Life is crazy. I am undoubtedly embracing the mayhem right now.
So a little update.....6 weeks after IM Chattanooga, as the excitement of Kona was still lingering, we found out we were pregnant! This was the greatest news. This was not a surprise, we had been planning, but we never thought it would happen so fast. Especially since I had just finished 9+ months of triathlon training, ending with an Ironman. Nothing about my recovering body felt fertile. We did the math and it looks like 1.5 weeks after Chattanooga, my ducks were realigned and I was ready to go.
Fast forward, the start of 2015 has been moving fast. Of course, I didn't take much of a break after Chattanooga. You qualify for Kona and the first thing you want to do is get back to training. But after a few weeks of flailing around, I decided I needed a short term goal. Our hometown, Newport News, VA, announced they were going to be holding their inaugural One City Marathon on March 15th. I typically train to race an early season marathon, so I instantly set my sites on this race. How perfect would it be to race and set a PR in my home town?
Unfortunately, after some really consistent and well structured training through November, December and into January I had an injury pop up. One day, after a steady medium-distance run, my achilles just lit up. I was hobbling around and could barely walk. Of course, I did as all triathletes do, I rolled it out every night and continued to train. I wasn't too concerned with the injury, as I had been doing pretty consistent cycling on the trainer throughout the winter, so I knew that I could always fall back to cycling to keep my fitness while this achilles calmed down. Well the achilles never really calmed down. I kept resting a day or two, then testing it and couldn't seem to get rid of the underlying discomfort. I was able to run, but I knew I wasn't going to PR with a bad achilles.
At the beginning of February, we took a trip out to the west coast (Vancouver, BC) to visit the in-laws. BTW, this is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I would certainly live there in a different life. I digress. The 5 day trip, forced me to take a mini-recovery ( I did manage to get a hill repeat session in for 2 of the days I was there). But the rest and Tim Horton's seemed to quiet my achilles down. I decided while I was on the trip, that the marathon was going to be a wash. I didn't want to create a lingering injury that would jeopardize the rest of my season. My training buddy Matt was also having ITB issues so we both decided to back off on the run training, in order to heal up.
I did manage to work one of the water stations for the marathon last week. It was both humbling and inspiring. Given that my leg hasn't been hurting for over a month, I was so tempted to sign up for this race last minute. It was hard to watch some of my buddies go by. Congrats to Jason (3rd OA) and Steve (4th OA). Also, congrats to Adam on his PR/BQ. These guys have been training all winter in some horrible weather, kudos to you on your accomplishments. Every single participant that passed by Mile 12 Aid Station was truly inspiring. The determination was palpable.
So looking forward to the rest of the season, I have the VA Duathlon next week (3/29/15) as a little tune up race. This race has the best post race food - home cooked BBQ! They also have these hand carved wooden trophies. Hopefully, I'll be fortunate to take one home this year.
My first A race of the season is SetUp Events Kinetic Half (5/9/15). I call this an A race because its one of my only races this year. I don't expect to PR, but I want to actually throw down a decent run. This was my first 70.3 distance 3 years ago and last year I improved by almost 18 min. The run is a hilly 13.1 miles, that I just can't seem to grasp. The bike is fast, so I know that part of my problem is overshooting the bike. But I think my run prep has been a bit lazy going into this race the past two years. I'm hoping that my improved run structure will help me settle into the hills a bit more easier this year.
I've got a few more races planned before I get to Kona, but my main priority is my baby girl! She's due June 24! The nursery is half way done and the rest of the house is pretty much finished ( oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we also bought a house this past January -- no need to ramble on anymore).
Looking forward to this upcoming year, stay tuned.....
