I LOVE the Tavern, really I do!

Okay, I have to say it again, I LOVE the Tavern. Seriously, it was the best time, and, although I wish my biking were way stronger, I feel like I performed pretty well.

Rewind to last year, the James River did this goofy crest the morning of the race right before we got in. Think endless pool for the current and water higher then it was safe for us to swim in. But in we intrepid triathletes went and many, many rescues were needed by participants. Thank goodness for Chesterfield county police and the kayakers there to help everyone.

Fast forward to yesterday. Laurie had it changed to a totally down river swim, so even if a situation like last year occurred it would only help us, I personally was praying for that to happen so we could all swim like Michael Phelps hahaha, anyway as we were getting in, my swim goggles snapped at the side and needed to be fixed. I was like, my freakin goggles broke really??? Then I hear over the megaphone, Purple caps, one minute, one minute to go. I was thinking this is going to suck to have to swim without goggles for 750 meters in murky river water. But, as luck would have it, I managed to thread the goggles back together, get in the water, find a starting position and next thing you know, you heard the go siren. I would have liked to position myself better, but oh well. I swam pretty well, I could have gone a little harder in hind sight, but you know how the old saying goes...

I got out of the water, flew up the stairs, and ran into transition. No walking, no jogging, I ran, crossed the timing mat and ran to my bike. I have to admit I did have a little trouble clipping in, but once I was in I was off. The bike is the only part of my race I knew would be lacking. I have had minimal saddle time, and it showed. I managed to finish 6 minutes plus faster then last year, but still, if I had been riding more I could have broken an hour. Still, comparing apples to apples I did manage a better bike, but it should have been better then that even.

I managed some fairly okay transitions, that's free time so I really need to get better at those. No hard training necessary to gain an extra 30 seconds or minute, but they weren't unduly long so that is really good for me.

I did run faster then last year by a minute. Considering all I have been through with my running, and how training has been a long process getting back to any speed for me, the fact that I had a sub 29 minute 5k was very pleasing. I know I can't compare my last triathlon run to this one, but since they were both 5ks, although as different as night and day, I did better then that too by about a half of a minute. Yay, that makes me smile...My training is paying off with my run :)

So there's my recap of my race. Less then stellar compared to some, I'd love to say I finished first in my age group, I'd love to say I was the best of the best of the best SIR, I'd love to not wish I had done this a little faster, or that a little better, but given all I have gone through healthy wise and other wise, I'd have to say, I love the Tavern.

I survived graduation hell, and some long runs along the way.

It has been a few weeks since I have blogged. But really, I had a high school graduation, an 8th grade graduation and an elementary school graduation to get through. That and the relatives visiting and end of year hoopla that occurs on the elementary school level and there you go. I can't believe I managed any kind of training, but I did.

Second tri of the season happens this Sunday. The I Love the Tavern tri is a good open water triathlon, the first one I ever did, and I survived the great river debacle I have mentioned previously last year, so hopefully this year will be better. The only thing that really sucks is the heat is supposed to be triple digits. I keep hoping it won't affect me negatively. I will be fine in the swim, and the bike, but the run? I am positively panicked about the heat at that point.

My marathon training has been going pretty well so far. I have been keeping true to my miles for the most part. I am running my 3,5,3, 5 and whatever the long run will be. Last week, although I didn't go to Sportsbacker Stadium, I did go to the gym for my 8 miler. I have to say I was actually looking forward to it. I had had such success with my shorter runs that week, I was doing negative splits, finishing faster then when I started, and actually doing the last mile or so sub 9:00. Today's run, I did the last 1/2 mile at 8:24. I did one 3 mile run this week with a 2 minute walking warm up, followed by the 3 miles in under 29 minutes. It felt soooo good to be running a little faster again even if it was just on a treadmill. I miss being at 8:30 miles. I liked that pace. I liked feeling faster then my snail-y old self. I think I have my medicine figured out. I don't take it unless my blood pressure creeps over 120/80, which it hasn't been in awhile. Getting faster is prepping for those blasted cul-de-sac 5ks coming up. I PR'd my 5k at the last one last year, I don't know if that will happen this year, hopefully I may come close....hopefully. But to get back to my 8 miler, I ran the whole thing, it took an hour and twenty minutes, so it was pretty freaking long, but I felt GREAT! Really, really great. I wasn't breathless, I wasn't tired, I felt good. I feel like it was a good omen for the rest of my long runs. I am actually not afraid of them. So we'll see how they go. I am getting my legs underneath me again so to speak. Here's hoping they stay strong. I have a picked a massage therapist I really like at my favorite massage place and have warned her as my mileage ramps up, so will my appointments for her to work my legs.

I will keep everyone posted on how the Tavern goes. The bike has me a little worried, but I know the course, know when to pop out of the saddle to handle that hill there at the end of Manakin Ferry, and am hoping my legs will feel strong enough for the run to run faster then I did last year. If I could survive the hell of the last few weeks, I can live through the hell of 27 minutes of running right?

