Still Truckin’

So even though I have been absent from LMS for a little while, I am still on the training wagon. I am now 3 weeks out from my 1^st race of the season, a ½ marathon during the Ottawa Race Weekend. So I decided in the fall that after I completed my last half marathon in 1:49:52 that my goal for this year was to do a sub-1:40 half. Um yeah I was SLIGHTLY crazy at that point….not quite sure what I was thinking! But my training has been going pretty well. No injuries yet, though my legs were mighty sore after today’s long run  of 110 minutes, especially my IT band.

I am a little worried that I am not quite where I need to be 3 weeks out, but ‘coach’ seems to think it will be ok. I should also mention that ‘coach’ will be my pace bunny (and the pace bunny for all others who wish to do a 1:40 half) during that race, so if that’s not competition, ummm er I mean incentive to do well, than I don’t know what is!

I also have added a new member to my arsenal for my ½ Ironman training. She’s a beaut, coming all the way from Radical Edge in Freddy Beach…she has yet to be named, but she has sleek lines and she is FAST…though the girl in her saddle has a lot of work to do! I have been out on five rides with her so far and every ride, I love it more! I have to do some tweaking to my position, but I can already notice that it is becoming easier to ride in the torturous position we all call ‘aerodynamic’. You see, I have probably THE tightest hamstrings in the world, so bending at the waist for upwards of 2-3 hours can tend to pull my hips out of alignment. But I figure the more time spent in the saddle now will mean more speed on race day. So yeah, I LOVE my new bike (thanks Mike and Brian at the Edge!! )

Finally, swimming is going great as well. I have ‘finally’ moved up to a faster lane, and I am actually loving it. My times have come down a lot, and I am finding that I can swim faster on less rest than before. I was saying to the swim coach the other day that I loved how my ‘easy 100m’ is now faster than my ‘race pace 100m’ was in the fall!

Kind of a neat twist on things right now is that I am starting to learn all about the muscles and bones of the body. As a triathlete, I have been excited for this block for 2 years! All my classmates think I am crazy, but I love knowing about how the body mechanics work, and how all the muscles work together to produce movement, not to mention how everything works together to make an amazing athletic performance.

Well, off to bed to start a new training/School week!

Ciao