Training plans and setting personal goals

Good morning!  Yesterday I gained some confidence that perhaps I didn't bite off more than I can chew when it comes to 26.2 miles.  Back on January 1 of this year I set a personal goal that I wanted to run the "distance" of 13.1, THIRTEEN times in 2013.  In 2012 my personal goal was to run 1200 miles and I surpassed this by having ran 1366 miles.  I wanted to do something a tad different in 2013 so I went with the 13/13.1's/2013.  This weeks Marathon training plan was to run an LSD of 7 miles, for a total of 17 miles for the week.  I knew I would be ok with the 13.1 miles for my LSD but as I ran yesterday nice and slow striving for a comparable time of what I would like to run the Portland Marathon in, I decided I would not only run a half marathon but I would add a 5k to my mileage as well.  Most of yesterday truly consisted of mental strategy instead of dealing with a body that wasn't able to hold up, and when I finished I had accomplished my goal.....I ran 16.2 miles.  The crazy thing looking back is what I covered in just over 3 hours is basically what I was to have ran for the entire week.  With this renewed confidence I never did say it was going to be pretty or that I'd be fast but I did say that I now feel like I can cover that kind of distance once again. :-)

All week long I've been glued to the weather trying to determine when I could fit my June half marathon in as Sunday is the last day of the month and I haven't been able to get 13.1 miles ran at one time in due to life.  My husband and I sold our business property and have been moving for the last two weeks, a total of 9 days that consisted of lots of heavy lifting, loading and unloading.  My body has been extra tired and really when it is cooler to be out covering those kinds of miles is when we really needed to be doing the moving because of being outside so much. 

I finally decided that my LSD would need to happen on Thursday morning which is normally my cross training day.  Then I awoke Wednesday morning to a beautiful cool, calm morning and  began to doubt if I should just go ahead and get my self out the door, but..... 

I was tired.  I really was fighting myself mentally before I ever began, and yet I was second guessing myself just as much as doubting.  Why?  Because Tuesday evening I "competed" and participated in my first ever Triathlon practice.  I competed with myself, because I wanted to see if I could really do this type of athleticism on my own.    I've been swimming just right at a year, and I flail when I swim the free style.  So I went into this knowing I would swim the breast stroke but soon realized I was loosing so much valuable time by not swimming the free.  Then came the bike transition and I slowed myself down by forgetting to put on my helmet while my bike was still racked.  The cool thing is that I gained so much confidence on my biking portion with using a dual bike that weighs 35+ pounds while others were on road bikes.  But when I look at our times I really wasn't that far off!  Then came the running transition and I knew to expect very heavy legs after what I had already put my body through in the last 30 minutes or so.  When I looked down at my Garmin and saw my pace I was blown away and thrilled my left felt heavy but they were performing!

This was my very first time of ever doing a triathlon even though it was a practice, it was so much fun.  If I was a much better swimmer, I can't imagine how much more fun it would be!  I also gained so much respect for tri athletes, and I already was blown away with their endurance from being a volunteer for the Xterra World Championships two years in a row.  But to now have done an extremely small taste test, I have the utmost respect for them! And I have no desire to do what they do as I am not a daredevil when it comes to biking.  

So where does that leave me?  Well, I am headed to the pool this morning to simply work on my free style.  I'm not concerned with laps nor time only with getting comfortable and my form.  I came home extremely tired Tuesday night and restless thinking of things that I could have done differently.  I came home excited as well that I didn't drown, I didn't expire and that I didn't want to do this again.  With Meghan's encouragement I signed up for my first solo triathlon to be held on the 4th of July.