It feels pretty good to be “back to work” I don’t mean my big girl job I mean real work on triathlon. This weekend included a very difficult 16 mile trail run (don’t ask how long it took me!) but it was beautiful. Yesterday we set out for 57 mile bike ride but cut it to only 30 miles because my knee started hurting and I don’t want to risk injury at this point. I was also struggling with the upper 90 degree heat. Anyone have any suggestions for getting better dealing with the heat?

I tried to make sure that I took care of my body after each workout with ice baths, stretching and rolling.

This morning started with a interval swim workout. I haven’t been in the pool for a long time, and it felt great. The workout look like this:

500 sw, 200k, 100 sw …………800 yds
Stroke Drill ……………………….500 yds
10 x 100’s sw-15″ rbet. ea. .1000 yds
200 swim down real easy …..200 yds
Total………………………………2500 yds

My body feels better after swimming and I hope that I will be able to put some real work in tonight at track practice. Our workout look likes this:

Warm up – Easy jog for 5-10 minutes
Dynamic Warm up
Interval Set

• 1×1600; 3’ rec
• 2×800; 2’ rec
• 3×400; 1’ rec
• 4×200; 30” rec

On a different note I have been having watch issues:

This is the second timex “waterproof” watch that I have had fill with water. The first time I didn’t mind too much because it was fairly cheap from target but I am really frustrated that this one is fogging up because it was a more expensive model with a heart rate monitor. I HATE not having a watch. I have had this one less than a year. Anyone have any suggestions or a watch brad that has really worked for them?

Last I want to share some of the swag from Pacific crest half Ironman.

Close up of the medal:

Everyone received a tech t-shirt, bag and medal. You could purchase a finishers T-shirt with the race that you completed on it. I decided not to buy it because we had already spent so much on this race plus it said “sea level is for sissies, ALT 4,200 ft. Living in Denver I think I would get laughed given that we race anywhere from 5,000-10,000 ft.

Wow that was a really random post, this is what happens when I compose a blog post in my head while swimming. Happy Tuesday everyone!

A few weeks ago I asked for advice about whether I should do an ironman this year or not. Almost everyone said do it. I have finally made my decision that I will do an Ironman and I have decided that my first one will be Iornman Coeur d’Alene………2012.

I am sad that I won’t be training for a full this year but after weighing my options I feel that June 2012 will be the best time to become an ironman. Some of the main reasons are that we want to landscape our front and back yard this year and if we are training for a full we won’t have the time, money or energy to landscape. We also want to focus on trail running and completing a few 50k trail races this summer. I like the idea of an early season ironman next year as well so we can continue trail running next year and possibly riding our IM fitness through a 50 miler???

With that decided we have added to our spring/summer race line up. The next race will be the Spring Boulder Half Marathon.
I love the design! We have also added at least one 50k, Cory has agreed to run the Devil Mountain trail race on October 1st. I am still trying to talk him into the North Fork 50k in July. It is only a few weeks after our half ironman but I think we can pull it off.

I have no idea how to train for ultramarathons, especially hilly trail races. But I love the idea of spending hot summer days up in the mountains running for hours out in the wilderness.

So our training marches for our first full marathon and half ironman:
Monday: 13.1 mile run
Tuesday: am 60 minute bike (on trainer) pm 6 mile run (1 mile warm-up and cool down with 8 by 400 at 85% max with 400 recovery)
Wednesday: am 1900 swim (300 WU, 6×50 drills, 8×100 main set, 6×50 drills, 200 CD), pm yoga
Thursday: 90 min spin class straight to a 3 mile run
Friday: 6 mile tempo run with an easy 1600 m easy swim
Saturday: 20 mile run (YIKES)
Sunday: 45 mile flat bike ride

Another big decision I have made lately is to give up eating meat. I should qualify that I do still eat some fish infrequently, there is debate on if fish is meat or not. For me it’s not about the definition but about what feels authentic for me. When I would eat land based animals I would just ignore that it was an animal, but when I saw a pig, cow, bison, turkey, etc. I would feel so bad that they were dying so that I could eat. I would not go look a cow in the eye and decide to eat it so I feel I should not eat a hamburger. I would however grab a fishing pole, catch a fish, cook it and eat it, so eating fish/sea food feels authentic for me. I want to finish by saying that I don’t judge anyone for their dietary choices, I just couldn’t ignore that my eating habits were not inline with my values.

Have you made any big decisions in your life recently? Happy Thursday everyone!