Monday, April 14, 2008

Tested

I would like to start by saying Woooo hooooo for Chad. He ran in the Spring Thaw Trio on Sunday morning and got 3rd place in his age category for the 5km! I have never watched him race before because I am always out there with him! I was so proud and excited when he crossed the finish line under his goal time. He signs up for races to do them with his clients, to help motivate them and to reach their goals (he also gets a race shirt out of the deal which he gets very excited about:). This is the second time he has shown up race morning and his clients don't, he didn't let it bother him and went out there anyway. A positive attitude will get you anywhere and I think Chad showed that this weekend!

I have had a busy weekend....

On Friday I took a break from work and went for a run in the afternoon and it was beautiful outside! I had started out thinking I would only go for 45 min because I was tired, but once I got going I decided to do the 60 min! Later that night I went to do some weights and headed to the pool. I was a little unmotivated to go swimming, but I am glad I did because I had another wicked workout.

This weekend I think I was being tested by the bike gods! On Saturday I got up and headed out to meet my friend Alan and some of his friends for a bike ride. I was planning on doing 2.5 hours with a 20 min run after. We had been biking for about 30 min when I blew a tire. Great...first ride of the year and blew a tire right off the bat! It was the back tire...of course:) We got it off and changed, and it blew up again! It wasn't even on my bike yet! This time we took a closer look at the tire and it had a tear in it :( I was done biking for the day. Alan biked back, got his car and came to get me! We got back and everyone was still out on the road so we opted to run still anyway. We went for a 20 min run and it was HOT!

Once everyone got back it was around 4:00, so I headed out to go and get another tire. I wanted to bike on Sunday, so I hauled ass up to Speed Theory and got another tire. To add to the chaos after I got the tire and put it in my trunk...with my car keys. Oops. Lucky for me I had my sun roof open, I crawled up the hood of my car, down through the sun roof and popped my trunk...alas there was my key. Tough day! In spite of everything that happened I had a lot of fun!

On Sunday I went out to Crossfield to bike and have dinner with Chads parents. In Calgary there was little to no wind that I noticed. Well well well, the wind was blowing out in Crossfield that is for sure. I decided to embrace the challenge and head out to Madden.

The wind was STRONG and GUSTING! I have biked out there a lot and this is the windy-est (is that a word?) it has ever been. I was wobbling all over the place with the wind gusts, and hardly moving, it was really interesting when the trucks went by! Yikes. I was getting pretty frustrated and I could hear little voices of people in my head; Chad saying what are you going to do if it is windy on IMC day?, Greg told me to embrace the wind. So I did, well I tried at least. There were a few times when I was trying to climb hills and there may have been a little cursing as I plugged along. It took me 65 min to get to Madden and 30 min to get back.

I went for my run after dinner that night. The wind had finally died down and it was really nice outside. I did 45 min and my legs felt really good. I was surprised after my battle on the bike earlier in the day!

I am tuckered out a bit today...also a little red from being out in the sun all weekend. Can't wait for summer to be here! Maybe this weekend will turn out nice too, we can hope!

With the nice weather last weekend it hit home that Ironman is coming and it is coming quickly! When I think about race day I am flooded with a few emotions; excited, scared, nervous! It varies throughout the week, depending on how I am feeling. Sometimes I don't think about IMC, I do my training because that is what I have always done, its a habit. Then my brain starts to wander and I think about all of the little things that I am unsure of when it comes to race day....that's what makes me nervous. I am feeling more comfortable and confident since I started training with Greg though :) I suppose this is all part of the experience of doing your first Ironman!

3 comments:

Luanne said...

Your progress is so fun to keep touch!

Chad Geiger said...

Ahhhhhhh, you're a keeper!

Anonymous said...

Through the sun-roof, eh? You are too funny. Remember when you put your bike in the backseat, I asked how do you do it? You said it's nice to be small. I guess, climbing through sun-roof is another great moment to be small.
I am glad you went back out on Sunday. My Sunday didn't go as nice. Someone broke into my car at the store in the morning when I was out running. :-(

alan