I spent almost the entire day at the race expo!  I spent a lot of money on fun new stuff - heehee!  I love pre-race day!  :D

What a day!  I'm not going to write much except to say that it was NOT my best race...conditions were NOT perfect like last year, so I did much worse than expected.  Apparantly, the majority of runners out there felt about the same way.  It was the warmest starting temperature on record for the Saint George Marathon.  Not only that, but the Beaver fires have been blowing smoke in our direction for days, so the air quality was not great.  Whatever.  My feet were killing me within the first few miles, and that pretty much was it for the race.  I would have quit and walked the race out, but I had friends waiting for me at mile 25, and I didn't want to dissappoint them by showing up late....so...I kept running.  Glad it's over!!!  :D

Ironman training begins in earnest today!  I'm also going to try to do 90 days of P90X.  So I started out the morning with Chest and Back, followed by ab-ripperX.  Then I went to the pool.  UGH!!!  I arrived at the pool without my favorite googles, swim cap, or ear plugs. Then they had switched the lanes to meters instead of yards. I got really dizzy everytime I stopped swimming, so it was a short swim. But I had some coaching, so it was good.  I'll have some new things to practice this week.  I quit at 40 lengths, which means I'll have to squeeze in an extra workout sometime this week.  I swam 1000 meters...how many yards is that?!?  :D

ben and I woke up this morning with the crazy idea of doing P90X Plyometrics.  What were we thinking?!?  Anyway, we made it through the first 30 minutes or so, then decided we'd better not kill ourselves off, so we went for a one-mile walk around the block.  Right after we arrived back home, it started dumping rain - yay!

Later this morning, the clouds parted for a minute, so we decided to pull out our mountain bikes and give it a go.  I was scheduled to do 25 miles, but the wind and the fact that I forgot to eat cut our ride short.  I was shaking like a leaf when I got off the bike, but I needed to get a run in, so I ran the mile to Subway and met Ben there for sandwiches....food has never tasted so good!!!  We spent 1:03:46 on the bike, and the run was nice and slow, at 9:47.  Actually, my legs felt pretty good, and I think I would have been able to do the full 30 minute run if I hadn't been in hypoglycemic shock.  Next time...  :D

This evening, we took the whole family to the pool and Ben and I swam some laps.  I had planned to do 1500 meters, but then I realized that if I did 4 more lengths, I could say I did a mile.  When I got to 64 lengths, I figured I might as well finish to 2000 meters...so I did.  This was the only workout today where I actually did MORE than I had planned to do instead of LESS - haha!

We started the morning with P90X Shoulders and Arms, followed by ab-ripperX.   This evening was supposed to be a lake day, but the weather didn't cooperate with us, so Ben and I went to the Rec Center for a multi-brick workout.  We did 5 minutes of hard spinning, followed by a 5 minute accelleration run, 5 minute bike, 5 minute run, 10 minute bike, 10 minute run, 10 minute bike, 10 minute run, then an additional 30 minutes on the bike.  So altogether, I did 30 minutes of treadmill running, logging a total of 3.5 miles, and 60 minutes on the bike, for a total of 18 miles.  It was in interesting and fun workout...I think we'll be doing more of that one!  :D

This morning was P90X Legs and Back. Later this morning, I forced myself to go for a bike ride...I had to return some items to the store, so I made a workout of it.  I took out my mountain bike, since the roads are still yucky from the storms, and logged 18 miles in 1:13:00.  :D

Today I got to sleep in - yay!  Later this morning, I joined some friends at the rec center for an hour of Zumba, followed by a half hour of yoga.  Then we all went to the buffet to refuel!  :D

This evening I was able to make it to the pool to finish my 2000 more yards of swimming that I needed to meet my goals for the week.  They still had the big pool roped off into meters, but the high school teams were using all the lanes, so I had to swim in the makeshift lanes they created in the kiddie pool.  The water was too warm, but I survived.  :)

This morning I joined the Tri Club for a ride towards Leeds, but unfortunately crazy circumstances and my own bike maintenance ignorance caused me to have to return home, and I missed their start by 3 minutes.  Luckily, my friends Joel and Chase waited for me, so we had a fantastic ride together, out to Leeds and back home.  I logged 49 miles in 3:06:09.  That doesn't count the stops I took to wait for the boys at the tops of the big hills...they nicknamed me "power legs."  :)

I had to do an easy 50 minute run immediately off the bike, so as soon as I got home, I switched shoes and hit the road.  I'm not accustomed to running mid-day on tired legs, so it was a hard "easy" run for me.  At mile 4 I felt like a headache was coming on, but I managed to finish the run without incident.  It was a slow run - it took me 48:21.  I decided that was close enough to 50 minutes, so I called it a day.

