Recovery and Sunshine!

Earlier in the week, I continued to recover from the half marathon and took it easy, wobbling a bit at work on Monday afternoon and part of Tuesday.  Luckily, I wasn't the only one as there were others at the office that had participated. However, this definitely proved that I have quite a bit more work to do in prepping for Oceanside. 

This week, I also got other items done in preparation for Oceanside....booked flight, found place to stay and sent out note to friends and family on Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation, the fundraiser I selected to raise money alongside my effort to complete Ironman 70.3.  In addition, got my first pre-race communication from Ironman Oceanside titled "The countdown is on!" - this, along with getting other things slated this week, quickly made me realize its around the corner!

Signed up for a second half marathon for mid-February in Houston that I will plan to ride 30-40 miles afterwards on bike.  In February, my goal is to start combining certain legs of the race, closer to actual race distances, on my long weekend workouts. 

Workout this week included:
Monday: 50 min spin class
Tuesday: 1 hr spin class
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: 1 mile swim (30:59, I was slow today!) and 1 hr spin class
Friday: Off
Saturday: 6 mile run (9:41/mile average) - a special guest joined me on my run today, see below
Sunday: 34 mile bike ride (15.8 mph avg)

This is after I was done with run, apparently I woke her up from her slumber when I stopped running.  Overall, she's a good rider on my runs except I could do without answering "are we going home now" about 36x on mile 3! 

Ahhh! These are the days I have been looking forward to riding on! Today was low 60s and not a cloud in the sky.  It's not very long but this is my favorite spot riding on my Woodlands route, bridge over Lake Woodlands. 

The week of Aramco Half Marathon

This week was focused around balancing my prep for Ironman with trying to take it easy prior to the Houston Half Marathon on Sunday. 

Workout this week included:
Monday: 50 min spin class
Tuesday: 1 hr spin class
Wednesday: 50 min spin class + 2 mile run (9:35/mile pace)
Thursday: 1 mile swim + 1 hr spin class
Friday: Rest day
Saturday: Rest day
Sunday: Houston Half Marathon, 13.1 miles + enjoying a bit on the bike

Houston Half Marathon update:
From my post last week, the chance of rain fell to 0% so my wish was granted thank goodness! The weather was amazing - cool and clear skies...perfect day for a run.  I had a great time with friends at the race and overall, was happy with my run.  My goal was to average at or below 9:30 min/mile and I ended up averaging 9:27 min/mile...I cut it close though...ending with an overall time of 2:03:51.

Here's a quick snapshot of results:

During a happy hour, I talked Christy and Yana (two ladies to my left) into signing up, still not sure if they regretted it or not but think overall, they had a good time.  Richard (in the back) and I pushed each other a lot not only in prepping for the race but during the race...we are both competitive so it was good to bounce that competitiveness back and forth to get us going.  We both accomplished our goal in the end but don't ask him who won...it's a sore subject:) We all used to work with Kristin (far right with husband Jon) at TAS and it was fun randomly running into her during packet pick-up day so she joined up with us race morning.

From the left: Jamie, Christy, Richard, Yana, Kristin, Jon. 

Daydreaming of warmer and dryer weather

To sum this week up, cold and rainy! I am reading a book right now that was recommended called Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen & the Greatest Race Ever Run by Matt Fitzgerald.  Earlier in the book it talks about the history of Ironman - it was originally held in February but the race organizers had elected to move it from February to October so that participants could train for it in the summer instead of preparing over fall and winter months.  Good call organizers!  I picked Oceanside Ironman for several reasons but I definitely wish the date was further back...the riding and running in cold and/or rain is getting old!  The good news, I live in Houston Texas so it's not as bad as other areas and definitely doesn't last as long as it could.  So I'll suck it up...sometimes.

Workout this week included:
Monday: 50 min spin - drizzly and cold, I said no thanks today to the run!
Tuesday: 1 hr spin + 5 mile run (~9:22/mile)
Wednesday: 50 min spin + 2 mile run (10:42/mile...not sure what I was doing on this run)
Thursday: 0.75 mile swim (21 min) + 1 hr spin
Friday: 50 min spin - again, drizzly and cold so went ahead and passed on the run!
Saturday: Off
Sunday: 6 mile run (8:55/mile...fastest 6 mile so far...today was 46 degrees and raining, the plus side to this is that there is a bit of extra encouragement to finish faster when you run in this type of weather!)

This week, the weather is supposed to be a bit better, that is, there's not going to be a lot of rain but still cold.  Crossing fingers that the 40% chance of rain for the Aramco half marathon will go down by the time Sunday rolls around!

And I promise, this will be my one and only post complaining about the weather but will say that if I ever sign up for a half Ironman again, it will be in October!

New Bike and workout Dec 29 - Jan 4

I finally got a new bike, a Specialized Dolce Comp.  I've been anxious to take it out on a its first ride but through the holidays, either my schedule didn't allow or the weather was crappy.  I was able to finally ride today - first day that the sun was going to be out all break! Although I knew it was going to be chilly, I wasn't prepared for the wind! For the whole 50 miles, it didn't matter which way I turned, the wind was always against me.  It was brutal.  I rode to my parents house in Magnolia for a quick visit and break.  My dad was nice enough to drive me to a good drop off point on 1488 where the shoulder was large for my ride home.  About 10 miles into ride back, I was regretting my answer "no" when he offered to drive me home!  Good news is that my bike did me good the whole ride and probably gave me good practice on parts of the ride I will experience along bay in Oceanside.

Workout this week included:
Monday: Spin class (20 miles) and 4.5 mile run
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 9 mile run (~9:45 min pace)
Thursday: Off
Friday: 6 mile run (9:42 min pace)
Saturday: 1 mile swim (25:02)
Sunday: 50 miles (15.5 mph avg)

To give you an idea on where the top female ranks in my age group, at 70.3 Oceanside 2014, Sarah Cameto was 1st in her age group (13th in female overall) with a 28:09 min swim, 2 hr 35 min bike  (21.58 mph avg) and 1 hr 32 min run (7:05 min pace avg)!  And, if for a second you are thinking, wow Jamie beat Sarah's swim time...umm no.  I will probably almost double my time in pool when swimming in bay....so the 25:02 I did on Saturday, that would be more like 45 min in the bay! So yeah, Sarah would slaughter me. 

Callie with our bikes.  She tells me that she wants to "race with momma" one day.