September in Review

I'm not going to even throw out the apology this time. Obviously, life is crazy busy, and September was no exception. I actually had a couple of weeks of leave/vacation in September, but they were spent traveling to Oklahoma, racing the Oklahoma Redman 1/2 Iron Tri, traveling back to Texas, studying for the GRE, and taking the GRE. I did catch up on SOME sleep, but that's about the only thing that I caught up on in September.

Training is going well and racing went excellent. In recap:

Austin Olympic Triathlon on 7 September:

Total Time: 2hours 31 min 10 seconds

Not a PR, I did better on this course last year, but this year the swim was a little long and warm (whereas last year it was wetsuit legal). It was enough to nab 1st in my Age Group out of 62 women, so I will take it!

Swim: 29:44 (1:59/100m pace) (was kind of disappointed here)

Transition 1: 2:54 (not bad for how HUGE this transition is!)

Bike: 1:08:42 (21.7 mph) THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!

Transition 2: 1:40 (again, pretty good considering how far I had to run with my bike and the size of transition)

Run: 48:18 (7:47min/mile pace) I was very happy. I thought I might've killed my legs on the bike, but I think I gambled just enough. Ran faster last year, but biked faster this year.

So, I was fairly pleased with my performance at the Austin Tri, and of course, taking a podium spot is good any day! The weather was pretty nice for this race. My full race report can be found here: AUSTIN TRI RACE REPORT

Just twelve days after Austin, I was in Oklahoma for the Redman Half-Iron Triathlon which also doubled as the USAT Half-Max Championships. It was quite an epic day, as in rain the whole time, nearly, and dismounting the bike to run around a non-passable spot in the road! But, it was a GREAT race for me DESPITE the conditions.

Total Time: 5:05:33

NEW personal record! (PR) by over 4 minutes, and this was in tough conditions. I finally had a SOLID swim. My bike was good given the rain, at about a 20.6 mph avg, but I think it good weather I'd have been at 21mph. I averaged 8:04 for the 1/2 Marathon and that was AWESOME compared to my 8:22's at Longhorn.

Swim: 33:23 (1:44min/1oom) YAY! GOOD SWIM!

Transition 1: 1:35 (2nd fastest in AG)

Bike: 2:43:18 (20.58 mph)

Transition 2: 1:36 (2nd fastest in AG)

Run: 1:45:40 (8:04 mile/min)

I took 5th in my Age Group and everyone that beat me went sub-5 hours. That is a goal for next year, and one I know I can reach with further training, some weight loss, and an actual taper! :) Apparently it also qualifies me for Worlds next year in Germany as a member of the USAT Team USA. Not sure if I'll do that, but it's nice to have the option!! My full race report can be found here: REDMAN HALF-IRON RACE REPORT.

Last weekend (9/26), Tanya and I headed to Waco for the Waco Wild West Century ride. I did the 100 miles and ran 7 off of it, and felt pretty good minus how hot it got towards the run (mid-90's). I did a pretty tough, somewhat hilly, and horrible chip seal century ride in 5:10, and kept an 8:50 pace for the 7 miles. The temps were killing me on the run, so I know I can do better than that. Then, not even 24 hours later, on Sunday, I did a 20 mile run and kept an 8:38 min/mile pace and was TOTALLY THRILLED! VERY big confidence builder as this was all just ONE WEEK after Redman! Yay!

September's totals aren't quite as big as August as there were some recovery days and mini-taper days for the races, but overall:

Bike: 26h 48m 09s - 520.12 Mi
Run: 20h 28m 07s - 145.43 Mi
Swim: 12h 18m 19s - 36831.2 M

After the big racing, and between last weekends big training, I took the GRE again and did "okay" and what I would say is "enough." I will be submitting several Grad School applications here soon as the deadlines are coming! I am excited about moving to a grad school location next summer and starting next fall!!

So, in a very mini-nut shell everything is going great. I am feeling strong and confident about Ironman Florida and only have a couple of BIG workouts left before I go into a maintenance/taper phase. Only about 5 weeks until race day, and I'm not anxious about it! BRING IT ON, IT'S TIME TO RACE! I am excited to get to put all this training to good use, and honestly, am getting a little tired of the training! I won't know what to do when I have my evenings and weekends back! Haha!

I'm heading to the Army 10-Miler in DC this weekend. So, we'll see how that goes! Hope everyone is well. Maybe I'll update more this month, and I should be able to as, in a couple of weeks I'll be in taper and have some more time. The journey to the Ironman Florida start line is going well and is getting close!