7 Weeks To Go

So I had my mini-breakdown this week. People keep telling me it’s ok and normal, but it wasn’t any fun.

L. and H.’s wedding was this weekend on Saturday (SOOOOOOO FUN). So I rode that am with the VQ crew out of HP instead of doing the Madison course b/c I needed to stay local. Thank goodness I did, too b/c I got back just in time to shower and get to the wedding. But here’s the problem with doing fun things like hanging out with friends and going to weddings – it reminds you that everyone is not as insane as you are and you don’t actually HAVE to do this race. Your friends are all out having fun, not getting up at 4am on the weekends to do 6 hrs on the bike.

They sleep in, get brunch and hang out on the weekends. It kinda threw my psyche for a loop.

The wedding was a blast and we danced all night – met some amazing folks and just generally had a great time. L and H were so loving, it was a really special night. E decided we were NOT getting up at 6 to do our 8M run, and we slept in. So on top of the awesome wedding on Saturday night, I then got to have brunch with my best girls on Sunday morning. They were all off to the beach and I was off to my run/swim.

Needless to say, when my run went really badly that night it was not a surprise I wanted to cry. E was running sub 9:00 and I was barely scratching a 10:00 pace. Then we tried to swim – another adventure. By the time we finished up it was 9pm and I was beat. THEN… Monday night I had a 50 min run before swim. I have never felt so bad in my life. And the swim wasn’t any better.

Even the girl in the lane next to me commented that I seemed really annoyed.
So I told Coach Rob – and took Wednesday and Thursday AM off. This is how AMAZING my friends are.

I had committed to going to a concert on 7/30 with BK, she had the tickets and I was pumped to go. But with the way I was feeling the alarm went off at 4:45am on Thursday am and I just knew I would be a mess if I tried to swim in the am instead of pm. I could use the extra sleep. SO I sent her a rambling email at 4:49am… and she told me that she supports me 100% and not to worry about the concert. So awesome. I have the BEST friends.

SOOO, swam on Thursday night and now I feel like a MILLION BUCKS! Going into the weekend strong. Doing the course with E this weekend at a pretty chill speed – trying out the infinit I bought. And generally feeling like I just might be able to do this race! Pep talk from Coach Rob helped, too.

10 Weeks to Go - Live on ABC!

Really? 10 weeks? It kinda feels like I should be a LOT more ready than I am. But the big volume training workouts are coming up, the next 8-9 weeks are crunch time. So longer weekend rides and longer runs are on the plate. It's crazy to think that I started the countdown at 50 weeks out. I know, that's a little much, but why not?

Big weekend this weekend. Eric's friend's wedding is Satuday afternoon and I have a race on Sunday. So somehow I have to fit in a 4.5hr ride +20 min run on one day and a 1:15 run + 1500 yrd swim the other. Oh yea, and the Schaumburg Splash Pedal Dash.

Speaking of the Schaumburg Splash Pedal Dash -- I'm pretty stoked about it this year. I really want to win my age group! Last year the winner beat me by 6 mintues. I was 2 mintues behind her on the swim but I did have a great run last year: 8:15 pace. So either the run was short or I was cruisin!

This year:
Hold solid 1:52 pace on the swim - 7:30 swim
Hold 21.5 mph on the bike - 42:00
Run 8:30 splits for the run - 26:30
Total Time: 1:16

But the course must be short. So it's kind of a crap shoot. It's crazy that I'm already getting nervous for this race. It used to be that I just wanted to get it done, and now that I have goals I'm getting all gitty.

It's weird. I feel like I'm slower on the bike than I was last year. I don't really know why though. I used to be ruthless but now I'm just kind of average. I really hope I can maintain a really fast speed through the Schaumburg race, I think it will restore my confidence.

In other news... I'm going to be a model for BADC or Borrow a Dress Cotoure on ABC 7 morning news LIVE on July 17th! I'm so excited! I tried the dress on at the store last night and it's beautiful! I can't wait!! Hopefully I can get a friend from IM training to do it with me - I hope she fits the dress just right!