Next Chapter

It has been awhile since I have last blogged. Life has been great, busy, and hard. I just wanted to share a pic my next adventure. So far I am excited but terrified! Hopefully you will not get a picture of a crash!

A perfect race report

They should all be this clever…

10% Rule

I almost posted last week that my running was coming back.  I have been trying to get 2-3 runs in a week and a couple weeks ago I manged 4 runs and felt good! Last week I pulled of 4 runs again for a weekly total of 27 miles (pretty good) but by Sunday night I was feeling very beat up.  I had the opportunity to run this morning(Tuesday) and I only made it 400 ft before I turned around and came home.  My hip was not happy.

I neglected the 10% rule.

You can see from the chart above in weeks 1-3 I was training for Boston.  Week 4 my IT band started to go bad.  I tried to take it easy for several weeks, got new shoes, and finally started running again week 9. But as you can see weeks 11 and 12 I ignored the 10% rule.  The 10% rule says you should only increase your mileage by 10% a week. I think jumping from 5 to 20 to 27 was a little bit much.  I am paying for it now…

I am determined to get it back!

2 steps forward, 1 step back

OK, I know I said I was done but I just can’t quit you!!!

Still nothing major on my racing calendar and I am still OK with that.  House plans are moving forward splendidly! Weight-loss WAS going great then I had a little set back..my birthday. I am no longer in my mid-30s but I have entered my late-30s ( I will always be 36 to some).  Right before my birthday weekend I weighed in at 133 lbs; 7 down from when I started dieting and pretty much where I would like to be.  Then I stopped logging my food, and got a little busy, and daylight savings happened, and blah blah blah! 136 this morning.

Back at it. Today. Everyday. Even if it is only 30 minutes.  Hold me to it.

#thatisall

The End (for now at least)

Now that I don’t have anything on my training plan for an indefinite amount of time I have been examining my motivation for writing this blog.  I have really enjoyed writing about my training and adventures for almost two years.  I have bonded with many great people and I have been part of a really special community.  This blog started at a point in my life when I was going thru some very big personal changes.  Honestly this blog, and my quest for and Ironman and Boston qualification, was really my way of working through a lot of pain.  I am thru the pain.  I am in a much better and happier place now.  Shockingly I don’t feel the need to train for any more huge races or keep writing this blog.  All I want to do is surround myself with the people I love and enjoy being active and fit.  This is not to say I will never do another marathon or endurance event; just that right now I have NO desire to train for one.  This prospect is a bit of a double edged sword.  Since marathons and triathlon have defined me for the last 4 years, where does that leave me?  Do I still matter?  Do I have anything to contribute to this community any more? At this point I just want to take a step back and work on me and my family.  I don’t feel like worrying about a training plan or nailing the next tempo run.  I am extremely at peace with this.  So with a few tears in my eyes and a ton of joy in my heart, I am stepping away from the blog… for now.  I am sure something will come up in my life that draws me back so I can share my experiences but I bet my posting will be few an far between.

Thank you so much to those who have supported me and commented on the blog.  Your interaction and feedback meant more to me than you know!

Take care and be happy!

<3 Becca

Friday Funny

Now what?

Oak tree on the local mountain bike trails

Bless me blog readers for I have sinned.  It has been almost two weeks since my last blog post…

As you may know I have pulled out of both of my major events this year.  The Boston Marathon is out because my IT band was causing me trouble; and Challenge Penticton is out because of a family wedding.  The only race I am signed up for is the new Vineman Triathlon in June.  It is an Olympic distance Tri in Monte Rio.

What has surprised me is how happy I am with NOT training for anything.  When I look back I have had something significant on my race schedule for the last 3 years straight.  No breaks!  And as a result, I think I finally broke!

The break in training is working well for me.  I have been struggling to lose some weight that I put on after Ironman St. George last year and I think the lower intensity workouts are helping me burn the fat off faster. I am down 5 pounds to where I wanted to be and now I am going for another 5 if possible.

On a personal note I have made my relationship with my “boyfriend” FBO (Facebook Official, I had to look that up) and are we are working on finding a house for our soon to be big family (four boys between the two of us).  The impending move will take a lot of time and energy so not having a grueling training plan will be great!

The part that I am having the worst time coming to terms with is the blog… What do I have to write about now that I am not really training for anything?  I really don’t think you want to read about me moving to a new house or another 2 pounds that I have lost?  One thing that this reduction in racing will allow for is the opportunity to try things I haven’t done yet.  First on the agenda is mountain biking…

I am still alive… in case you were wondering.

It has been almost two weeks since I have decided to stop training for the Boston Marathon because of IT band issues.  As a result I haven’t had much to say.  I am still pretty bummed to have to pull out of Boston.  I worked so hard to qualify but I am not willing to spend the money and time for the race I would have at this point.  I qualified before, I will qualify again. #movingon

I am not really training for anything right now; and honestly it is kind of liberating!  My goal is to get about 6 hours of training in a week while slowly building my running miles back up.  I have been really enjoying my time in the pool and my swimming is snapping back into shape.  My next race will be an Olympic Distance up in Sonoma on June 2.  Doing this race will get me a spot in the Vineman 70.3 in 2014 and if all is going well that will be a good build up to Ironman Arizona in 2014. #fingerscrossed

The only other new news is that my diet has been successful. Almost 5 pounds in 3 weeks.  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t hungry but using myfitnesspal has me really choosing my foods carefully.  I might try to go for another 5 pounds and see how hard it is to maintain a weight of 130.

Thanks, as always, for reading.  Hopefully I will have more exciting news at some point.

Friday Funny

It has been a serious week; some levity was needed…

Week 5 of 16 Boston Marathon Training Update

WARNING!!!! The following post is a bit of a pity party.  You have been warned.  Read at your own risk!

About two weeks ago I went out for my long run on Sunday which was to be a half marathon followed by a five mile run back to the start.  By mile 10 of the half I was having really bad knee pain (from my IT band) so I didn’t run the 5 miles back to the start.  The next weekend for my long run I set out to see how far I could go before I got knee pain and this time I did 7 miles before it started hurting and at 10.5 I had to stop running.  This weekend it got worse.  After only 3.5 miles I could no longer run.

I have received many nice words of encouragement in my social media circles and thank you all for that.  But at this point I am pretty certain that I will be pulling the plug on the Boston Marathon this year.  Yes, I could go and walk/run it just for the experience but that isn’t the experience I wanted.  It will be quite a costly trip when you add in hotel, air fair, car rental, and food.  I just don’t want to spend all that money to not have the race I know I am capable of when I am healthy.

I believe (as do those I am close to) that I will qualify again.  Before my IT band started acting up I was running well. If I can get healthy I really do feel I can run that fast again.  I am very lucky to have the support of my loved ones with this tough call.  I am not pulling out because I won’t PR; I gave up on that goal a while ago.  This isn’t the Boston I worked hard for.  I will qualify again and I will run the race I am capable of running.

Now someone pass me some Kleenex so I don’t get tears and snot on my keyboard.