Tri-Dogmom

It's race week!!!  I'm not gonna lie, I'm super excited for this week.  Normally, I dread the "taper" and the rest and aches and all the not fun stuff that goes along with it, but this time I'm READY.  This is my 4th Ironman working with Michelle and my 4th Ironman CDA.  Each training "season" has been the same, but also different, this one in particular.  I'm not one to love a big long taper, or rest days, or even weeks for that matter.  My body (when fit) recovers quickly so after big big blocks I need a couple days of light active recovery then I'm ready to get back at it.  Too much rest leaves me feeling slow, sluggish and then takes me a longer time to get back to work.  But, my last couple of weeks have been a bit more "nailed" and intense than normal so I'm way ready for this week! One thing that has not changed are the infamous "phantom" symptoms.  There are so many of them. Phantom pain (you know ...

Late after noon last Sunday, I headed out for my second run of the day on the Ironman run course.  I had a few race pace (ish) intervals to do and thought what better way to get into race mode than to do it on the course.  As Shane & I started out I was a bit blah.  My legs were heavy and I felt a bit dizzy.  This happens a lot when I do double runs, I'm definitely more of a morning runner, but I usually come around. Our rental is about a half mile from the park (transition) so we weaved through the Fort Grounds neighborhood then were on course.  Each turn I started to remember.  Remember the 3 other times I had been on this course (officially) and the memories just started flooding.  The first one was right about where the special needs bags are, passed the library and in front of Tubb's hill.  I remembered that is "Benny's lawn."  In 07 when we were here we met up with some "blog" friends from Utah.  Benny had a rough time out on...

My little race recap I posted on Facebook mentioned something about getting through a 5+hr race on sugar and caffeine... It's true!  What a whirlwind few weeks I've had.  I swear, it never seems to fail either I've got too much time on my hands (not training, work is slow) or it all comes at once.  Sure enough this time it all came at once.  Thankfully, I seem to be a heck of a lot more productive the busier I am! We started our rental contract for the summer in CDA on June 1st.  However, a friend told me about a local half ironman that I had done a few years ago, and how they moved the race from August to June to help locals racing IMCDA prep!  I sent a note to the owners of our rental and they were super sweet and had no problem with us checking in a few days early. I've never considered how much actually goes in to moving for 4 months.  2 people, 4 bikes, 2 dogs, 2 home offices.  Top the planning, packing, organizing, cleaning on top of no...

As I mentioned in an earlier post , I have always been inspired by Jen Harrison's pay it forward reward that she does every year.  Now that I'm a coach myself, and slowly starting to build my business, I thought this is my chance!  I'm having so much fun helping others and not only is my guidance helping the athletes, but I also feel like it's helping me as I continue to train and pursue my goals. I received some amazing emails, applications and until the week before the deadline, I had my decision narrowed down to 3 people.  Then, I got a last minute note from a very sweet woman that as soon as I read it my decision was made.  There is not just one thing about this woman's story that stuck out, but this feeling that I got as I read it.  As soon as I finished, I didn't even say anything, I just handed my computer to my husband an his words were my exact feelings, "wow."   She was the one. While our stories are not the same, some of her tragedy a...

I have so many things to say, but I wanted to get this race report out first while it's still so fresh in my mind. As many know I decided to try and qualify for Boston after a couple of glasses of wine and some peer pressure. To be honest, I'm not usually that easy to convince. Well, I used to be. Then, running too much left me injured far too much and I really do enjoy doing training and racing Ironman. But, after my mom passed I got this new found motivation and courage to just shoot for the stars.  Mind you, Boston was not something on my bucket list. When I started running marathons the idea of running a "3:40" was just so far out of what I thought possible that I just never even imagined I would try. Well, I took the challenge and I worked my ass off.  For the first time in many years I focussed about 5 months on running.  Running fast, running long. Cycling and swimming took a backseat. The training nearly broke me, but worse than that it nearly took my love ...