I'm leaning toward registering for the Odyssey Half IM Off Road XTREME duathlon in September. I had so much fun hanging out with everyone last year when I ran the 1/2 marathon and then volunteered afterward. Such a blast. I've been thinking about doing this race for years, this is the year. 8008 feet of climbing during the bike (damn, last year it was 7300) and 3094 feet of climbing for the run. Good prep for riding and running in Colorado!!
I estimate that it's going to take me about 12 hours, closer to an IM as far as time is concerned. I'm going to use BT's beginner full IM training plan. I'm not sure what combination of off road and on road biking I should do. It probably makes sense to do some technical mountain biking but it seems to me that it would make MORE sense to get really good at climbing in general whether that's on the mountain bike or on the road bike.
There are some LONG weeks of training scheduled in this plan but if I put in the time I think I'll be able to finish this race. It's going to be a very hard race and there are going to be points where I'm going to doubt that I will finish but that's the beauty of these events - pushing yourself to the limits and seeing where your limits are.
I have 8 weeks to prep for this race. Time to get serious with my training. 18 hours of training in one week - do I even have that much free time? Yikes. That will mean two training sessions per day. Maybe I can get in some bike training by bike commuting to work again.
Won't it be fun to be in the best shape of my life at 31??
On a mission to reach 142! Weight loss challenge through BT, my goal is to lose 6 pounds by September 20th. That date is the goal b/c I'm considering doing an off road half Ironman (which I estimate will take me around 12 hours to complete so it's really more of an Ironman type race) September 22nd so the less weight I have to carry around the better. Start weight: 148, Weight last weigh in: 147, Goal weight: 142 (of course anything less than that would be fine too)!
Rough day eating-wise yesterday. I've been so good for the past 2 weeks. Yesterday I was just HUNGRY. I couldn't seem to not be hungry all day. For lunch I had a spinach salad with fruit but it didn't have any protein. So I munched the rest of the afternoon to stave off major hunger. But I was still starved when I got home so I cooked some Indian Stew (lentils with veggies). Then I headed out for a glass of wine with Len and Mike. So far not too bad. But no time for exercise which I'm starting to feel guilty about. Then we went to Cold Stone! Not good. But after that I finally felt full! And happy. :)
Today's eating and exercise plan:
Breakfast (6:30) - corn puff cereal from Whole Foods (no sugar, fat, very few calories) with 1% milk, coffee with 2/3 caffeine
Snack (9:30) - peach
Lunch (11:30) - leftover stew
Snack (2:30) - banana, protein bar
Dinner (5:30) - eggs, bagel
Biking and Beach Vball! (water, Hydroboom to drink, protein bar if I start to feel weak)
Snack (10:30) - plain yogurt with jam
I love Thursdays! Beach vball tonight and then vball tomorrow night! And then the weekend! The plan is to try to ride up Jerome Jay on Sunday AM. Over 300 feet of climbing in less than 1 mile. Maybe I'll try to do it twice!!!
More streams of consciousness...
Yet another break up, this one tougher than the last. No info from his side whatsoever, I have absolutely no idea what I did or didn't do, he just seemed to lose interest. Boys are bad, cause me to expend way too much emotional energy, and I have had little success so far. The plan is to stay away from them for now, too much hassle.
Triathlon (or rather Duathlon) Racing news:
Race Report from the EXTERRA EX2 Off Road Duathlon from Sunday!! A ton of fun and now I'm ready to do another one.
Vball news:
Last night was vball, we kicked some serious butt, played the lowest ranked team and creamed them all three games. It kinda sucked b/c we berely rallied at all. I got in some super hard hits b/c Jenna and BA are awesome setters!! My power was ON!!! That's what a week and a half off can do! Kinda like volleyball tapering??
My Current State of Mind:
This song is going through my head, hmm, time to figure out why so it might go away.
Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, (man, I used to be nervous when I was in the blocks before one of my sprinting races in middle school track)
Engines pumping and thumping in time.
The green light flashes, the flags goes up,
Churning and burning, they yern for the cup.
They deftly manouver and muscle for rank,
Fuel burning fast on an empty tank,
Wreckless and wild they pour thru the turns,
Their prowless is podent and secretly stern.
As they speed thru the finish the flags go down.
The fans get up, and get out of town.
The arena is empty except for one man,
Still driving and striving as fast as he can
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up,
And long ago somebody left with the cup,
But he's driving and striving and hugging the turns,
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns.
He's going the distance (note: I always sing this as SHE)
He's going for speed. (note: I always sing this as SHE)
She's all alone, all alone in her time of need.
Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course,
He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse.
He's going the distance.
My analysis:
Definitely racing related, beginning of a competition, lots of energy, nervousness. Long distance racing. When's my next race? I seem to live for these races. Maybe I'll do one of these Cranky Monkeys, same goals, stay out of the way and try not to get injured!!! I can't sit in this chair at work anymore. I need to burn some energy!! I still have a small hamstring injury from the race so I shouldn't do anything tonight but I need to, need to burn some energy! Hmm, what can I do tonight? Something not hamstring intensive. Maybe some biking. Very light biking. How about some road biking?
This nervous energy definitely stems from the fact that I AM MOVING TO COLORADO. There. I said it. IN CAPS. I'm really doing this. I can't wait. I want to go now. Starting anew. New house, new people, new friends, new parks, mountains to explore!!! So much new to explore!
I might have had too much caffeine this morning. Or I've developed ADD. I'm all over the place. I'm also HUNGRY b/c I'm participating in this weight loss challenge (lost 1 already, 5 more to go before September 22nd). Despite this all over the place frame of mind, I really AM moving to Colorado. Same job, just a new location.
I'm glad I have this song in my head as opposed to the "I bought on Ebay song" set to the tune of "Ain't Nothing but a Mistake" song by the Backstreet Boys, damn, that song is addictive. Listen to it on youtube, you'll see what I mean.
