5K

Did the Reach Out and Run 5K on Saturday! I haven't done a 5K since the 4th of July last summer. My husband was laughing with me that I was a little nervous about this race, it's only 5k you know - you'll be fine. My training schedule said 5k - top zone 4 to low zone 5 - the puke zone as I like to call it. Coach Matt assured me that yes I'm supposed to run hard (the whole time) for a race like this. I was nervous about getting down and ugly, being able to let go mentally and go all out.

On Sat. morning my kids, never fails, wanted to sleep in more while every other Sat. they're up at the crack of dawn. My son wasn't feeling well and had a slight fever. Great. My husband was flying out the door to work saying - you'll do just fine. I shoved the kids in the car, got to the race and by then my son looked like he was going to faint and was burning up. My dad said he would come and pick him up. Meanwhile I've got to warm up and I put my daughter (so thankful she's a responsible girl) in charge of my boys and 2 nephews because my sister-in-law raced too, and hoped grandpa would find them OK. The warm up felt horrendous. The race seemed to start way to soon and I was stuck in the pack trying to find a pace. There was some jerk actually riding his bike on the beginning of the race into the path of the runners. He almost ran a younger runner over and I thought the dad was going to kill him. That gave me a little adrenaline boost to get going. No sooner am I starting to settle into a good but super uncomfortable pace, I see my dad waving at me at the sideline, asking me to point which way my kids are so he can pick up my poor son. I do a quick point and a prayer and keep on truckin'. I'm definitely in zone 4 and trying to get back in my mental game. I fell into a pace with a runner by me and I know I must have sounded like a steam engine, I was puffing hard. I stopped looking at my heart rate when it was inching closer to zone 5 and just found my happy place, held on and tried not to think of the burn.

I finished at 26:02, (although my garmin said 25:49). I'm really happy with that, I pushed as hard as I could. My time from the last 5k in July was 31:26, so this training must be working! It was amazing to see everyone medal from the Fitness Pursuit! So impressed by Coach Matt and Coach Lauri and their wins. It is amazing to be coached by those who don't just talk the talk.

Just looking at my calendar, I have exactly 12 weeks until my first triathlon. Some have been asking my race plans.
Here they are: July 12th - Trek Women's Sprint Triathlon, Pleasant Prairie
Aug. 16th - Pleasant Prairie Olympic Tri.
Sept. 27th - Danskin Sprint - again Pleasant Prairie

I should be pretty comfortable with the PP course by then! Plus I get to swim in Lake Andrea;) Speaking of swimming...I can swim now! I put in my time, and with the coaching it all did magically come together. We'll see how it is when I get in open water, but I'm confident it will be just fine. Just to compare, my first swim lesson/session in December I could barely do 25 yards...and yesterday I completed a 2400 yd. workout!

This weekend I finally got to pick up my new bike. It's a beautiful Trek Madone WSD 5.2 project one that I picked out at TFP night at M&M Cyclery. I've been drooling over a bike like this for more than a year. Was hoping to have this in time for the TT last Sat. I've been training on my husband's bike - which is great but it's nice to have my own bike that fits me, plus now we can ride together and I might be able to keep up. The TT went ok on the 11th. I improved my time by over 1 minute and watts by 11. Much better than last time. I'm amazed at how much I've learned about cycling from the compu-trainer classes. It will be interesting to get outside and see how it translates on the road.