Later this evening, Ben wanted to do our P90X workout for the day - KempoX.  I made it about 15 minutes into the routine before I decided it was totally not worth risking injury, and I was way too tired to do it without hurting myself, so I called it quits.  I feel pretty good about that choice.  :D

Ben and I woke up at 4:00 this morning to do P90X Chest and Back/Ab-RipperX.  We only did about half of the abs, before we ran out of time and had to head out to the rec center to meet up with Craig for spinning.  It took me awhile on the bike to feel warmed up, but I figure most Mondays are going to be a recovery spin for me anyway, so I just took it easy on the bike, keeping my cadence around 90-105.  Immediately after the bike, I ran out the door of the rec center for a 30 minute run.  It started downhill, so I was feeling really good, and I ended up having a fantastic run!  By the time I hit the big hill, I was pumping and feeling really good.  Ben was late picking me up, so I just kept on running, and ended up doing 5 miles in 41:40.  I almost made it home.  :D

I was supposed to do a 2500 yard swim after that, but my body's cycle had other things in mind, so I'm skipping today's swim.  I guess having a low yard swim week once a month is going to be unavoidable for me...  :S

This morning we did a hill workout at pioneer park.  I did a 1.3 mile warm-up, then 6 hill repeats, going 10K pace (around 7:45-8:15) up the hill, and IM pace (around 8:45-9:30) going down.  My speeds were a little faster than my actual race paces, but it felt good, and I was faster with each repeat.  We did a 2 minute recovery walk in between each hill interval, and then cooled down with another mile jog.  My total time was 58:02, including over 12 minutes of walking.  This was a fun workout!

This evening I needed a ride, so I went out with Ben and Craig and chased them all over town!  Ben let me draft off him, so my speed was MUCH faster than usual...I averaged 19.1 MPH.  We did 32 miles in 1:40:30.  Great ride!  :D

Ben and I woke up at 4:00 AM this morning and hopped on our bikes at 4:30 to ride into town and cruise the Boulevard while there was no traffic.  It was fun, but a little hard to see at times...and my legs were tired!  I totalled 22 miles in 1:20:35, an average of 16.5 MPH.

Later on I arranged a private Zumba class for my Tuacahn friends, so we met at 1:00 and did an hour of Zumba - and I worked up the biggest sweat I have ever earned during that class!  It was SOOO fun to dance with my awesome friends!

This evening we went out to the lake and I did an open water swim of one mile...then sped off home to get ready for Tarzan.  :D

Ben and I ran 6 miles together early this morning.  He wanted an "easy" run, but his definition of "easy" and MY definition of "easy" are two different things!  Well, it was a slow run...we did it in 56:47...but I worked for it!  It's been a crazy week!  After the run, we did P90X Legs and Back.

Then this evening, we did our multi-brick workout at the gym...5 minutes on the bike, 5 minutes on the treadmill, 10 bike, 5 treadmill harder, 15 bike, 5 treadmill even harder, 10 bike, and 5 minutes all out on the treadmill, follwed by a 3 minute jog, and 10 minute cool-down on the bike.  I spent a total of 23 minutes running, logging 2.7 miles, and 50 minutes on the bike, logging 17 miles.  I really like this workout!  It changes often enough to keep things interesting, and nobody can take off and leave me behind - haha!  :D

I was supposed to get up and swim at the pool this morning, but my body was vibrating all night from fatigue, so I decided to skip it.  I haven't done much swimming at all this week, but it's still early in the game, so I'm going to rest up while I'm still base building.  I DID make it to Zumba class, but my muscles were so tired I could hardly do it!  I guess it's going to be an easy day for me today...tomorrow I've got a BIG workout planned!  :D

