There’s a chill in the air!

Where has the month of September gone??? For some odd reason, I’ve struggled to find the time to sit down and write! With the new fall season in full swing, these past few weeks have been a whirlwind! Everything from high school visits and college fairs, to adjusting to my increase in hours of Iron man training, to trying to squeeze in every chance to visit with family and friends, and then find some “me” time…whew! Sometimes there is just not enough time in the day, BUT I always seem to manage to get everything done, I guess it’s the extended grace God grants on my life! So thankful for it!

As promised, here’s a quick update on my latest race…..Sept, 11, 2011 I conquered my 2nd Half Iron man distance at REV 3 Cedar Point. Going into this race, I was nervous. Maybe it was the fact that Eagleman was my first 70.3 distance, so my goal was to go out and enjoy it. However, with this race I placed some added, unnecessary pressure on myself to try and beat my time by a certain number. Probably not the smartest way to approach things being that this was only my 2nd HIM distance. Oh, well we all like to push ourselves right?
Race day!
Swim: The weather was perfect! Swim start air temp was in the low 60’s and partly sunny skies. I was worried that with the storms they were having a few days leading up to the race, that the water would be choppy, but it ended up the exact opposite! The conditions were comparable to a lake! With the sun being the only factor, really, I managed to knock off 7 minutes from my last swim time! So I was happy, although, I am still getting use to the open water swim which is a whole lot different from the pool!
Bike: Still my weakest out of the three. The course was one big loop, fairly flat with a few rolling hills. This is where I had failed in my nutrition. Without going into too much detail, it came down to me not drinking enough. I set out with 3 infinite bottles on my bike and intended to pick up another bottle along one of the fluid stations, but for some reason, I didn’t consume all of them. I guess, going in, I felt good on the bike and maybe because it was soo cool out, I deceived myself in thinking I was okay. As soon as I ended this part of the race, I could tell I was more fatigued than usual.
Run: The run was one loop out and back, with some rolling hills the first and last 1 ½ mile stretches. Surprisingly I felt strong and my legs were great for the first 5 miles, averaging 7:15-7:30pace. All the sudden, out of nowhere, passing mile marker 5 I cramped up and started falling back; before I knew it I was throwing up on someone’s front lawn (Sorry for the details). This was my very first vomiting experience during a run. It was soo embarrassing, but afterwards, I felt a thousand times better. At this point now I had nothing in me to finish the last 8 miles, other than Gatorade and water at the aid stations. My plan was to stick it out to the end. Around mile 12 my Garmin died but I knew it didn’t matter too much at this point. This all attributed to my lack of calories in on the bike. Again, another HUGE learning experience. My overall time was 5:40:37. 

My next race is IM Florida in 6 weeks!!!!! I’m soo excited! Can’t believe it's soo close!! Stay tuned!
 
Things I am looking forward to in October: My brother’s wedding in 3 weeks, in New Jersey!!!! Helping my sister find a wedding dress for her big day in August! Laura’s birthday!! Fall weather, pumpkin soup, pumpkin everything :) decorating, FB games, Britt Nicole concert with Victoria and Jaime, FINALLY being able to use the fireplace, last few weeks of IM training (Matt and I just joined Pgh Tri Club) and falling more in love with my hubby! Soo many fun things to look forward too!!:) Other than summer, fall is my second favorite time of the year.