74 Days, Ride for a Reason and Love Muffins

The official race day countdown to Beach 2 Battleship 140.6 is 74 days.

[Insert SCREAM of TERROR here.]

I feel like once a countdown creeps under 80 days, sh*t gets real. Oh, and I feel the “realness” of my race registration compulsions.   I start to think, why oh why did I sign up for this race!?

Actually that post  is hilarious, because there are some famous last words in there:

I am not doing an Ironman in 2014. Or 2015. 

Okay, so actually Beach 2 Battleship is not an Ironman-branded race.

So maybe that’s the truth.  But I am doing another 140.6.  So… potato/po-tah-toe.  And I think that I will likely do another 140.6 in 2015…. and 2016…. and.  Okay, stop.

Well… How’s the training going?

Well, in a nutshell, I can honestly say that training is going awesome.  I am really ticking off the workouts, one by one.  Lots of 10+ mile runs in the bank, which is more than I can say for my pre-Coeur d’Alene training last year.

Not really “perfect” sometimes – but Coach Brett really focuses on giving me high quality workouts, so I get the most bang for my buck.  I can tell that I am stronger by the day.

Ah-hem… this week marks Week THREE of hill repeats on the bike.  Workouts, apparently deemed to be a necessity, in order to make me “a well-rounded cyclist” after my not-so-well-rounded ride with Coach Brett a few weeks ago.  I did not like these at first.  I still can’t say I love ’em, but I get the point.

My weight is slowing sliding down, which is nice for a change in 2014 (where I seemed to try and make sure I gained a pound a week.  #overacheiver).  I can’t complain.

Ride for a Reason

This weekend, several friends and I met up and rode the Ironman 70.3 Augusta course at the Ride for a Reason event.

The last time I rode the course was during the race last year (which was NOT one of my proudest races).

The main focus of me spending time on the Augusta course (since I am not racing it this year), was to encourage a few of the athletes I coach to get out there and ride this before their race day next month.  I was amazed at how helpful it was to be out on the bike course, not just for a good workout, but to also remember the terrain and where the road pitches up–so I can better coach the course.

For those of you who don’t know, I tend to call my athletes  “Love Muffins” —  so Love Muffin Laura (who I got to actually meet for the first time ever) came out to ride with her husband.

….and so did Zucchini Muffin Karen  (don’t ask about the Zucchini part).   That’s Karen, below, with Swim Bike Kid blogger, Todd.

Anyway… the Augusta ride was a well-supported event, and I think there were close to 300 registrants….

I got to see Yoda (yay!!) – who has Ironman Chattanooga coming up SOON– along with several other “Army” members, many who I got to meet for the first time.

Man, I missed riding with this girl!!! ^^^^^^^^^

And Brent from All3Sports-— always available for a quick photobomb.  All3 was providing SAG support.

The weather was overcast and made for a great ride. 71 degrees or so for most of it, and really wonderful for August.  And the Swim Bike Moms were out in full-force!

And this picture, which refuses to ROTATE for me, for any reason… I give up. Sorry Amy 🙂

This was the fourth time, I guess, that I have ridden the course (twice in races), and I can say that this was, by far, the “easiest” it has ever felt.  It was a nice gauge of where I am training-wise.

I am also super proud of my athletes, who both proved that they have all their triathlon stars aligned for a successful half Iron finish at Augusta next month.

Very proud.

Speaking of very proud…

Guess which little kiddos started school today and rode the big bus for the first time?

Awwww…. And I didn’t see it coming (at all), but I got pretty damn choked up seeing their little buns march onto that bus, so bravely, and so full of promise.  Was awesome.

And yeah, I showed up at the bus stop in my running clothes.  And promptly took off for a run right after.

#TriNerd

Those poor kids will grow up only knowing Mommy in visors and Spandex.  Could be much worse things, though, I suppose.

Hope you all have a great week!