Thursday, April 15, 2010

Cherry Blossom - Dusting off the cobwebs

What a great day for a (unofficial) Cherry Blossom Duathlon. Despite not having run more than 5 miles since last years IMFL I was excited for this race. I knew it would be painful and slow but it was Spring, the weather was beautiful, and it was time to begin the next IM training season. This year I decided to add an extra challenge to the run by adding a before and after bike ride. Why you ask - 1. parking sucks in DC and Cherry Blossom offered a lovely bike valet service and 2. all triathletes have ADHD when it comes to sporting events.

5:45 got up packed my run bag/bike bag and hopped in the car to Pete & Amanda's
6:15 we depart for our 45 min bike ride to the Washington Monument
7:00 - 7:20 circle the park aimlessly looking for the bike valet
7:20 - 7:35 look around for JR to give him his race bib
7:40 (7:48) Race!
1:49:18 seconds later finish - that's right, 1 second faster than last years race! Smashed PR
10:30 ride back home w/ sore calves
12 sleep

Overall it was a really nice run and having done it the year before helped me visualize all the turns, hills, and aid stations. The spectators were great and well spaced from miles 1 - 6. Hains Point would of been really lonely if not for the 1,000 of people running in front, behind, and beside me. This will definitely be an annual event for me to dust off the winter cob webs.

It's going to be a fun 5 months getting ready for Wisconsin. It's amazing how fast an IM'r can turn into a bowl of Jello in such a short period of time!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

TT # 1 Complete!!!


Today was our official first day training for IM Wisconsin. Boy was it tough! We had a 21 mile time trial. On a typical day of training 21 miles would be a piece of cake but not today! It made us realize how much work we need to do before September 12th, 2010. On a positive note, it was great to be back into the swing of things. Its been a while since we have seen our Team Z friends and we realized how lucky we are to be training with such a great group of people. The time trial also gave us a great starting point for training, especially considering our lack of training over the winter. We can pretty much only get better from here.