April also known as "run forest run" month

April

 I was really trying to stay put because I am not sure that my coach Jorge could take anymore complaining from me about the lack of biking. You know – it’s not all that easy to live up to the “mega legs” nickname without actually getting on your bike getting it done. Getting mega, sustaining mega, and improving mega is no easy feat, and it gets harder and harder with each extra “watt”. I kind of feel like I need to insert one of those “Sh&t triathletes say videos” here but it’s the truth.  But guess what – even though I was reunited with my Fireball, April was renamed the month when I try to turn my mega legs into mini legs and run my behind off!  I didn’t exactly have a great nor good race at Hyannis, and my result there wasn’t indicative of my running form at all. (See my "You win some, you lose some blog post) I really wanted to redeem myself, and so I signed up for a local ½ marathon – Twin lights half in Gloucester/Rockport, MA that would take place the first weekend in May.(On that later) With April being a running month for me, I ran 29 out of 31 days. I ran my first ever 5K on the tail end of my first 40+ mile week in 19:57, and simply put I just ran.

4th Overall, 1st AG

I pretty much ran day in and day out. Easy runs, hill repeats, M pace runs, Recovery runs, Brick runs. Some days, I literally chased Jorge around trying to hang on for my dear life as he trotted along.  Sometimes I kept up, sometimes I didn’t, but it definitely allowed me to push the envelope a bit more than I would have myself. I wanted to say not so nice things to him many times, and sometimes I didn’t think it was really all that fair that he was just jogging and I was working so damn hard, but sometimes that’s the name of the game, and for whatever reason I love it! My competitiveness just doesn’t let me rest.  In the end, I ended up running 165 miles in the month of April which is far more than I ever have or even thought that I was capable of while keeping up my usual bike/swim volume. I was starting to feel a bit like a runner. 

I managed to stay put except for a quick trip to Niagara Falls, Canada, and that certainly helped with the training consistency which I am a huge fan off. While there, I even got a run in around the falls. 

View from the hotel room

To support my increased mileage this month, I had also purchased just a few more pairs of running shoes but guess what – I will need them because I have decided to run a marathon this September in the hopes of qualifying for Boston 2014! #BostonStrong! It will be my first open marathon, and I am very much looking forward to it. 

I have since added another 5 pairs of Kinvara's (I may or may not have a problem)

Many running miles later, finally some outdoor riding, and many very promising swim sessions (Swimming really deserves its own post, because for once I am actually enjoying the process) that have me super excited for my first tri race of the season in June, I have found myself in May. 

May

The month when I will (and I did) get the sub 1:30 ½ marathon monkey off my back, the month of the annual BTT training weekend that the BTT folks allow me to crash every year, and also the month when for the first time, I don’t get to attempt to defend the American Zofingen Middle distance title (for the 3^rd year in a row and I am a little sad about that ;( ) The race is actually this weekend, and the weather is going to be absolutely perfect!  I am just a tad bit sad! I would have loved to add a 3^rd mug into my collection.

Little sad to not attempt to get that 3rd mug :(

I will I suppose take the plunge and do an open water swim sometime soon I swear (wetsuit or no wetsuit, I am just not a huge fan of cold water - just ask my pool friends – they all know it takes me at least 10 minutes to get in the pool each time), but strangely  I am excited.  It may be because I am now holding myself to some new swimming standards thanks to the super awesome swim coach Karen ;), and I am looking forward to translating all the pool work into OWS.  I may have finally realized that getting faster (let’s face it, we all know, I want to be really fast! ;) ) in the water will take time, and although it will never happen fast enough I am ok with that. I have been consistently seeing times I used to get super excited about over and over again, while secretly (or maybe not so secretly) wishing I was just another tad bit faster ;). The mission to turn me into a swimmer continues, but I am way more confident than I ever have been regardless of what the clock says (did I really just say that?).

Mega legs have been coming along as well, and just yesterday I have had my best interval sessions EVER. For those that know what I am talking about, I owned the 6 x 4s and definitely set a new benchmark! It will be tough to top, but that’s the fun part ;). My race wheels have been taken out of the closet and dusted, and I am looking forward to "flying" next month! 

 Can't wait to get "Fireball" race ready! 

And last but certainly not least – I am awarding myself the mini legs title based on the very unexpected, and new half marathon PR from a few weeks ago. The new PR now stands at 1:27:39 – whole 3 min and 33 seconds faster than before, and good 2 minutes faster than what I thought I could run – race report coming soon! It was a beauty! ;)