going long?

It turns out that our waterproof and shock proof camera is not so waterproof and shock proof... I have dropped it countless times and during a swim in Maui it just decided to up and die on us. I was stoked to get the pictures off of it today. Was it really less than a month ago when we were there? The time and miles have just been flying by in the last few weeks.

monique in paradise
oh, the joy of racing rental cars

In the weeks leading up to Worlds I was really perplexed about a few things... I have been wanting to spend a season just racing the bike around and I know if I focused just on one sport I would be able to up my game a bit. I jumped into the Oceanside half ironman and Vision Quest registrations because I knew they would fill up fast before I realized that they had moved the dates. VQ moved back a week or so and the Oceanside 70.3 moved up. In 2010, they will be just 6 days apart. Then I signed up for my first Ironman less than two months later. While just completing them should not be a problem, competing in them with the specific race training for each even is unrealistic to expect a personal best. Optimistic?

What I did learn about myself at Worlds is that I love the balance and challenge of the three legged race. Yes, I could be much better on the bike if I just focused on that but I really enjoy the challenge of running more and more and the balance of getting my swim form the best it can be... Not finishing the race proved to me just how much I love every bit of it. I will be back to race at Xterra Worlds again next year. I will never have the talent or running speed of someone like James but I may be in contention for the guy having the most fun out there and that is what it is all about for me (and James himself would agree on the fun factor).

So. . . I decided to jump in and train across all three sports like never before. Yes, it is November and I have no races planned for months but I finally feel like I have worked out "what works for me" and am enjoying swimming, biking and running more than ever. I have no plan or schedule. . . Just enjoying the ride. I put in the biggest volume and what I think is quality and some of the baseline tests I have done is proving this is what is working best for me. It is exciting and I am looking forward to laying it out consistently in 2010.

In the 14 days ending 2009-11-08:

activity

#

time

miles

Road Bike

8

35:00:13

463.16

(4:32)

Swim

8

6:00:00

9.55

(37:41)

Mt Bike

2

4:45:00

40.0

(7:07)

Road Running

6

4:27:05

32.5

(8:13)

Trekking

2

3:10:00

7.1

(26:45)

Trail Running

1

1:04:00

6.64

(9:38)

Weights

2

40:00

Total

13

55:06:18

558.95

Training days since Xterra Worlds. I feel recovered from my crash!

In keeping with jumping in and signing up for my first Ironman I also signed up for Gordo's camp out at St. George. Initially, I wanted to see if I would enjoy training on the road vs. on the trail and even choke down the distances required. I thought if I didnt like the camp I could just pull out of the race but something tells me I am really going to like going long.

Ironman St. George.... Its ON!!!

It is a new challenge and opportunity for me to learn everything I can about going long and doing it the right way and I know Gordo is one of the best around to learn from. I would love to get back to some adventure racing and ultra distance running/riding next year.... but one thing at a time! Hopefully, I can share some of my lessons learned from the course and nerd files with everyone when I get back or some updates along the way.