Back At It!

Is a year and a half too long to be away?  The answer is yes.  Well, I am back.

In November I decided enough was enough and I needed to sign up for a race and get back to training.  I had put on all of the weight I had lost in training for the first two triathlons and was definitely unhappy with how I felt and looked.  This time, however, I decided to up the ante.  I loved doing the two sprint distance triathlons.  I had so much fun training and racing but decided it was time to do more.

Looking at the international distance races out there, I found that most of them were on Sundays.  I don't race on Sunday.  Really wanted to do the Nations Tri, here in DC.  Sunday.  How about the Tri DC?  Sunday.  Other races were sprint on Saturday, international on Sunday.  Then I noticed there was a half-ironman, or 70.3, on a Saturday in May.  I knew that was going to be my race.  Five months to train for that distance, I felt, was plenty of time.  But I wanted company again.  I guess I am a social racer.  So I sent out some texts, emails, etc and got a couple of friends to join me.  Now there are six of us all signed up for the race and training.

I am really looking forward to the race and am enjoying the training.  I am losing weight, feeling better, and scared to alive of doing 70.3 miles.

Back at it!

So, after more than a week of NO training (Yeah, I know, that's just not the way to get ready for a triathlon but it was OM State competition for my oldest and then Spring Break filled with family time.  That's my excuse and I am sticking to it!) I was back in training this week.  Things feel pretty good and I am really confident that finishing the race is very doable at this point.  My new goal is to finish everything in less than 1:45:00.  I think that for a first race, that is a good goal.  Looking at the standings from last year for the 37 year-old guys, many of them were finishing less than 1:30:00 so I would definitely be at the back of the pack for the age group.  The fastest overall time was 1:04:11 and the slowest time was 2:07:05 for the men (ok, one slower than that at 2:34:34 but I consider that an outlier).  If I were to get under my time then I would be placing 227 or better according to last year.  Current registrations for the race are at about 185 men and some won't show so I am really looking at being one of the last to finish.  But, hey, first triathlon, not my last one, so I am going to do my best for under 1:45:00 and call it good.

My sister, Theresa and her husband, Blaine, are competing in their first triathlon this weekend!  I am eager to hear how they do and am sending forth good racing vibes for them to do well!  Go Theresa and Blaine!!

Oh, and my training log on this page gets updated more than I write a post.  That doesn't notify people when it is updated so if you want to check it out, come back often.