7 weeks to Ironman Cozumel!!

Actually it's 6 weeks and 5 days now!

This past weekend was a pretty serious training weekend. I guess you know it's serious when there are no pictures from the entire weekend! Sorry!

Friday was an open water swim at Lake P-ville. It was supposed to be 2 loops of 1.2 miles to make a 2.4 mile swim, but the loop ended up being 1.0 mile. I got there a little late after work and quickly realized the water was Cold! Then I realized Kendra (who can handle cold water better than anyone else I know) and I (the biggest wimp about cold on the planet) were the only ones without wetsuits! I was not happy about it, but I got in and once I got going I was cold but not miserable. I also didn't eat enough for lunch so I was hungry before I even started swimming. Kendra and I swam the first loop together, then she got out and I started loop 2. I had a few issues with my feet cramping but that's no surprise since I was both cold and hungry. My Garmin beeps every mile so I knew the course wasn't quite 1.2 miles so I planned to add on a little extra to loop 2. I was just starting my "extra mileage" when Carolyn kayaked over to me and said "time to head in, you've only got a few minutes of daylight left" I figured that might happen, so I headed straight in to the beach and ended up with a 2.1 mile swim in 1:20, at that pace I would have finished 2.4 in 1:32, I'll take it considering I was cold and starving the entire swim. The minute I got out of the water I was FREEZING! Red gave me a Power bar to eat on the way home and I cranked the heat in the Xterra.

Saturday morning Del and I got up early for the Outlaw Trail 100 in Round Rock. This was my third century ride of the season and my toughest. I think it was the hills that made it tougher for me. I know, I know... "Round Rock isn't hilly" but compared to Katy and Corpus, Round Rock is definitely hilly, there were lots of rolling hills through out the ride, nothing too long or steep, but still hills. The road surfaces were pretty bad for most of the ride, lots of chip seal (and lots of it was the really bad kind), some roads with big pot holes and gravel patches, and even a couple miles of gravel road- really?? YUCK!! It definitely didn't help that I had a small saddle sore going into the ride. I was hoping it wouldn't bother me, but by mile 2 it was already hurting. I really felt every inch of chip seal on the route! I even got chased by a Doberman! I was riding ahead when Scott had a mechanical issue and the dog came running after me, luckily I was able to out run him, or more likely he just lost interest.

But even with some issues I still had fun most of the ride. It was pretty cold in the morning but by about 9am it had turned into a gorgeous day to ride. Sandra, Scott, and I rode mostly together so I got to have great company for a lot of the ride. I think my favorite part of the ride was riding over the Granger Dam and looking out at the water. Near the end, Carolyn drove out to check on me, she found me at just the right time, I was afraid I had taken a wrong turn and would do circles around and around the park and never get to the finish! But she assured me the finish was just ahead. I rode across the finish and Tom & Del cheered for me! I was SO happy to get off my bike and be finished! 101 miles! Of course Sandra and I still had to run for 45 minutes, but I felt pretty good on the run. My legs were really tired and sore by the time we got home, so I made sure it was compression socks and feet up the rest of the day!

When I woke up, I knew Sunday's run would be painful, my legs were pretty sore. Sandra came to my house and we ran my 7 mile neighborhood loop twice. Sandra hadn't run it before so she enjoyed seeing the cute houses, nice gardens, cyclists and other runners, including Catherine and Julie H.! The last few miles were tough for me, my legs were really hurting, but I made it! So Del and I celebrated with brunch at Trudy's! I knew per Coach Jen's instructions I had to run another 30 minutes "later in the afternoon" I decided I was going to run at 5pm, and I was dreading it! Jeff and I went out for Amy's ice cream with some friends we hadn't seen in ages, which was really cool. When we got home it was time for me to run again...sigh. I talked Jeff into coming with me on his bike but I still wasn't excited about a short run that I was sure was going to hurt! I took off and the first few steps hurt a little but then, shockingly, I felt pretty good...then I felt even better! Wow! The 30 minutes went by quickly and my legs felt better running than they had walking around my house an hour earlier! The only issue I had was that the Amy's root beer float was not sitting too well, but no surprise there.

This was definitely my toughest training weekend so far, and tied for longest with the Corpus weekend. Hopefully it will help me feel stronger physically and mentally for Ironman Cozumel! Coming up this weekend- Longhorn 70.3!