When I woke up this morning, I felt terrible...a little headachy and very tired.  I met up with some of the tri-club to bike the Ironman course, but I knew I was in trouble when less than 3 miles into the ride, my legs were already shaking from fatigue!  That was funny.  Well, I just kept telling myself that I could turn around at any time if I needed to, and I brought up the rear of the group.  About 20 miles into the ride, I caught up with my running coach, Dennis, who was doing the same loop but had started at a different location...and catching him just seemed to make all the difference in the world!  Once I passed him and knew I was not the last one on the ride, I felt much better and more relaxed, and was able to finish my ride with confidence.  It isn't that I need to be ahead of others to fuel my ego, it's just that I feel afraid that I will break down and no one will know if I'm the last one in the group.  I finished the 56.8 mile ride in 3:36:31...a nice sow pace, but good enough to finish the Ironman in time.

After the ride, I switched to my running shoes and hit the road, but everything was screaming at me and I was already over-heated, so instead of doing the planned 50 minute run, I only ran 2.2 miles in 20:11.  I was going to stop at 2 miles, but my caloric burn was under 200, so I pushed it just a little bit further...haha!  :D

It was one of those days when I should have just stayed in bed....

I was up all night with the rain, thinking about how scared I was to run the Ironman course in the wee small hours of the morning...especially after the bike!  I had invited a friend to run with me, so that I wouldn't be alone (not allowed to run by myself in the dark), but I kept wishing we would get rained out and not be able to do it.  By 3AM, having not slept AT ALL, I decided I should just text her in the morning and sleep in.  But when the alarm went off at 5:00, I was wide awake and it wasn't raining, so I decided I'd better just do the run, then come home and sleep for the rest of the morning.  Ben and I drove to the rec center and hopped on the bike to get started.  My plan was to bike 30 minutes, then run 10 miles of the course.  But I had barely started when my friend called and said she was too tired and was not going to make it!  Which means I couldn't run, because Ben had to go to work, and I'd be alone.  Well, I didn't want to get too many miles on the bike and wear myself out for the week, so I decided to do the 30 minutes I had planned, then head over to the Zumba class  while Ben finished his ride.  I waited for 15 minutes over there, but the Zumba instructor never showed up, so I felt like my morning was a complete waste!

Luckily, Ben agreed to meet me at lunch to run with me.  So even though it was mid-day and very humid, I was able to get my IM course run in...only 8.4 miles, but it was enough.  I was averaging about a 10:30 on the way up the hill, and 8:00-8:30 on the way down...probably a little faster than I'll be doing the actual Ironman at, but I felt pretty good about the run as a whole, and glad to get to know the course a little better.  Our total time was 1:20:11.

This evening we swam 2500 yards at the SHAC...  :D

We did our hill workout at Pioneer Park this morning.  I did a 1 mile warm-up, 6 hill repeats with 10K pace going up and IM pace going down, and then a cool down to total 6.05 miles in 1:01:21, including over 12 minutes of walking.  I ran with my friend Tige all morning...it was really nice to have someone to run with who goes about the same pace as me and who distracted me with conversation so I could forget how TIRED my legs are this week!

I needed to get a bike ride in, so I rode to Ivins for my voice lesson and then back home again, for a total of 25 miles in 1:33:20.  I am really, REALLY tired.  I need to rest up so that I can ride the veyo loop again on Thursday, and run the Las Vegas Ragnar Relay this weekend.  :S

5.5 miles in :45:30.00 on: road
(Pace: 8:16.4/mile) Heart Avg: 164 Heart MAX: 178 Time of Day: 11:30 AM Where: Las Vegas Ragnar Leg one...it was hilly! I started 1/ hour late, but was able to almost catch one of the other teams. :D

3.65 miles in :36:20.00 on: road (Pace: 9:57.3/mile) Heart Avg: 159 Heart MAX: 175 Time of Day: 4:02 AM Where: Las Vegas Ragnar Leg 25...this was a tough run. It was uphill almost the entire leg, and was pretty steep toward the end. I hit the last of the steep hill, and I was done. I think I walked for 4-5 minutes. I was SOOO glad when this was over! :)

5 miles in :50:12.00 on: trails
(Pace: 10:02.4/mile) Heart Avg: 141 Heart MAX: 176 Where: Bend, Oregon With: Ben and Mike Beautiful run along the river in Bend...the temps were cool enough to see our breath, and the scenery was wonderful, so it was a perfect recovery run! :D