Open water, 2 times and fear for tomorrow....

I had planned on doing this open water swim. It was the pre-swim for the I Love the Tavern Tri in two weeks. All of this rain made the James look like it was chocolate milk instead of water, but one gets used to the soupy yuck I supposed.

We walked to the down river spot we were all jumping in to make it a 500 meter swim down current swim (which actually was 700 if you went to the dock instead of getting out where the kayakers put in which all of us did pretty much). Last year was a total fiasco. There was a crazy spike in the river level and current right as we were heading in for the swim for the race. There were more rescues then you can imagine, the 750M got shortened big time to maybe 400m when all was said and done it took so so swimmers like me 25 minutes to swim it. I had a friend who got so stuck in the current, it took her 45 minutes. Anyway, I like pre-swimming this course just to know I can do it. I like swimming this course because of all of the nifty things I get to pick off of my body when I take my suit off after a particularly murky swim like this, the things I do for entertainment! So we went to the possible new location for the swim start, and started by going in single file. I had the best swim I have to say. I wish I had my watch, because I'd like to say I finished the swim in 10 or so minutes. Now, don't go thinking I'm all Michael Phelps or anything, but the current was ripping us along and just WOW, I flew. I got out rather proud of myself and feeling strong.

At that point I probably should have said, Let's go hon! Of course Brad was out way before me. My confidence was soaring and I had a contact high of sorts, no rotting endorphins here! Anyway, we were given the option of staying for another round of swimming, jumping in and swimming up current for 10 minutes and back to the dock. Brad said he wanted to, and I figured what the heck? After the swim I just had, what's a measly 10 minutes into the current? Are you thinking this post will have an unhappy ending?? Sorry to disappoint Mr. or Ms. Half glass empty. I felt strong, even with all of the mass start kicking and elbowing that went on, I choppy stroked myself into that ripping current for 10 minutes, found a spot where I didn't get the crap kicked out of me and I almost kept up with the fastest people out there. I felt even better then before! My swim back took all of 3 minutes, literally, that's how fast that current was running, but I did move forward up current. I watched as landmarks passed, I sited like an alligator, I devoured that river like piranhas on an unsuspecting victim and got out leech free, ah, the perfect open water swim...

Now if this can carry over into tomorrow! I am still thinking maybe I hit my head on something shortly before I agreed to join the Marathon Training team again. Or maybe my twin from the other side of the sun, remember that from the Justice League how there was Superman and Wonder Woman et al from the other side of the sun whose costumes and eyes were black and they were all bad, crazy people, I digress, decided they needed to mess with me a little and put me up to this.

Who knows, all I can say is I hope the current moves me along for my run tomorrow, is all down river and leech free...

Yeah, I did just do that, what was I thinking?

You know, I was tripping along quite happily yesterday. Life was good, training has been training, I have been following my plan and happy. Then someone asks me to join the Marathon Training Team with her. I was like no, really I couldn't, easier then refusing seconds on desert. So why then am I going to be at Sports Backers Stadium, bright and early Sunday morning with a 7.3 mile warm up training session run in front of me?? Why am I doing this again? Well if the person who asked me was someone else, I probably would still be tripping along happily with no marathon in my future. But I like her loads, and her boyfriend is a great training partner for Brad, and they like doing crazy races together, so I figured why not? Why not indeed, why....

Oh right, I'm stupid....Running a marathon is definitely not like having a baby. I remember the pain from the NYC Marathon VIVIDLY!! It's not like I've forgotten that feeling of my hips and legs may never feel the same again. But wait a minute, that marathon I ran, I only trained for from August until October. When I asked my running friend Brenda, who incidentally is a running coach, to whip me up a training plan I now understand why she looked at me like I had an extra eyeball. Three months to train for a marathon, another hash mark goes in the I'm Stupid column. But she did make a plan, I did train for those three months and I did finish a marathon, and managed to do it in under 5 hours so I could get my name in the NY Times. Hmmm, maybe not THAT stupid, but stupid none the less.

Let me explain that there is nothing suckier then marathon long run training sessions in Richmond heat. 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 miles of nothing but running, sweating and wishing it was over already. I am not one of those Zen runners. I do not find my inner peace on long runs. Actually my husband teases me and tells me my endorphins sort of rot and go bad so instead of a runners high, I highly want to punch the person standing closest to me. But maybe if I have all of this time in front of me, two extra months of training it will be make a difference. I started the training team last year and had to drop out in August when I started taking my blood pressure medicine. I had a hard time adjusting, but I am used to what I take now, I know how I need to super hydrate when I train in the heat.

Did I mention I hate running? Long or short distance, I just hate it, and here I am faced with running 26.2 miles. So off I go, head long into my next race adventure.

Of course it will make great fodder for my blog mill. Maybe that's it, the frustrated writer in me needed more material for this blog so I decided to do something stupid like a marathon. Surely I could have found another muse...