This morning Cory and I got up bright and early to head down to Greenland Open Space for our first 25k.
We got to the race easily, with plenty of time to wait in line for the port-a-potties and watch the 50k start. One of the coolest things about this race was being out on trail with people racing an ultra. I also liked that this was a no frills race, we picked up our packets that comprised of a number, chip and a tech-t, don’t need much else.
I left my camera at home so I don’t have many pictures from the day(whoops) but I did catch few before the start on my phone.
The race started on time and was small, all things I like. We knew that there wouldn’t be a lot of support on the course so we both carried our own water. There was an aid station at mile 3.5 and 7.7 of each loop. The volunteers were super nice and took great care of us. This race is made up of a 7.5ish mile loop with a little added to the beginning and the end. So the 50k racers had 4 loops, we had 2 and there was an 8 mile race that ran the loop once. I realized that I liked running the loop twice but would have gone crazy having to run it four times (two loops good, four loops bad). It was fun to be out on the trail getting passed by the wicked fast 50kers and a few 8 milers bringing it in and cheering on the 50kers making it happen out there.
The race went fairly well, I had some pains in my legs and feet but that shouldn’t be surprising at the end of a high volume week. It was also hotter than I expected, but it was nothing compared to RAGE. I finished in just under 3 hours and added a few extra miles to round out our day. I enjoyed the race and would do the 25k again but I don’t think I would want to do the 50k.
After the race we went to packet pickup for Boco Loco, grabbed lunch, some ice for ice baths and my first mocha coconut frappuccino of the year, SOOOO good!
Now it’s time to recover as much as possible for tomorrows 102 mile ride. I did squeeze some Mexican food in today but no margs for me today, maybe tomorrow!
I LOVE Day in the life posts…seriously, you all should do one, they are so fun to read. I decided I wanted to do a day in the life post to capture what a day looks like for me during Peak Ironman training.
Are you getting sick of hearing about peak training yet (and I am only on day five)? If so, you should probably stop reading until mid-June when I will start complaining/going crazy about taper.
So this was my day yesterday, it was a fairly normal day for me so I think it was a pretty good representation.
3:55 am – Alarm goes off for the first time, groan, hit snooze and try not to contemplate “accidently” turning off alarm.
4:15 – Second and third alarms go off, crap, must get out of bed NOW!
4:20 – take dogs outside, feed dogs, get down a cup of coffee and half a luna bar for first breakfast (yes I am a hobbit), find workout clothes, incidentally they are still sitting in a laundry basket not folded or put away but at least they are clean!
Instead of going into Saturdays race completely unprepared (like I often do) I decided to do a little recon work to know what I am getting into.
So I looked up the weather:
Looks like PERFECT running weather, SCORE!
Then I looked up the course and elevation:
Nice wide trail, gentle elevation without being too flat, sounds good to me! Two loops also doesn’t seem bad, IMCDA has a two loop run so it will be a great trial run in that way. The 50k is 4 loops, I don’t think I would want to do that! There is a drop bag station at the turn around (aprox. Mile 8) so I will need to think if I want to leave anything there. Aid stations are at miles 3.5 and 7.5, I am more of an aid station every mile kind of girl so I will need to carry my own water and gels.
The race starts at 7:30 and we are picking up our packets race morning so that means an early start for us.
The only thing I need to figure out is how we are going to get our additional 5 miles in. I don’t feel right continuing to run on the course when we only paid for the 25k and I doesn’t feel like it counts if we get too long of a break before finishing. I may have to suck it up and run on the trail. Now I am really looking forward to this race, all except the 4:30 wake up call.
Cory and I have two races this weekend. It is our first time doubling up events on a weekend. I wouldn’t think this was a good idea but these Races are just fun ways to get our miles in. On Saturday we are running Greenland 25k trail race
They also offer a 8 mile and 50k. I have heard this is a great beginner ultra marathon since the trail isn’t too technical and there is a reasonable elevation change.
We have trained at Greenland before, last year when training for the Colorado Marathon we ran our longest training run of 22 miles there. It is a nice trail.
We do need to do some planning before heading down to this race as true to most trail races there is less support than you see in road races so we will have to carry our own water.
On Sunday we will be riding the Boco Loco century in Boulder. This also really isn’t a race, there is no official timing, you can start any time between 6:30am and 10:00am.
There are some other big races happening this weekend as well. It’s kinda sad that this year will be the last year of the full Ironman at St. George Utah. Ironman announced that next year they will drop to a 70.3.
“We’ve listened to our athletes and they’ve told us that while they love St. George — the people, the community and surroundings — St. George does not work for them as a full-distance Ironman,” said Andrew Messick, Chief Executive Officer of Ironman. “Our belief is that St. George will flourish as a 70.3 and we are pleased that we are continuing our relationship with St. George and with the state of Utah.”
Story can be found here.
One last race on my radar this weekend is the Colorado Marathon. This was my first marathon last year so it has a special place in my heart.
Also one of my employees is running it as her first so I am enjoying sharing in her excitement.
Anyone racing this weekend? Tell me about it!
