Posted on
Sep 30, 2009 by laurah
T2:
I flew into transition, ripping my shoes off before unclipping from the bike. I threw my precious Cervelo at the transition volunteer and sprinted to pick up my bike bag. Everything went smoothly, and I was prancing through “RUN OUT” in four minutes and thirty seconds. I was focused on my pace, my plan, my marathon, my time…..and then pushing through the crowd, I saw my mother. Her face was filled with pride and encouragement. I stopped right in front of her and gave her the biggest hug and kiss I could muster in my exhausted state.
The Run:
My big thing about this marathon was to run the whole thing.
While I love riding my bike, cycling will never be running. You will rarely find me unexcited to go for a run, and the marathon is my favorite run distance... The marathon was great but……a definite challenge. I knew I had to pace myself and that I didn't want to be running faster than 8:30 minute miles at the start. I timed the first mile...7:31, ... read more >>
Posted on
Sep 29, 2009 by laurah
I find much value in integrating variety into my Hershey’s Tour de Pink Training. So on August 30, 2009 I completed my longest training workout to date: Ironman Louisville 2009. For those of you who are not familiar with it, the Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. I love endurance sports so the Ironman is a perfect challenge for me. I entered this challenge without any expectations. I wanted to finish, have a respectable time, but beyond those goals, I had no plan. This strategy quickly deteriorated as my training progressed, and I realized that I was competitive in my age group.
One day, just for fun, I looked at the 2008 Ironman Louisville Kona qualifying times. Female 25-29 age group qualifying times were under 11 hours and 53 minutes. My target time, based on my training was 11 hours and 50 minutes! At that moment, I realized I was competitive for a Kona slot. For those of you who (most of the world) who are unfamiliar with t... read more >>