My First Marathon (x2)

2016 was the first year of training for Ironman in 2018.  For the most part there was a lot of progress and improvement, with a few sidesteps. In March I broke 2:30 for the half marathon for the first time.  It was truly anticlimactic.  I hadn't come closer than 2:32 in several years of trying to break 2:30.  Then it happened.  With a 2:28.  In Dallas.  With no one there.  I've done it three times this year.  So I guess I am a 2:30 half marathoner now.  I am also able to consistently pace 2:45. May was the most awful Olympic distance tri ever at Bonkers.  Paired with the irony of "earning" an invitation to AG nationals based on that race.  Small races are weird that way. Early June is Monumental Mile.  I always think I'm going to break 10:00 and never quite get there.  Until I ran 9:41 this year.  Still not sure how to feel about that. In June I was anxious about the Grand Rapids tri/Athena nationals .  I was still owning the awful experience at Bonkers, b

It seems like everyone is doing a gift list for runners, cyclists, triathletes, etc.  I've been enjoying them, but they don't necessarily include my favorite things, so I thought I would share my own. 1. Feetures elite ultra light no show tab socks - https://feeturesrunning.com/product/elite-ultra-light-no-show-tab These are my hands down favorite running socks.  For running I will basically only wear them, they are the best socks ever.  They are lightweight and don't feel like they're taking up space in your shoes.  They wick water from even my sweaty feet.  I haven't had a blister wearing them (except when running hills in an utter downpour/thunderstorm, but that doesn't count). 2. Saucony Guide shoes on the Everun platform - http://www.saucony.com/en/womens-best-sellers-guide/ I used to run exclusively in Brooks.  No, I didn't have some cool sponsorship, they were just the best shoe for me for a long time.  Then Saucony came out with Everun and I

Two weeks before the Detroit Free Press Marathon I was feeling GREAT about my race.  I had decided that a small PR (anything under 5:46) was a C- day, that a B day would be keeping my average pace under 13:00, and that my A goal of 5:30 was reachable...there may have even been an unspoken A+ goal.  I was in good shape and ready to go racing. Taper Week 1 Monday - I left work and was headed to my last pre-race training session with my personal trainer.  I was on I-65 between downtown and Zionsville when a small truck in the lane next to me lost control of his vehicle due to mechanical failure and hit my car, pushing it into another car.  Fortunately I was ok, but the stress of dealing with the car being totaled and the insurance company took it's toll. Wednesday - Friday - I was the co-chair for the OKI regional planning conference in Indianapolis.  Good days, but long days.  Also, I couldn't find the title to my car to send to the insurance company so I won a bonus trip to

Credit goes to Rhi Johns for the title, it's how she described her race yesterday...and fitting for my final 20 before Detroit. While "fall" began this week it has still been flirting with 90 degrees and we've had three ozone action/air quality alert days in a row in Indy.  I started my run early, knowing that it was going to be an icky day.  It was 67 degrees with 92% relative humidity when I started the run.  Even though I don't often weigh myself before a long run because I know I am carrying a bit of extra water and carb loading weight, I did because I knew I would need to know how much I lost on this run. I ran the first 4 miles in the dark with lights, since I started at 6:40 AM.  On street through the hills on 75th Street over to the Monon.  Pace was slower that desirable, but in the dark I wasn't taking risks.  I got to the deck as the last Indy Runners were taking off and I had missed the instructions.  I knew the group was running a loop that inc

I've had a good training week.  My coach reviewed my past training block and had good things to say and was happy with my speedwork on Tuesday.  I had a strong long run today and was able to run negative splits during the "fast finish" portion of it.  Also several people said that I looked smaller every time they saw me or that I was the incredible shrinking woman.  All happy. Later I was texting with a friend who is one of my superheroes.  She said I reminded her that she needed to want it more than anything else.  We didn't say it, but we were talking about Ironman. It got me thinking about what I wanted it more than, I want to hear "Rose Scovel from Indianapolis, Indiana YOU are an IRONMAN" more than I want: Cookies Frosting Chips Fried food Milkshakes Alcohol Pizza Cinnamon toast Waffles Coffee cake Sleeping in on Saturday Being cool Being warm Being dry Smelling good Great hair Money/a higher paying job A new car A nice yard A su

Tri Indy was on July 31.  I think this is going to be my benchmark race.  The first time I attempted the Olympic distance was at this event and I managed to DNF before the run.  That was the impetus to start working with a sport dietitian and stop trying to work with advice from the diabetes center staff who didn't know what to do with me becoming an endurance athlete.  The second time I finished just under 4 hours.  So that is the beginning.  That was 2013. In 2014 I raced the Oly at Tri Indy three weeks after finishing Muncie 70.3, which was my first 70.3. I struggled through the race, starting with a mentally difficult swim that was a minute slower than the prior year.  In and out of the water near last meant out on the bike near last and probably the last Oly athlete off the bike course since I could hear radio communications as I was passing about the last athlete.  First lap of the run was slow, heading out for the second lap I saw Kara and told her I was hot and sore...but

When I registered for the Ironman 70.3 Muskoka in Huntsville, Ontario my criteria was a half Ironman around my birthday that wasn't Muncie but I could still drive to, preferably somewhere that wouldn't be crazy hot.  I don't even know if I looked at the course profile before I registered.  I certainly didn't process that the feet of climb listed was in meters, not feet. When I started looking at the course profiles and doing the conversions, finishing became a BHAG (big, hairy, audacious, goal).  Now, I work with goal setting all the time, it's an occupational hazard.  I can set, and achieve, SMAART (specific, measureable, aggressive yet achievable, relevant, and timebound) goals like a champ.  The question was - was this really achievable?  We are talking about a course with 1,265 METERS of climb on the bike and 250 METERS of climb on the run.  And that run is AFTER you've shredded your legs on the bike. I started training the bike course at The Speed Facto

June 12th was the Grand Rapids Triathlon, which was the Athena and Clydesdale USA Triathlon Nationals.  The Athena/Clydesdale national championship is an "open" championship, meaning you don't need to qualify for it at an earlier race.  Athena is women over 165 pounds, Clydesdale is men over 220 pounds.  Ironically enough at my terrible showing at Tri Bonkers earlier I qualified for age group nationals by "winning" my age group - I was the only person in my age group. Anyway, I was doing the Olympic distance race at Grand Rapids - 1500 m swim, 40K bike, 10K run.  Same distance as Tri Bonkers, but on a more reasonable course and with better weather.  David traveled with me and my parents came down from Rogers City to watch me race.  They hadn't watched a tri before.  I was pretty anxious before the race because I didn't want to disappoint my coaches, my parents, David, or myself. The swim was a mass start by wave.  My wave was all of the Athena athlet

So I am resurrecting the blog to tell the tale of the road to Ironman.  Originally I was planning to doing a full Ironman this year, for my 40th birthday.  Last fall my coach was brutally honest with me (I guess I pay him to be that on top of the other things) and said I wouldn't be able to make the cutoffs, especially if anything went wrong (which is likely).  So I decided to postpone until the 10th anniversary of my diabetes diagnosis since this is why I started all of this in the first place and take three years to train hard and get faster. In January I started the serious training.  My running coach became my tri coach, and I started working with a swim coach.  Training intensity picked up and my bike rides went from rides to training.  I had to start doing them on the bike trainer instead of a spin bike or stationary bike.  I HATED the bike trainer, but I needed to suck it up.  Sometime in the spring I found someone selling a better trainer for a really great price and snag