Tri-ing to Get Back Into The Swing of Things

Congrats to all who did wondrous works at Buffalo Springs Half-Ironman and Ironman Couer d’Alene this past weekend. Your stories and adventures continue to inspire!

I’m so cheerful and anxious to ease my way back into regular workouts. In addition to one or two smaller races that I may do this summer, I’m DEFINITELY doing the Ironman 70.3 World Championship Race in November in Clearwater, Florida. (i.e another Half-Ironman). It’s such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity not to be passed up! The good news is that I have a good base and I’m definitely not starting from scratch. Intense workouts can wait for a month or two only to commence during the blazing months of August and September…not a fun time to be outdoors past 7:00am in Austin, Texas. In the meantime, I’m easing back into my regular Gazelle Running Workouts and Swim Practices bright and early in the mornings.

Went swimming on Friday and just took it easy…Lots of drills, balance work, kick boards (which I hate), etc. It felt refreshing not having to battle waves and jellyfish from the Eagleman. I’m selfishly happy to read Desiree Ficker’s account of the swim pretty much mirrored mine, except for her swim was about 30 minutes faster than mine!) See her recent blog post about that race. Oh yeah--and she came in third place.

I did the 14-mile Mt. Bonnell run with the Gazelles on Saturday morning. It was blissful hanging with one of the largest clusters of runners in a long time including Amy F., Mike, Thon, Richard, Jay, Jan, Brad, Shannon, Leslie, Susan, Emily and so many others that have been missing from my daily routine for a while. Everyone seems to be feeling good and upbeat about their Fall/Winter races. All was great until Jay threatened to sing “Jesse’s Girl!” Actually, the first 7 miles were pretty miserable under a blanket of intense humidity. Finally, with about 5 miles to go, the skies let loose with a welcomed solid downpour. It cooled things off and actually made the run go better. While I’m not fully recovered, it felt good to “get the lead out.”

I’m happy to say that I sat on my ass most of Sunday. Well, not really, but I didn’t do a lick of exercise. It was strange to not even get out of bed until 9:30am. I was out until a whopping 1:00 am the night before having gone to see the “Journey Sing-a-Long” at Alamo Drafthouse with some friends. What a blast!!! It reminded me that I can be human and social for a change.

I hit the Gazelle workout again this morning for more plyometrics, sprints, hops and other balance drills. Overall, we ran about 6 ½ miles including the long warmup and the long cool down run.

I’m beginning to feel alive again!