I haven't been blogging much lately. I was doing nothing other than working for awhile until I finally decided to take some time for myself. Running seemed like a good option. I could go out, alone, and run for as long as I could stand to run without any disturbances. I became addicted.
I decided to sign up for my first triathlon coming up on May 20th, the Ramblin Rose Sprint Triathlon. A friend of mine convinced me that I could do it. She assured me that some people even walk the swim portion (it's in a pool). I guess that was all I needed to hear, because I have committed myself to this race. I may not be the fastest or strongest swimmer, but I will not be walking either. As a matter of fact, I have a swim coach - Mickey. I've spent enough money on year round swimming for him and it turns out, he's a pretty good coach. I haven't decided yet wether he is just tough or if he is abusing his power over me. Either way, I'm going to assume it's just going to make me stronger.
Biking - the third piece of the puzzle. I just bought my first road bike...a vintage Colnago. My friend, Geof, convinces me that this is an awesome bike and that I got a great deal on it. I think he is right and he's pretty much a bike expert, so I think I'm in good hands! I haven't really ridden the bike yet. I took it out once, by myself, just to get comfortable on it. My real training begins in 2 days, when I ride the 9 mile tri-course with a few girls. I'm just glad I finally got padded shorts :)
Overall, I haven't really figured out how to train for a triathlon. I felt like I was getting pretty strong with the running portion so I started to focus more on the swimming. About a week ago, I started to feel like my running was suffering which wasn't a great feeling. I'm awful at swimming, slacking on my runs and hadn't biked yet. Felt like a recipe for disaster or at least failure.
I decided to sign up for a 5k last week. I was slightly terrified since my runs had been so bad lately. I have no idea how, but I actually placed and hit a PR (personal record). It was a fun race, called the Foxhunt. The girls, or foxes, started first and the guys started 3 minutes later. There were a couple of familiar faces in the crowd and my only goal was to not let them catch me since I had a 3 minute head start!
I ended up getting 1st place in my age group (30-39) with a time of 23:19 (7:31 pace). That puts me in 7th overall out of the girls. I was and am still shocked. Thankfully, I met my goal...those familiar faces didn't catch me.
Foxhunt 5k
Position 32 out of 96
Bib 222
Name Amanda Olson
Age 33
Gun Time 00:23:19
Gun Pace 7:31
*1st place overall female ran this race in 18:04 (5:49 pace)
*1st place female (ME!) in my age bracket ran this race in 23:19 (7:31 pace)
Overall Results
Category Results
So...this must have been a fluke. I was just worried about being caught, right? I also signed up for another 5k 2 days later, the St. Timothy's Spring Sprint. Turns out, even though it was pretty hilly and I argued with myself for at least a mile about ducking out, I placed again...this time, 3rd in my age bracket (30-34) with a time of 24:56 (8:04 pace).
St. Timothy's Spring Sprint 5k
Position 62 out of 223
Bib 105
Name Amanda Olson
Age 33
Chip Time 24:56
Gun Time 25:03
Pace 8:04
Race Results
*1st place overall female ran this race in 18:31 (5:58 pace)
*1st place female in my age bracket ran this race in 22:56 (7:23 pace)
I guess I'm feeling a little better about the running portion of the tri...now I need to step up the training for the bike and swim portion!
I've decided that I am going to create a new blog that will serve as my training journal and vehicle for my uber-healthy training recipes which can be found here: Building a Better Me
