I skipped out on April’s training recap due to some personal “things” going on, but due to the fact that today is exactly two months away from the Ironman, I thought it was apropos to post an update.

April

April started out with a bang, as I surprised Pete with a trip to Vegas for his birthday.

April was great because I wasn’t traveling as much and was finally able to solidify some great weekend workouts.  I’ve been doing long runs on Saturdays and long rides on Sundays.  I saw the most improvement in April, probably because of this, and was able to increase my distance by at least 25% on both the bike and the run.  Weekday workouts are still difficult, but I’m much more confident with heavy weekend sessions.

My mom also came out in April and finally met her grandson!

Towards the end of the April I headed to Orange County for work.  It was a short trip, but it also allowed me to get a run in under high humidity and 90-degree temperatures.  Can you say wake-up call?  Yikes, I probably only made it 2 miles before having to stop at a gas station for some Gatorade.  In the end, it was a great training experience, as I know I’ll need to acclimate better to the heat for August’s race.

May

The day after I returned from the OC was Colorado Runner’s Greenland Trail Races.  I decided to run the 8-miler at the last second and found myself lining up for my first race in awhile.  Not having much trail time under my feet made me a little nervous, but the Greenland trail is pretty firm, and I decided to push myself just hard enough to feel like I was “hanging on.”

It’s funny, I met up with my brother, SIL and nephew after this race for sushi and told them it was a race with bad and good news.  The bad news?  I didn’t finish where I wanted to.  The good news?  I gave it everything I had.  From the second that gun went off I invested it all.  How can you not be happy with that?  Because every athlete wants more; even those who have it all.  I finished the 8M in 1:07:56, 5th in my AG.

Fast-forward a week later and TA-DA!

Okay, I’m a wuss when it comes to my bike.  I can go out and run in negative temperatures with golf-ball sized hail beaming my face, but when it comes to getting on my bike?  Nope, not going to happen.  And there’s only so much time I can take on the bike trainer watching Untold Stories of the ER.

The end of May saw back-to-back race expos (Colfax, BolderBOULDER and Steamboat), where I was able to still get in some decent mileage.  I hit up Mt. Sanitas a couple of times and got an incredible ride in along the Elk River in Steamboat.

I rode 50 miles up and down Elk River Road the day before the Steamboat Half Marathon.

It wasn’t an easy race.  I was still feeling the ride from the day before and decided to just, well, RUN.  I went out way too fast and bonked around mile 6.  The last time I hit a wall that hard was in 2012’s American Discovery Trail Marathon where I was on pace to finish in 3:40, and instead smashed into a wall at mile 18 and finished in 3:52.  I finished the Steamboat Half in 1:52, much slower than what I wanted or expected, but not anything to be disappointed about after Saturday’s ride.

April/May Training Motivation

Playlist Additions

• The Black Keys: Fever
• Ed Sheeran: Sing
• Katy Tiz: The Big Bang
• Owl Vision: Holy Shit
• Panic at the Disco: Nicotine
• Shatter Me: Lindsey Stirling

Beverage Additions

It’s now crunch time – June will be an instrumental month for training.  I’m hoping to get my bike mileage up to at least two 80-mile rides, and throw down at least two 18-mile runs.  As for swimming?  God help me.