Holy PR, Batman

Yesterday I ran the UA Memorial Day 5 Miler which I like to run every year as a celebration of the anniversary of my running. I started running four years ago this month and this race was the first one I did. This race is particularly tough because it's hilly and because it has a lot of people in it. My goal was to PR which I didn't think would be too hard to do, but I didn't expect what I got. The whole race went well and I picked up speed each mile. In the end I posted a 36:49, which is a PR by two minutes. I won 3rd in my age group and I was 19th overall in the women's division. I am pretty pleased with these results.

Now it's back to the triathlon training.

What is my problem?!

I've been doing a pretty good job of training for this triathlon. I've been trying my best to keep my running miles above 20 per week, do all my swimming workouts, and get on my bike for a long ride at least once a week. I even did a 63 mile ride this past weekend that wasn't so bad. My problem is...my nutrition sucks! I was in such great shape heading into the Boston Marathon and since then I feel like I've just let it go to waste. I haven't run as much since the marathon because track has just taken over my spare time. And because I haven't run so much I just don't feel as fit. But, I'm still eating like I was running 30-35 miles a week. And I can't stop the candy bar craze I've got! I eat at least a candy bar a day! I NEED to go to the grocery store today. Our cupboards are baren. Today will probably be a run/swim day. I may have track one more week (states are next week) but I'm going to try to start following the training plan as closely as possible and incorporate bricks and nutrition while biking. Once I get my eating under control and start getting back to my regular training, I think I will feel a little more confident about this triathlon.

I've got a lot of work to do

Last night I went on a long bike ride with Dave, Andy, Rich, Nancy, Tony, and his son Nick. After riding with them, I'm in serious trouble for this triathlon. They were so much faster than me. Andy rode with me because I was struggling to keep up, but I don't think he got a very good workout. And, I was riding at about 16 mph so it wasn't like I was going slow. And poor Dave. He was riding a mountain bike and really wasn't able to keep up. He had to do the whole ride on his own and he looked pissed when we got back to the cars.

Seriously, I don't know what I got myself into. I want to do this race to say I did it, but the competitor in me doesn't want to go there to suck either. And I'm starting to panic because only two months until this race and I don't know if I'm going to be ready in time. Plus I don't want my running to suffer because I need to be doing all this other training. It's really frustrating me.

I'm No Lance Armstrong

Hey! Congratulations to Grace Yang on completing her first half-Ironman. You're inspiring. And congratulations to Erin Ford for winning the daggone half-Ironman. You're a stud.

Anyway, I suck at bike riding. Two years ago I did a sprint triathlon that I bought a swanky bike for and I didn't do much riding then and I still don't today. Now that I've committed to this half-Ironman I should probably get out there and train on the bike since it is the majority of the race. So yesterday I went for a two hour ride on some country roads. My bike ride was less than 30 miles and I was only averaging around 15 mph. That's terrible!

My arms, neck, and shoulder were really sore so I thought I would go get some aerobars to help ease the burden. I went to a prominent bike shop in Dublin and got terrible customer service and when I finally did get help he did nothing but insult me and my bike and just kept telling me that I needed to be fitted. Yeah...and... Then he wanted to charge me $125 for the fitting and wouldn't even talk to me about aerobars until I got fitted. What a jerk! Needless to say, I walked out of the store without getting anything. Now I don't know what to do about getting fitted. I've asked some friends to help me and I'm wondering if there's somewhere else that will do it cheaper, much cheaper.

Any suggestions?

What was I thinking?!

Yesterday I decided to sprint with some of my high school girls. What a stupid idea! I ran 6x200 with 200 recovery in between; 1/2 mile warm up; 1/2 mile cool down; and 2 miles with Dave after practice. I sprinted hard too. And after practice I thought I would screw around with the high jumpers and tried to jump. Except, being the gymnasts that I am, I took off of two feet and plowed into the barn and landed very ackwardly on the bar.

Today I am super sore in my legs and my abs from the running. But, I also have a very large welt on my behind from high jumping. I'm so stupid. I think I'm going to take today off. I can barely move let alone try to run. I'll use my track meet tonight as an excuse for not having enough time.