The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

   The past few weeks have been a blur of work and training. I have a half-ironman coming up next weekend and I hit peak training over the last two weekends. I'm exhausted. But I've had some fun, as well. Here's a little recap.

The Good:
   My ankle is getting stronger and my speed is increasing little by little. In fact, of the past three races I've entered, I've hit the podium.

Heroes in Recovery 6k - 2nd AG.  We all won hats!  (I love me a running hat.)

 

Hustle for the House 5k - 3rd Place Masters. My first running trophy! 

Shelby Bottoms Boogie 15k - 2nd Place AG. We all got towels.

   I'd say two of these awards these are actually legit - as in I ran well enough to win something and beat other people. Yesterday's run though - well, I think I actually got fifth. Normally, not a high enough placement to win something. However, three other women in my AG were so fast that they got bumped up into the overall winners or the Master's winners divisions - so I kind of placed by default.  But hey- I'll take it. I can always use a workout towel.

The Bad:
   I can pretty much only run a few miles without wanting to die. My endurance just isn't back yet. Yesterday's run was a 15k, which is 9.3 miles and I faded like a delicate flower at around mile 6. Well, not so much a "faded flower" as "cursing, crying, questioning my life-choices hot mess." Seriously. It was bad. Granted, it was about 85-90 degrees yesterday, which is just stupid considering it's October. Way too hot.
   This regularly wouldn't be such a big deal, except that I have a half-ironman next weekend. This was supposed to be my "A-Race" for the season. The big one that you train for all year and that you're all "I'm going to kick this race's ass" for. Well, you know how my year has been. And based on yesterday's run, I have NO idea how I'm going to get through 13.1 miles after the swim and the bike. Not. A. Clue.

The Ugly:
   So - I signed up for this little thing called Ironman Chattanooga. Now, I did my due diligence and checked out the bike course prior to signing up. Considering how bad a bike course in Chattanooga COULD BE (there are MOUNTAINS there), this elevation profile didn't seem that bad. Something like 2,000 feet of climbing. Totally fine.
   But - hey!  Guess what? Turns out that the Ironman elevation was wrong! They changed it this week to over 3,000 feet of climbing! And, according to people who have ridden the course- that's even wrong. It's more like 4,000 + feet!
   So I went from signing up for a relatively "easy" Ironman as far as elevation profiles go...to one of the hardest. Awesome, right? JUST what I wanted for my first Ironman! Fortunately, I live close enough to Chattanooga that I'll be able to ride the course a few times before the race. I see lots of road trips in my future!

Next up: Goosepond Island Half Ironman...yeah...we'll see how this goes.  :-)