Leading up to the NYC Marathon, I had been thinking hard
about the 2014 race calendar. I was very
tempted to sign up for IMTX again but at the same time, thought a break might
be good. Once I finished the marathon
though, I knew I wanted a break. I knew
I needed a break.
I just kept thinking
about the progress I’ve made this year and I thought about how I wasn’t quite
ready to take a break. But then I
thought about all the stuff I miss because of training and reminded myself that
a short break wasn’t bad. I emailed Ana
and let her know that my plan was to do IMTX 2015.
Then something happened.
I started looking at other Ironman races. I had always thought if I did an Ironman
outside of Texas, it would be Florida or Arizona. And then it happened. I saw the date for
IMAZ…my 40th birthday. To me,
this was a sign that I had to do it. But
I’ve already told Keith, my sister and my coach I would take a break. I asked Keith what he thought and he of
course gave me his blessing. I asked if
it was ok to tell Ana and he agreed. He
knew that once I told her, there was no turning back which is why I wanted his
permission. Well, needless to say, Ana was thrilled. And that’s how I went from taking a break in
2014 to signing up for Ironman #3 all in the course of 6 days.
It’s barely been 4 days since signing up for IMAZ and I’m
already annoying myself. But in a good
way. I’ve been searching for places to
stay while there and have already lost the place I really wanted to someone who
is staying “far longer” according to the VRBO homeowner. Whatever.
I’ve also been debating driving vs flying so I can bring the dogs. Yeah, I’m serious. I don’t want to leave them. I also don’t want to ship my bike. I’ve got some time to decide of course.
I caught myself visualizing this race yesterday. Umm, seriously? Ok, it’s a little too early for that
nonsense. I even caught myself looking
at race results for the 40-44 a/g, my new a/g as of 1/1/14 and was starting to
crunch numbers. Ok, stop it! There will be plenty of time for obsessing
later. For now, I need to enjoy the few
races I’m signed up for and enjoy some down time.
So next week I’m going the GE
Run Thru The Woods up here in The Woodlands.
It’s a fun 5 mile race followed by a pancake breakfast. Caitlin & Hannah will be joining me as
they’re scheduled for a 5 miler that day as part of their training for the
Houston Half Marathon. This will be the
longest race for both of them and I’m SUPER excited to be there with them. It looks like the weather will be on our side
and we’ll have cool temps. I haven’t
done this race in a few years and was just looking at my previous PR for this
distance and am of course toying with the idea of trying to beat it. I haven’t really been doing much speed work
the past few weeks but I have been running.
My previous best time was 47:22 so I feel like a PR should be pretty
easy given I’ve been running better than I ever have. We’ll see.
I also want to have fun the next few months before IMAZ training kicks
in. Maybe I’ll just play it by ear (yeah
right).
So part of doing IMAZ means I have the opportunity to do a
half ironman right in the heat of the Texas summer. Yay!
My plan is to sign up for Prarieman Half Ironman which should be in
early September. I was warned by my
coach this is a tough race where a PR is not likely. No problem…I can handle that! I looked up the 2013 race results and O M G! I
have never seen run splits so slow for folks who were on the podium. So does this scare me? Shockingly, no. This is how I know I’m a changed
athlete. A few years ago, I would’ve
been terrified of a race like this in the summer. But now, I’m looking forward to it. I told my coach that it sounded miserable in
the most amazing way. She has created an
absolute monster. What kind of psycho is
giddy and eager to sign up for a race where it will be easily over 90 degrees
and maybe even in to the 100’s with the humidity factored in? What kind of psycho thinks a 4 loop bike
course that had 20mph winds in the past sounds fun? And what kind of psycho is
excited because this will be the race she finally vomits at? Yeah, that would be me. My coach LOVES it too. Like LOVES the fact that she has created this
creature. I actually believe that if I
sent her a picture of me post-race with vomit on my tri kit, she would put it
on her refrigerator like a proud sibling (my coach is my age so I will not dare
compare her to a proud mama…lol).
When I think back to where I was in 2005 after my first race
or even my first race with Ana as my coach, I shake my head and laugh. I have come such a long, long way. It’s crazy to me to think about how much I
struggled in the past. I’m not saying I
don’t struggle anymore because I definitely do. I’ve just finally learned to
embrace the suck. Something I am confident
I’ll be doing a lot at Praireman!
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