It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged (http://paulamosracing.blogspot.com) about my training. It got a little hectic last Fall when I ran three half marathons, a full marathon, the 206 mile Ragnar Relay race and the Pocono Half-Ironman -- all within a two-month period. I set distance PR’s in the Philadelphia Marathon and the Myrtle Beach Mini-Marathon. As the winter months began, I focused my efforts again on preparing for the Tri-Rock Philadelphia Olympic Distance Triathlon in June, 2013. I had recorded all of my swim, bike and runs in 2012 which gave me a good idea on the mileage that I would need to be doing in order to prepare for the Tri. As the winter months dragged on, I was in the gym mostly using the exercise bike, treadmill and swimming in the pool. I did start a Monday night speedwork program which has helped tremendously.
As the Spring months began, I ran a 5K PR but just missed running a sub-20 in the Phillies 5K in March (20:01) and followed that up a week later with a 20:35 in the Wharton 5K on a hillier course. I ran the April Fools Half-Marathon in Atlantic City a day after the Wharton 5K and finished in a faster than expected time of 1:36:11, probably because the course was flat and there wasn’t any wind off the ocean that morning. I followed that up with another PR in the Broad Street Run distance at 1:10:18, another solid Half Marathon time of 1:38:30 at the ODDyssey half-marathon (it was Hot that day!), and then blew away my 5K PR at the Esri 5K in San Diego with a time of 19:03.
The Tri-Rock Philadelphia Olympic Distance Triathlon went as I expected and I posted a 10 minute improvement over my previous years’ time coming in at 2:36:17. I made the most improvement in the swim portion while my bike, run and transition times improved slightly as well. I did cramp up a little in my hamstrings on the run which caused me to walk a little and lose some precious time. All in all, I was very pleased with my time and effort in the Tri.
I never really thought much about trying to do a full Ironman, even after completing the Pocono Ironman 70.3 last Fall. The defining moment came for me when I started my open water swim training at the lake in late April. I went out to the lake, which was in the high 60’s, and proceeded to swim a mile in 25 minutes with my wetsuit on. Since that went so quickly and I had paid to swim that morning, I figured I would do a few more laps for some extra practice. Four laps and another mile later, I still felt great. As I ran the calculation in my head, I would only need to swim another .4 miles to be at the full Ironman open-water swim distance, which seemed very doable at that moment. I called it a day at that point because I wanted to do some biking, but the seed had been planted.
I never really thought much about trying to do a full Ironman, even after completing the Pocono Ironman 70.3 last Fall. The defining moment came for me when I started my open water swim training at the lake in late April. I went out to the lake, which was in the high 60’s, and proceeded to swim a mile in 25 minutes with my wetsuit on. Since that went so quickly and I had paid to swim that morning, I figured I would do a few more laps for some extra practice. Four laps and another mile later, I still felt great. As I ran the calculation in my head, I would only need to swim another .4 miles to be at the full Ironman open-water swim distance, which seemed very doable at that moment. I called it a day at that point because I wanted to do some biking, but the seed had been planted.
I began researching what I would need to do to sign up for an Ironman. My mind kept going towards the Lake Placid Ironman since it’s relatively close and is scheduled in late-July in the Adirondacks. The Lake Placid Ironman is the longest-running American event aside from the Ironman World Championship Hawaii. It’s also considered one of the top venues for a full Ironman, similar to the Boston Marathon is for running. The registration opens up the day after each Lake Placid Ironman takes place. The registration is like a rock concert and sells out pretty quickly after it opens. I planned to register when it opened at noon on July 27th. I wasn’t sure if I would get in so I wouldn’t have been disappointed if it sold out before I tried to register, but I wanted to make a serious attempt at it. As luck would have it, I registered without any problems, paid the $700 fee and am now an official entrant into the 2014 Lake Placid Ironman. The registration sold out within three hours and there are only charity spots available now.
Now the process of developing a training plan has started for me. I’m still focusing on my fall race schedule which includes three half-marathons and a full marathon in Scranton, where I am trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I’m also doing a century bike ride in October to get myself familiar with the Ironman biking distance. I’ve been bumping up my running and bike mileage which should help me gain confidence with the distances that I’ll need to complete in the Ironman. My goals are to have a solid Fall season before I am forced into indoor training at the gym during the dark winter months. I’m also researching Tri bikes as I will need to get a better bike to tackle the elevation on the bike course in Lake Placid. Some other things that I plan to do with my training are to sign up for the Black Bear Half-Ironman on June 1, 2014 and a Lake Placid four day training camp sponsored by ETA Coach a few weeks before the full Ironman takes place.
I plan to update my blog once a month regarding my training progress. Currently, I have been doing two long runs per week to prepare for the Steamtown Marathon, a 13-14 miler during the week and 16-20 miles on weekends. These runs are in addition to my Monday night speed workout (5 X 1000’s) and my Wednesday night WPR 6 mile runs. I’m swimming just once a week, added a Plyometrics workout, and doing a long bike ride once a week. I recently rode 75 miles on the Schuylkill River trail and Valley Forge Park and plan to continue to increase the mileage in preparation for a century ride in the Camp Hill Challenge in October.
In the meantime, here is a link to a YouTube video of the 2013 Lake Placid Ironman which has really inspired and motivated me for this event.
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