Catching Up

It has been quite awhile since I have been on my blog.   Not really sure why I got away from it, but a friend asked if I would start up again and thought it was about time.   Since my last entry I have been keeping quite busy and managed to do a few races.    These races include:  Stomp the Grapes 1/2 Marathon (Nov),  The First Annual Chalet Trail Run (Jan - I did 12 miles), Arizona Distance Classic Quarter Marathon(March), and Kentucky Derby 1/2 Marathon(April), and TOSRV (May). 

Races that I currently have on the calander are:  the Warrior Dash (June), Muncie 70.3 (July),Ironman Louisville (August), and The Bourbon Chase (October).  I will likely do some shorter distance tri's but haven't signed up for anything yet.   

Training this year so far has been a challenge.   In January I injured my right IT band and hamstring.   The injury itself seemed to take forever to heal and I had to change some of my race plans because of it.   I was originally going to do the 1/2 Marathon distance at the Arizona Distance Classic, but at that point in time, my knee was bothering me even on short 2-3 mile distances.   So I ended up doing the quarter instead, which I was happy about.   Very slow, but it gave me a chance to enjoy the course and then cheer in all my friends as they came through the finish.   So, although not a fast race for me, the experience was still great.   I thought I was going to completely have to bail on the Kentucky Derby Half, but I kept at my rehab for the IT band and slowly but surely increased my mileage each week.   The weekend prior to the race I was able to do a 2 hour training run and decided at that time to go ahead and do the race.   I knew it wasn't going to be a PR race or anything and decided to approach it as a training run.   I ran with my friend Kathy and we decided to try and keep my HR at a tempo pace or lower.   First half of the race I felt great and felt like I could speed up.   Unfortunately Kathy started having some cramping issues.   The course only had water at the stops until mile 9, for some reason.   I had bought my own fluids, but Kathy had not.   So, we ended up walking/running the last 4 miles or so.   Definately the slowed 1/2 marathon I have done to date.   However, that being said, I still had a great time.   The course was flat and I really liked going through Churchill Downs and ended down by the river.   It was a well run race and I felt great the whole time we were out there.  I didn't really even feel tired at the end.   So, for me it was more of a confidence booster than anything!  

The second challenge of my training this year is that I have started HR (heartrate) based training.   More on that next blog, but the main thing is that I have had to slow way down on my long runs, which is more mentally challenging than anything.