Galveston 70.3 is days away!

It's hard to believe but Galveston 70.3 is a week away.  This time next Sunday I will hopefully back at home, sitting in the tub congratulating myself on a race well executed.  I am praying that's what I'll be doing. 

Those of you who read this blog, know my history in G-Town so I won't recap it again.  All I will say is that I'm ready for this race and I'm looking forward to finishing it.  Annie will be heading down there with me the day before as I kind of consider her my good luck charm for Galveston.  She stayed with me the night before the Oly I finished there.  No pressure Annie!  

My goal for next week is pretty simple...execute and finish.  Galveston is a short 6 weeks before IMTX and I'm ready to see how I do.  This isn't an easy race (at least not for me) but I'm so ready to tackle it!!!

Training has been going well.  Swimming has been just ok.  I've decided that after Galveston, I'm going to focus more on bringing the same attitude to swimming that I've been bringing to the bike & the run.  I know I can't put enough time in the pool to see the big gains I'd love to see but that doesn't mean I can't improve.  Again, it gets to the mental side. If you tell yourself you're a bad swimmer, you'll be a bad swimmer.  

My 110 miler a few weekends ago was beyond challenging.  I can't tell you that I definitely got in the full 110 miles as I started the ride outside (in 20-30mph winds) and finished on the trainer. In total, I rode the amount of time that I thought 110 miles would've taken me.  I based this on the pace I had maintained the weekend before.  Not the most scientific but whatever.  The winds that day were the toughest I ever encountered.  Moving the ride indoors is not mentally easy either.  But I sucked it up and did it.  I'm happy to report that my "little" 70 miler this weekend went much better.  I finished the ride with a whole lot of gas in the tank.  I'm cautiously optimistic about Galveston.  :)

Ice, Ice Baby.

Running has been going pretty well with the exception of some nagging pain in my hips which I'm confident is my IT band.  I've felt it on & off ever since The Woodlands Half Marathon but it hasn't been annoying enough for me to worry. After my 14 miler the weekend of my 110 mile bike ride, I was concerned though.  The first few miles were tough. I could feel the discomfort in my hip but chose to ignore it.  It went away for about 8 miles but then came back with big time.  There were a few times at the end of the run that it literally stopped me in my tracks.  I was worried. I fought tears back at Market Street where I was meeting Keith.  I wasn't in pain....I was just really concerned that I was facing an injury way too close to my big races.  I let my coach know what was going on and made an appointment for a massage ASAP.  Holy crap...that dude worked my legs like you wouldn't believe.  It hurt but in a good way.  My next run felt ok.  I could tell I was holding back a little only b/c I was nervous.  I was also feeling like I was running on two bruised legs as I was still feeling the impact from the massage.  My long run this weekend was only an hour but had a lot of intensity.  It went very well with just a little nagging at the end.  I have another massage tomorrow and am keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be 100% for Saturday.  

I hope you all have a great week!  Send positive vibes my way for Galveston. Oh, and if it's not too much to ask, pray that a shark doesn't get me.  

Happy training!!!