100 miler!

100 Miles! Prescott to Nelson! Fuck Yea! What a great ride, we stopped in Maiden Rock (x2) for Quiche and Turkey sandwhiches. I felt great after the ride, I could have kept going, it was a blast. We chatted with an 80 year old woman (tough bird) who was selling vegetables from her garden, and aprons that she made, beautiful vintage fabric. We are going back this weekend and I'm hoping she will be there again. Stand by for photos. Sunday i ran 11.5 in the morning This weekend was a serious confidence booster. I'm feeling great about upcoming races. The past couple weeks i had some concerns...still have some...But last weekend was exactly what i needed. Also May Day was on Sunday. My Black Cherry apple cider (5 gal) did not last long. Yum. We had a perfect day for it. What a great weekend. Lots of gratitude for the people in my life. :)

Minnetonka 1/2 Marathon

Well, I ran Lake Minnetonka 1/2 marathon for the 3rd year in a row. I was not expecting a PR. But i did it! 1:33! On a slightly hill course! It was such a great race! Perfect running weather, we were supposed to get rained on but it held off. I stuck with the 7:15 pacer for the first 10 miles, Wanting to pull away at every mile marker...but held off until mile 10. Then peeled out. Not sure how fast i was running the last 3 miles, but final pace was 7.09 min/mile. So it must have been 6:45 or so. I should have taken off at mile 8. It was so fun! I almost puked at the end of the race. I finished 117th overall, top 10% in my age group! It's amazing how you get faster and faster, the more miles you put on. I'm excited to continue to break my PR's. The Monster Dash will be a great opportunity for that.

Turn it up

Well, As if training hasn't been serious for the last 6 months, it time to turn it up. Really turn it up. Next week were gonna ride 100 miles, in the hill in Prescott, WI. At this point I need to be swimming 3 times per week, Riding at least 1 huge ride per week, and one long run per week, and a bunch of shorter stuff/speed work in between. My day off right now consists of biking 10 miles... I'm hoping next week to get in 17 hours.

Insight Gained

Well, I had kind of a wake up on Sunday...Ironman is 12 weeks out!!! Holy Shit! :) Something kind of hit me...9 months ago, I thought, as training gets more intense and we get closer to the date, I'll feel better and better about the race, I'll gain confidence with my strength and ability. I thought as the race gets closer i'll think, no problem, i got this.... Au Contraire... As we get closer to the race i've started to learn and gain insight into what i really got myself into. As your training gets closer to Ironman distance, you start to really understand the potential severity of this race and what it's really gonna be like. You start to gain a valid and acurate understanding of it. I believe that insight and understanding is not possible with out the actual experience. There's a wide mix of emotions. Excited, nervous, giddy, and i'd be lying if i said i didn't feel the slightest, smallest moment of fear, while watching an Ironman video the other day. That is something, that is new! A few months ago i didn't experience that. Fear is something that i experience rarely. It was just for a second though.........hehehe :)