Beautiful Weekend!

Saturday, March 7 - Runnin of the Green (Island)
Woke up to a very beautiful day but about an hour earlier than I wanted to because Joe's car had a flat tire and he needed a ride into St. Rose to bring a couple of his athletes to Boston for a track meet. I brought him in and then back to the house to change quickly and head to Green Island. I got to the venue early, picked up my shirt and number, and headed out for the first part of my long run. I got in 35 minutes before the race and it was about 50 degrees out. Figured out that I didn't need to wear a long sleeved shirt so I moved my race number to my short sleeved shirt. What a change from last weeks temperatures in the 20's or lower. I went to the starting line which was buzzing with how excited everyone was about it being warm out. The race started and within the first 5 minutes, I realized that I hate being slow because the people around me aren't actually trying, they are talking about random things. I just wanted to say "Be quiet and run faster!!" I was working so hard. I was aiming for anything under 44 minutes because with all of the training, not much of it on the roads due to the weather, I don't feel like I am in the best running shape (good swim shape, ok bike shape, but just not where I wanted to be running wise). The first mile was a 9:55. I couldn't believe it. I was working hard but felt like I was going very slowly. I kept pushing and got a 9:53 second mile, followed by a 9:37 for the third. I kept pushing and feeling like I was getting faster as the race went on. My final mile was a 9:13 which is a great mile time for me!!! I PRed!!! I can't believe it. I guess I may be in a little better running shape than I thought. After the race, I finished my distance with a 17 minute cooldown which left me with a 1 hour and 30 min run which is exactly what I had planned. I also now had a slight sunburn.

So, due to a change in my plans, I got to go home after the race and take a nap. I slept for an hour and a half and was awaken by my alarm. I couldn't believe I was so tired. Got ready to go and pick up my parents from the airport and then head out to the Ride for Missing Children's spin-a-thon in Clifton Park. I got there a little early and got on the bike, just to get my legs moving from being a little tight from the run in the morning. Amy came out to ride with me and Stacy. After an hour and 20 minutes of spinning, I had had enough for the day, went to dinner, and then went home to eat dinner.

Sunday, March 8
Another beautiful day. Well, at least it started sunny and warm but became a little chilly and windy. Joe and I really wanted to get out on the bikes today for our first outside of ride of the year. Due to errands and other commitments, Joe and I didn't get out to ride our bikes until around 4 pm. It was about 45 degrees and very windy. The first ride outside is always very exciting but also very demoralizing. It is so much harder to ride outside than it is to ride on the trainer indoors. My legs were tired and sore from yesterday but I was really excited to ride outside and do a little hill over and over again. It went ok. It is so depressing to know that I put in soooo many hours on the trainer and it was so much harder to be out on the road. I have to get used to it though and Joe keeps reminding me that even though it is harder outside, all those indoor miles will help with my bike fitness later. So, after 14 miles and an hour of riding, my feet were numb and I was cold so we called it a day. On a positive note, that is a lot faster than I ride on the trainer, it also felt much more difficult but it was still faster. I can't wait to be outside riding for good. Probably not this week since it is supposed to be 30 degrees again. I will be dreaming of good riding weather.

What describes Ironman training?

I found a new saying that I think describes my Ironman journey:

Because I'm loving every wonderful, horrible minute of this

February Stats!

Not a bad month, not a great month but still working hard...

Activity Total Time(hrs:min) Total Miles Total Calories
Run 8:16 42.3 miles 4226
Bike 12:40 160 miles 6398
Swim 6:50 10.2 miles 4076
Yoga 1 hour
Total 28:46 212.4 14700

More next month! Obviously! Bigger and better numbers coming until July! Yippie!

Triathlon Training

Life now that I am training for triathlon. Eat.. sleep.. Eat.. work.. want to Eat..Eat..Train..Eat..Sleep..dream of eating..Eat.. keep going through that. I am always hungry since I am burning so many calories. I am tired when I am not training. My favorite place in my house right now is in my bed with my legs being supported not by me but by my mattress. Dinner... I have to make dinner. UGH!! I do love the training but boy am I hungry and tired. Have insomnia... I have the cure. IRONMAN TRAINING!

