….my theme song for the Redman Half Ironman next month (Katy Perry’s song).  Some weeks are really tough to focus and get all of the training done but other weeks I feel like I have such a sense of clarity while training and feel like everything just comes together.   This week was definitely a week of clarity and it felt absolutely great.  I’m still slacking with putting in pool time, but biking and running feel super strong.  Next week my goal is to focus on getting the much needed swim time and keep at it.

On another note, this poor blog was a long time in the making.  I chose the blog name last May and let it sit and get dusty thereafter until I finally decided I should at least start posting before my account gets erased.  The original thought of creating this blog for me to track (and be accountable for) my training for my first half ironman in September.  However finishing graduate school kept me busy in June, and July, well, I don’t have an excuse for July, but it’s August and I’m going to track the rest of the training for my half and … keep up the blog with thoughts of the next big event… Ironman?  Other fun road races? (psst… I’m volunteering at IMAZ in November, so fingers crossed…. it might actually happen in 2013)

Now that I feel like I did a semi-introduction to my blog since it is the first post and all, I’ll get into the details of my workouts and semi-social life this weekend.  Friday I went to a couple’s baby shower and convinced my boyfriend to attend since he usually is excused from most of my social events as he’s studying for his certification in architecture (ugh… a grueling series of 7 tests…), but I didn’t want to go solo that night so he went with me.  I think he had an ok time, (it was a baby shower after all) especially with the amusing round of Baby Jeopardy for the men, but we didn’t get home until almost 11… which is late when you have to be up and on the road riding at 6a.  I had a very exciting 23 mile ride and 10 mile run planned for the next day.

I awoke at 5:30 to the sound of thunder and heavy rain.  Bummer.  Since the ride or run wasn’t  going to happen as early as planned, I rolled over and set my alarm for later and went back to bed.  I woke up at 9a and it was still pouring… on to plan B, do dishes, clean kitchen and reorganize running/biking/tri clothes in my new fancy schmany shelf/container I bought at the container store several weeks ago (this task was supposed to be finished several weeks ago, better late than never, oh well).  It finally stopped raining around 10:30 so off I went at 11 for my fun run (I figured it was better to get the run done first while it was still cooler as biking in the heat is more tolerable than running), one mile into the run I was already negotiating with myself into making it a four miler and just doing my long run on Monday.  I shut that conversation down at mile 3 and the rest was a pretty decent but hot run.  I’ve had better runs for sure, but it wasn’t awful.   An added bonus, I ran into (literally, she was running too) my tri training buddy who is doing the half with me in September and that helped add a little pep into my step.

Once I got back home I hoppped on the bike and set out for 23 miles.  It was fairly uneventful, I stopped at my parents house around mile 15 since they live along the route I was riding and scored a diet coke and visited for a bit.  Back on the bike and back home… showered, and before I knew it, it was 4p.  A quick trip to the grocery store to stock up on food for dinner and then I was glued to the couch until 10p when I promptly crashed into bed.

The next thing I knew, I heard my phone buzzing, looked at the clock and realized I was running late for my training ride in Mascoutah, IL with my training buddy I saw on Saturday.  I quicky threw on clothes, let the dog out, and grabbed all of my biking stuff (helmet, bike shoes, water bottles, nutrition, bike gloves, sunglasses,  pump, bike… dear lord there is so much stuff to bring when biking!!) and hussled to my car.  Because it was early and my brain wasn’t functioning, when I put in the directions on my way (yeah yeah, I usually am much more prepared and check out the directions the night before), it said that it was 7 hours away, which was totally off.  I figured I would head east and go from there, but to add to the confusion and (soon to be) chaos, while on the highway, my bike decided to hop off of one of the bike rack bars (the right strap which had the bike bar nearest my bike seat strapped down somehow popped off) and it was swinging on the one bar near the handlebars.  Talk about a heart attack.  My beautiful Cannondale, Peaches (yes, it’s a girly name, but she’s a pretty fierce bike), was at the risk of becoming debris all over the highway.  I quicky pulled off the the highway to fix her, and was then back on my way and determined to make it to the desination in less than 7 hours per my stupid phone (it’s only 45 minutes away).  I finally made it a half hour late, and when parking I realized I had my phone in ‘walk’ mode rather than ‘drive’ mode. Wtf.  Guess I’m the stupid one.  Anyways, I met up with my tri buddy and off we went!  The ride was pretty uneventful except for some super scary gravel road turns and before I knew it, we finally complete our first 50 mile ride!  Six more miles on the bike…plus a half marathon…. and swimming 1.2 miles prior… and … we’re done with our first half ironman!  Piece of cake, right?

All in all we had a blast, hung out at the German festival in the town afterwards and then I headed home to shower and sit on the couch.  Oh, and I’ve been practically bathing in aloe as in my rush to head to the ride, I completely forgot to put on sunscreen.  Check out this hawt Garmin tan line 🙂

So.  That’s it!  A very very long first post.  Stay tuned…. a 2,250 yd swim and 4 mile run are on the agenda for tomorrow…..