

THIS is was ironman training is about.  It's about forcing yourself to do things you either never thought you would or thought you couldn't do.  I haven't been the most positive during this training cycle, especially compared to Placid training.  Sometimes I even ask myself why I signed up to do this.  I strongly believe you shouldn't sign up for an ironman unless you are a 1000x sure you want to do one. Because it's pretty darn tough.  But... I am tougher.  I've made it through almost 5 months of training in the worst winter we've had in years, the busiest work schedule I've had in years, plus a longer commute from my new home and I'm doing it.  I am training for my second ironman race.  I am my worst critic and I am very hard on myself when it comes to training and racing.  I like to succeed.  I like to see certain numbers on my watch.  But I also need to realize I have 6 weeks left to train and enhance my fitness.  I will be hurting these next 6 weeks but all the pain will disappear once I cross that finish line.  It's a feeling like no other!

What an awesome, awesome feeling!

Happy Training folks! 44 days til Challenge Atlantic City!