Well it has been awhile since I have given you all an update on my training and racing, so I will give you the low down now!
After competing in Ironman Muncie my next goal was to go to Iowa for the 5150 Championship race which I qualified for when I went to Tampa Florida earlier this year in April. The race consisted of 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. The things I wanted to accomplish at this race was getting as close to 2 hrs and 5 minutes and breaking 40 minutes on the 10k run.
So after Ironman I really had to train hard, and i mean real hard in order to accomplish those goals. My coach Ben Weaver knew what my goals were and so he created my workouts to get me to that level. Just to give you an idea of what some of my training weeks were like I would swim 3 times a week, bike 3 times a week with a run after and then run 2 other days of the week. I can recall doing some workouts on the bike with Alex where Alex said to me " that is the first time I have ever felt nauseated".
While preparing for this race it was mentally and physically draining. I wanted to quit or take the day off due to being exhausted. This race coming up was going to be my 9th race this season. But thanks to Alex and Coach Ben I had plenty of support to keep me going and the results where HUGE!
When arriving in Iowa it was 55 degrees and rainy. Not what I wanted at the time but it came to benefit me on race day. The day before the race officials swore up and down that the race would not be wetsuit legal, but little did we all know race morning the water was 74 degrees. For some of you that don't know a wetsuit helps you stay afloat and not have to work so hard. Oh ya and it also keeps you warm. Granted I am and strong swimmer but this really helps me out! Also since this was my last "A" race of the season and I wanted to go fast Ben let me use his zipp 1080 races wheels which were awesome!
The run is what I was most proud of on this race I finally broke 40 minutes. My run Split was 39:20! I was able to hold off the second place guy in my age group, who beat me at Tampa earlier this year. I crossed the finish line in 2:08.00. Granted it wasn't 2:05 but it was a PR for me in an Olympic distance race by over 4 minutes and I smashed the run! I was happy for sure! As I was on the shuttle bus back to the race site I was talking to some people and they were talking about prizes. I knew that the pros were competing for some big cash prizes, but little did I know that winning 1st place in your age group got you $650 and a really nice metal!
Next year I will be back for this race except next time I will be under 2:05 without a doubt!
Now that race season is over as of this past weekend competing in the Lake Lemon triathlon, I will move onto my next goal of competing in a full marathon race. Leading up to this I will do the Monumental half marathon in downtown Indianapolis, IN and then I am thinking of doing the Walt Disney Marathon or one of the Rock and Roll marathons where they have a band playing at each mile!
So until I blog again I will be running, lots and lots and lots of miles!
Thanks for reading!