I love a good challenge but I have been avoiding them since really focusing on ironman training. I just felt like I couldn’t focus on another thing. Run to the Finish has been hosting some really fun monthly challenges that I hope to participate in post ironman. But I have decided to participate in one challenge during the month that will be the biggest training block of the year. Seems silly I know but I have been slacking on updating my blog and I really want to capture what these weeks leading up to Ironman are like so I can look back and remember this time.
So I decided to sign up for the WordCount Blogathon challenge. It’s simple, the goal is to blog once a day for all of May, 31 days in a row. I love this, it’s simple and it encourages me to take more photos and post more and not push it off, day after day.
I am excited and already have a list of things that I would like to post about to keep me going when I don’t feel inspired but it’s a far cry from 31 posts. Are there any topics you would like to read about?
Do you enjoy these types of challenges?
The weeks are quickly ticking by, I can’t believe that IMCDA is SOOOO close, just eight short weeks away! I am getting nervous but also looking forward to post ironman life.
Last week I thought I had a few more before peak training started but when coach sent updated schedules I was shocked to see peak starts TODAY! Yikes, this means that the next six weeks (with one recovery week in there) are peak training, then taper, then race day. All this means it’s focus time, now is the time to get really efficient with my time. My goal is to execute this training block well so I can go into taper knowing that I put in all the training and I am ready to go. I want to hit every workout as best I can , no skipping (unless injured, knock on wood) no excuses. There are also some fun events to look forward to in the next 6 weeks to keep me from going crazy, including a trail race, century ride, marathon, mother’s day run, olympic triathlon, and a metric ironman put on by coach.
Here is this weeks plan:
Monday: 30 minutes weights and 60 min yoga.
Tuesday: am 75 min spin class
pm- 10 mile track workout and hip/core exercises
Wednesday: am- 2800 m swim practice
pm- 60 min fartlek run plus hip and core exercises
Thursday: am- 32 mile bike ride outside(hopefully)
pm- 2850 m swim
Friday: 80 min pilates and hip/core exercises
Saturday: Greenland 25k trail race (plus an extra 4.5 miles for a total of 20 for the day)
Source
Sunday: Boco Loco – century (100 miles) bike festival
Totals for the week:
Swim: 3.5 miles
Bike: 154 miles
Run: 36 miles
Strength: 4 hrs
Totals: 193. 5 miles and 24(ish) hours
This will be a personal record for miles and time training in a week for me, wish me luck! Two “races” in one weekend should be fun! I use quotes because I don’t plan on racing either of these events, they are just fun ways to get the miles in.
What does your week look like?
Friday: We were able to sleep in and wake up with no alarm (bliss) before packing up and heading out to Lake Mead. Since I hadn’t been in my wetsuit in seven months or done any open water swimming in just as long I was ready to get some practice in. Thanks to liberal use of tri-slide I was able to get my wetsuit on comfortably and jump the water. It was very easy to get in the water and very comfortable to swim. I guess that’s the one bonus from the warmer than normal weather. The down side of that was that RAGE was supposed to be an opportunity to practice swimming in COLD water like CDA is likely to be. After sighting to some “no wake” buoys I was feeling like the swim would be the easiest part of the day. We then hoped on our bikes and did 30 minutes of easy riding. 
After running I was excited to be done with the recon work and do some touristy stuff. Since we were at Lake Mead we decided to drive over Hoover Damn, I would have liked to get out and see more but we couldn’t park the car in the garage with the bikes on top.
We did get a chance to walk out on the Pat Tillman Memorial bridge and get a great view of the damn that way.
We then headed back into town and grabbed lunch on the way. We dropped the bikes in our hotel room and took a quick nap before heading out to packet pick up.
Packet pick up was surprisingly small but made up for it by being quick. There was one small room where you picked up your numbers, chip and goody bag and a few tents outside trying to sell stuff. After we had our packets we stopped at Red Lobster for a carb-loaded dinner before heading back to the hotel where luckily we got a good night’s sleep.
Race day info coming soon in a Race Recap…..
On Monday my brother had to make a horrible heart wrenching decision. He had to make the selfless choice to let the sweetest dog I have ever met go so he could end his suffering.
Colby loved to go for car rides
But mainly he just loved to be with his “dad”, he loved to love.
Colby- I loved being your auntie, you were the sweetest most beautiful dog I have ever met. The world is a little bit darker without you.
I knew that Ironman training would take a lot of time and be a lot of work. I guess I just didn’t wrap my head around how busy I would be. It’s weird to have no time for life’s normal activities. With exactly two months until race day, it’s time to put my head down and focus. I had really wanted to keep my blog updated often so I could document how this process is going but its difficult to find the time.
Cory and I got back from RAGE half ironman in Vegas yesterday, while the race was NOT a smashing success, I worked hard and finished the race in 100+ degree weather.
More information on the race later, but in short it was the hardest thing I have ever done, I am so glad that it wasn’t my first half ironman ever or I may never have done another one!
This week is about recovering and resetting for me so I am ready for the last two big blocks of training that are crucial to showing up on race day morning ready for ironman. We have three weeks of capacity building, three weeks of peak training and two weeks of taper and that’s it. It’s a bit scary that we are so close but also nice because there are parts of my life (like my sad yard) that could use my attention.
How do you reset and focus before a big event/race?