Timing is Everything...

Well, not exactly, but I have started to pay attention to it. I meant to post last week about my 800 meter time but life got hectic and busy and you know how that goes... So my time for the 800 meter swim was 20 minutes and 10 seconds. I felt pretty darn good about this! It was nice to just pace myself and not feel panicky. So, that's that.

This weekend I ran in the 1st Annual Bryce Riley Memorial 5K with Lindsy and another friend Billie. Bryce was an Honored Hero for Team In Training and lost his fight to leukemia this past December 23rd at the age of 5. The event was a major success for Bryce's parents, a huge turn out within the community with lots of fun things going on for race participants and family members. It was a really fun race to run, and even though I couldn't keep up with my running partners I still had my best time ever! I finished the race in 27 minutes and 7 seconds!! The time of the last 5K I did was 29 minutes 30something seconds. So I shaved nearly 2 1/2 minutes off! :) SO, I was happy....the training has gotten me somewhere! (oh, and if you'd like to read more about Bryce Riley's story, follow this link: http://www.johnsrunwalkshop.com/Flyers/BryceRiley5k08reg.pdf )

Finally, to sum up my training notes. Lindsy and I did brick work on our own last night. And while it doesn't lend itself to a whole lot to write about, we felt pretty darn good. Instead of doing bike-run-bike-run-bike-run, we did a straight 12 mile bike ride through the beautiful landscape and rolling hills of Nicholasville, KY, and then a 3 mile run. It was great and I felt good! It was a nice "break" in our team training.

What does "good" mean anyways?

I am not quite sure what a "good" time is for an 400 or 800 meter swim, but I do know that I felt really good tonight after completing 400 + 400 meters (to equal 800, in case you didn't know!). Coach Cox asked us to time ourselves on the 800, but being gone for 2 weeks I wasn't sure how I felt about this so I timed myself on the 400 (which I thought was aspirational in and of itself) and then took a break and timed the remaining 400. I am proud to say that a) I did not die, b) I didn't drink half the pool as I thought, c) I actually free-styled the entire thing!! and d) did it in a reasonable time!! (I think) Those of you who know swim times can tell me what's reasonable, but my 400 meter was 9min 41 seconds and my 800 was 19min 34sec. Of course, this may change on Thursday when I time the entire 800 meters (no 5 min break at the half way point), but tonight I was proud of myself! Sometimes ya just gotta give yourself a pat on the back...

Welcome Back to Reality

Don't worry, I am still alive and still training for the triathlon! I have been without internet for 2 weeks and while it was weird not being in-touch with the technological world, it was the most peace I have felt in a very long time! Of course, one week of that was spent in Jamaica! :) While I wasn't able to do my hard-core tri training in Jamaica I still ran and tried to stay with the cardio. But I will admit, there was a whole lot of laying on the beach, drinking fruity beverages, eating, and congo lines!

The second week was spent moving into our new house. I did get up and run every morning with the exception of 2 days and I have to say that I am finally over my fear and hatred of hills. The new neighborhood is all hills, you are either going uphill or down and there is very little flat. But, it is good for me and I feel much better about the run portion of the triathlon...now if I could only feel comfortable with the swim...