And this my friends is Ironman training...

I'm exhausted. It's been a long weekend.



Saturday we decided to ride the course of our race on Sunday morning. But of course we rode to the course, then the course and then home. 40 miles later we were wondering if that was a dumb idea and if it would affect us in the morning. And it was hot... like 90's.



Sunday was race day. We both signed up for the JCC Independence Tri. It was a first time race and they got things right! :) It was fun to get to the race and have people there that I recognized. I knew the aquatics director of the pool from college so got to catch up with him, saw our fabulous friends Tracy and Jim, as well as their son Zach who was doing his first tri (and did amazing... must be the genes). Before the swim, I found Dave and Meredith, as well as Rebecca - blogger friends, turned into tri friends! I even got to meet one of my Marathon Bar teammates Daniel! All day I had familiar faces and it was super fun. My parents came too and watched Charlie (my dog). God bless them... she had some issues, but they did amazing with her and although we teased them that it was a test for grandchildren and that they failed, we really appreciate having them there to cheer for us and to watch our girl! The swim was a serpentine swim which was kind of difficult for me. I had Tom start behind me (since he's only swam once since Ironman Florida), but of course he needed to pass me right away. I had two other guys pass me, but then get right in front of me so they probably weren't that much faster than me. I was slow and lethargic and hoped that wasn't a sign of the day to come. It was only a 300 yard swim, but then we had about a 1/4 mile run to transition. My time was 7:55 for the swim and the run. Here's a funny picture of me getting ready to jump into the pool. Look at the crowd waiting to get in...
Transition was super speedy. Had it not been for getting my ear stuck on the new TT helmet, I would have been fine (I have to practice that!) 0:56


The bike was super short (12 miles) and besides the out and back on a gravel path (in which the people in front of me were going 10mph), it was smooth sailing. I had a guy sucking my wheel for most of the race which was pretty annoying, and did get yelled out for passing on the gravel (I made up for it by telling the guy that he needed to learn to bike faster instead of bitching at me for passing), but it was fine. Such drama! 12 miles in 34:27. I think that was a 20.9 average.


T2 was super fast again - 0:37.


Then the run came. I just felt sluggish. Tom said that on his race it felt like he was in marathon mode. We just couldn't get the legs going. I only saw a few women in front of me, but with it being a time trial sort of swim, who knows what place they were in. I finished in 26:56 which is disappointing, but still sub 9:00's. One of these days I'll get to put it all together! ;)
My mom and dad were so cute and made signs for us from the dog! :) And here are Tom and I with Tracy, Jim and Zach Aust. They are our amazing tri family!!!
And then I said that I got to meet one of my Marathon Bar teammates, Daniel.
I ended up finishing in 1:10:54. I wanted to finish in under 1:10. I ended up second in my AG and 3rd overall woman out of 93! I was excited about that! Tom did amazing as always! He's definitely showing signs that he's recovered from RAAM quickly and finished in 1:05:14 which was good for 17th overall out of 241 and 3rd in his AG!

Then yesterday, we decided to fight the heat and biked 85 miles. Holy heat! If it weren't for stopping out our friend Tracy's who totally took care of us for a little while, I probably could have died on the bike! :) Today was supposed to be a 8 mile run, but I literally was so dizzy that I couldn't see straight and I ended up running about 6 and walking 2, talking to Tom and telling him my plans for the future. Interesting, but very good conversation! We've decided not to do Ironman Rhode Island 70.3 this weekend. :( I'm kind of bummed, but a lot went into our decision and I know that it's best. It's not for lack of being prepared and we're actually going to do a local Olympic distance this weekend instead. Just some team stuff on his side that influenced out decision.

I feel like I can't get caught up with life, but that's Ironman training. I'm hot, and tried, and hungry - all.the.time! But that's expected, I guess! :) What doesn't kill me makes me stronger right?

Oh... one more thing - and it's a favor. If you are on Facebook, will you become a fan of Marathon Bars and then comment on my photo? We are having a team competition and the one with the most comments wins some $$. That would make me happy! :) here's the link...

Colleen's Photo