Arizona Adventure

I took a trip to Arizona for mid-winter break. I went down to visit my cousin Katie as well as to explore a little of Phoenix and Tucson and see her new house. The trip down was good. It was a fairly easy flight that went from Albany to Detroit to Phoenix. First off, the Detroit airport was really neat one of the best I have been in. One thing that I didn't like about my airport visits and the trips to different parks in the area was that people don't understand that it is gross when you talk on the phone or text while you are going to the bathroom. I got to hear a lot of this - can't people wait to text and talk until they are done doing their business. When I got to Phoenix, we went back to Kate's house to see what a beautiful house she has. We spent the evening at the house as well as going to Manuel's which is a Mexican Restaurant in Phoenix. On Wednesday, I woke up and went for a run. It was 46 degrees out at 7 am and was beautiful to run in. I had a great Fartlek run in the dry temperatures. We then got ready to go and took the journey down to Tucson. I love Tucson and was excited to go to a couple of different places that Kate hadn't gone to before. On our way down we got to tour the Biosphere 2 which was really neat even though our tour guide was a little more excited than was necessary. Also, (this is coming from an AP science teacher) her science knowledge was not very good as she defined enzymes incorrectly as well as had a not very good comprehension of other science terms. It was so neat to be in the area where Biosphere 2 was because you could see the Catalina Mountains with snow on them while enjoying 70 degree weather at the biosphere. The biosphere 2 is where the people in the 90's were locked in to see if they could survive on the land for 2 years. Now, they use it to test what will happen to areas of the globe with different environmental changes. It was beautiful. We then took the trip down to the Tohono Chull Park and ate in the Tohono Chull Tea Room. It was a beautiful place to eat and the food and service were great. The lemon cheesecake was the highlight of the meal. We then went through the park which is a lovely botanical garden with great views. It was great to be able to have been outside the entire day. We then found our hotel on Starr Pass which again had amazing views. We then found a place called Wildflower and had one of the best glasses of wine - a geverstraminer (did I spell that correctly) from South Africa. I had baked brie with fresh fruit and bread for dinner which was very nice and then a banana creme brule. It was a very nice restaurant. The next day I woke up to 36 degree weather and wanted to use the outdoor pool. I struggled with this initially but then said - I booked this hotel because of the pool so I am going to use it. So I put on all of my warm clothes over my suit and walked down to the pool. It was cold initially getting out of my clothes but once I got in it was probably 85 to 90 degrees. It was a little choppy which is good and Tucson is a little higher elevation so it was a little more difficult to swim but it was great. (I was lucky that this week was my easy week of training so I only had to do short workouts this week while on vacation but I walked enough to make up for all of the lack of training). When I got out of the pool, I got into the hot tub and stretched and then made my way back to the hotel room. We got ready to go and went to a little restaurant called The Mosaic Cafe which had great mexican breakfasts. It was fantastic,beautiful, and very resonably priced. It was a great start to the morning. We then went to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum which is pretty much all outside and saw a lot of really cool stuff between hummingbirds, coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, quail, prairie dogs, and big horn sheep as well as lots of different desert plants. We spent 4 hours there. It is one of my favorite places to visit in Tucson. In order to get there and get out of there, you go through a pass which is steep but absolutely beautiful. I got to enjoy the scenery because Kate was driving. We then went across Tucson to Sabino Canyon. It is in the foothills of Tucson and I remembered it being one of my favorite places ever. We went on a tour of the canyon and Kate and I had a great time looking at all of the really nice scenery. We then treked back to Phoenix to meet my aunt for dinner and get packed to leave. I wish I could have spent more time there in order to hike in some of the canyon or hike the mountains near Starr Pass but I will go back again. This was a great little vacation and some girl time all in one. It was fantastic. I got really excited about all that sun (even though I also slather myself in sunscreen). I love the sun and the warmth and the southwest in general. I posted a few pictures down at the bottom for all to see the beautiful southwest.

Now, back to my next three weeks of hard workouts and of course the snow and the cold.