Marathon Mom

I'm ready to ride! The last time I did a multisport race was 2 Summers ago at this exact race when I was pregnant. Since that race I’ve probably been on my bike (off the trainer) twice, this could be interesting! My goal is to beat my times from the race 2 years ago. Saturday morning I was getting packed for the race and realized I forgot how to plan for biking and anything other then running. This is so much more difficult then just running! Luckily the race is close to home so I had extra time to get everything together. I’m now starting to realize that due to the later race start and my 5:30am breakfast I’m going to be starving before the race starts, I grab a Lara Bar for the car ride and we’re off. We get there with over 1 hour to spare, grab race packets and get bikes in transition with nearly 1 hour until race time. New this year was a Wave start with men starting 3 minutes before women, I make it my goal to catch as many men as I can, including Matt, during the run. Tim...

I am registered for a duathlon on Saturday and the last time I wrote my bike outside was probably this same duathlon 2 years ago. I have a tendency to fall so as my belly grew during my pregnancy I stuck with the safety of the trainer and then last Summer running with an infant was much easier so biking too low priority. This past Winter I finally got consistent on the trainer, but the cold Spring made getting outside easy to push off since I am not a cold weather biker.  Not so sure of this thing on my head!  Ready to go! Since early May my goal has been to bike to work on the weekends, but rain has kept that from happening. Then the past few weeks I've been telling Matt we needed to get out and once again there was rain. Finally last night I put on my bike pants, yes pants in June, and decided I'd brave the winds and temps of 50. After 3 days in a row on the trainer it would be nice to get outside, but I was still nervous. I really only needed this ride to remind my...

Yep, we've hit this developmental stage, yuck! In a way we've lucked out because my mom is the primary babysitter so that transition was easy but no one else has watched Ophelia for extended periods of time which we are now paying for. This all started last week at the gym, we got to the childcare center and as I tried to leave I had a toddler attached to my legs repeating "mama". I managed to get out and she did fine until the last few minutes when all the babies started crying so she joined the chorus just in time for me to return. Yesterday we had a repeat performance of the drop off scenario at the gym and when I returned I found her sitting on a staff woman's lap with tears. This doesn't make for a nice workout knowing your child is cursing you out in her toddler way when you leave. Today I meet with my trainer so hoping for a better drop off. Earlier this week I made the mistake of coming home during a work day to grab a change of clothes and head out ...

So far this year I've been wondering if we were ever getting Spring or Summer, with snow and many 40 degree days in May I wasn't so sure. Of course our first 90 degree day came on Friday just in time to run a marathon. As I posted yesterday I was really wondering if I was running a marathon since it just didn't feel like it. This feeling continued race morning. I went into this race without any expectations, 2 small glasses of wine Saturday night an upset stomach and even more GI issues on Sunday morning all made me wonder why I was even attempting. I lined up near the 3:30 pacer and started with a comfortable pace trying not to pay attention to my watch. From the start I just wasn't feeling it and even considered cutting off at the half marathon turn around. Some how I was managing to run a pretty even pace around 7:30 miles and by Mile 7 was with the 3:20 pacer who was running 7:20s despite his sign saying 7:38/mile. Oh well take advantage of the cooler start and ...

I was just asking myself that question earlier today. The answer is yes, but I honestly don't feel like I am. It's not that I don't feel prepared, I just am lacking that pre-marathon feeling that any runner knows. Originally I had this as my goal race since so many things went wrong prior to Boston, but now after a PR at Boston I wonder if I am fully ready to push for a PR tomorrow. Most days my body feels recovered, but others I wonder what I was thinking registering for this race. This weekend is just busy so I don't have the time to sit around and focus on the race and tonight I even have plans to go a good friend's wine party fundraiser where I can't help but have a glass of wine (or two). I think it also isn't helping that it is almost 4pm and I have yet to pick up my race packet. I tried this morning after running an easy 5 miles with my team but was unsuccessful. I drove around for 20 minutes and couldn't find parking unless I paid $10. Not a pr...

May just seemed to fly by, of course my month off from school had to be the fastest month, I could have used a little more time before I had to get back to study mode. Along with June came the nicer weather too, now I really lack the motivation to sit inside and study. May brought strange weather, one day outside in jackets and snow and the next shorts and nearly 90, then the weekends full of tornado warnings, hail and rain. We just need some nice sun and warmth. May did bring another taper and once again my inability to taper well.    May Highlights -Half marathon PR -Running 213 miles (29hours 44min) -Biking 2.5 hours (not too good especially when I have a duathlon coming up) -Weights 2x week -Back out running with the BOB -Better at stretching after a run,maybe 75-80% of the time now   May Lows -Chose sleep over morning workouts, I think I only managed 1 this month -Still feeling the fatigue and abdominal pain of whatever is going on. Had more testing ...