Gaining Fitness...

I love blogging, not sure why because most of it is meaningless drivel but just fun to get thoughts on the paper or screen.  I have written several posts that did not get published but still liked expressing my thoughts.  Most with no rhyme or reason.  One post was on the everyone's a winner and the finisher medal but due to being blasted, just kept those feelings to myself.  I also thought about doing a post to my trip to Miami which was incredible by the way but this started years ago as a training blog so I seem to have trouble using it for anything else.  On a side note, I believe I would move to South Beach in a heartbeat.  The city is always up and going!  The food was incredible and after training in crappy weather, running, biking, and swimming outdoors was a dream come true.

Training is moving along and I have to say after 2 years of just mucking around, I am loving working with a coach.  I love that my thinking part has been taking out of the process and I can just do.  Lately most of the do has been going well.  I keep waiting for the week where I can't  hit the workouts and the paces but for the most part I just keep feeling more fit and stronger.  I had an amazing first day on the bike outside the other day.  I have been doing mostly stuff on the trainer with some outside rides here and there but was really impressed with my average on Saturday for a 40 mile ride so early in the season.  I hope it was not just beginner luck or the fear of being left out in the middle of not knowing where I was but  a trend that will continue.  My run fitness is feeling great!  As I was running a progression run the other day I was thinking how much of a genius my coach is - as I am training for this marathon, I have found that I just love it.  If I was training myself I would just be slogging the long miles every weekend, I get so many weekends off where I run by time and higher intensity and it has kept me fresh and healthy.  We also go by heartrate so it is so fun to see the paces I can hold at certain hr's.  It also takes the stress out of having to run a specific pace for tempo or progression runs as I just stay in a certain zone and my fitness indicates the pace.  As the marathon gets closer, I am returning to the track and the work outs she sends have been fun!  The other day I could not wait to get to the track and do the work out and it did not disappoint, I guess anytime you can look forward to hitting the track and thinking this is going to be fun - you must be doing something right.
Swimming is going, I feel great but am not fast.  I just don't even look at the clock and just swim.  I get those days when I feel awesome because all the 60 and above are swimming next to me and then I get those days when I feel slow when the 10 year old is schooling me in the next lane.  But I just don't care, It is what it is.  This new attitude also has me loving the pool for the first time ever.  Some days I prefer to swim over running.  This Wednesday I do have a swim test scheduled which I will not lie scares the shit out of me.  I just want to be my zen self in the water  - not stressing on going all out but not blowing up .. etc... but it will nice to get some feedback and see where I am on swim times.

Even thought my training hours are not huge right now, I have begin to feel some of the effects of training for an ironman... random hungriness at certain times.  The other day Stewart said you are always eating.  Oh Baby you have seen nothing yet.  Wait until you find me at 3:00 am cooking in the kitchen.  The random grouchiness has set in.  I can be laying there fine and the next minute ready to bite someone's head off.  The house cleaning laziness has set in.  Last week I peaked on Thursday and went down hill.  Stewart had to pick up the slack because if I wasn't interacting with the kids, I was tired and just wanted to read.  I am also blaming the awesome book I am reading right now as part of this laziness.  The it is 8:00 and I am going to bed now tiredeness.  And I have started to feel the real effects in my legs, just feeling tired - so tired sometimes.  Thankfully I am on rest week this week as this weekend kind of got me.  I was pretty much the walking dead from about 4:00 on yesterday but had my parents over for dinner so life had to go on. 


I do have some random Ironman goals going on in my head... I have always done ironman just to finish but this year being that it may be my last has me thinking otherwise... not sure what they are yet but they are in debate and thought of often.  The other day at the pool, Suzy says I think you could go to Kona if you really wanted to.  That my friends I can tell you is not a goal, there is no really want to in that area.

Boston goal is to relax, run , and enjoy the day.  I am run fit and am hoping this fitness will carry me along.  I do not want to be a slave to the garmin and miss out on this great running experience.  That is easier said than done because it will be very hard to shut my mind off.  I thought of just running with no garmin but am afraid that if I do that, I will go out like a banshee and the latter part of the race will be miserable.  I noticed on my progression run yesterday that I can run a 7:00 minute pace down hill in low zone 3.  I do not need to go out at a 7:00 minute pace at the start of a marathon so a garmin will be worn to protect me from myself.  My goal this day is run and have fun and hopefully I can get caught up in the atmosphere that I will forget that I even have a garmin on my arm.  I do it easily in Ironman so hope the same can be done here.

Loving these warm temps right now and so looking forward to more.  I love the heat, I love the feeling of leaving a work out looking like I just stepped out of the shower.  I am more than ready for the summer and seeing what it has to offer on the training front.

Happy Training!