Plans…

Over the last few weeks I have come to find out that people are actually reading my blog! It’s kind of exciting and intimidating at the same time. I have even heard that other bloggers are reading my blog and commenting on it! I think it’s great that other athletes are interested in what I am doing but it really upsets me when they feel it is OK to judge me. I am writing this blog and sharing my workouts for fun and for those enjoying reading it. I am not saying what works for me is what everyone should do. This is just a glimpse of my life and how I fit everything in. Maybe it’s different than how others would do it…well viva la difference! I have learned a great deal in my 39 years and one thing I religiously adhere to is not judging others unless I have walked in their shoes. Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now…

I had a really nice talk with Karen yesterday regarding the plans for the rest of the year. The main focus is obviously Kona! We discussed some time goals and what she had up her sleeve for my training in these remaining weeks. Finally we planned out the few remaining races for this year and started looking ahead to next year.

Karen is really adamant that I not only have a good chance of winning my age group at Kona but being the first female amateur finisher overall. While I don’t share her confidence, I do have to admit that she has never been wrong about my ability so far. My main goal at Kona is going to be to focus on running the marathon in 3:15-3:30 and making sure I negative split the run. If I go out easy off the bike, I think I have a good chance of doing this. To reach this goal, she has planned a combination endurance/speed focus for the next 4 weeks. After that, the focus will be on long bricks and then of course, the taper. I will be racing in the Cazenovia Sprint Triathlon August 15th, The Skinnyman I’m All That Event Labor Day weekend and the Syracuse 70.3 September 19th. Watch for me in those races and check back here for the race reports.

Next year may end up being a very exciting year for me. My finish at Buffalo Springs Lake qualified me to go Pro next year. Karen and I have been discussing the pros (no pun intended ) and cons of this decision for a month now. I am still not sure what the final decision will be but stay tuned! We are looking to focus on the 70.3 as the full ironman training is more than I am interested in devoting time to next year. I am tentatively looking at St. Anthony’s, Buffalo Springs Lake (really want to go back!!), Quassy Rev 3, Syracuse 70.3, Steelhead, Florida 70.3, maybe a few local ones…obviously these are NOT set in stone. We are just starting to brainstorm a bit!

Finally a friend at work videotaped my stroke at the Y and I sent it out to a coach to have my stroke analyzed. His report basically states that my ankles could use a little more flexibility so they are more like flippers when I kick…my stroke is flat and so I need to work on rolling on my side more and I need to continue to catch water when I get tired instead of letting my hand slip through it. I sent the report to Karen and she is hoping to get me up to her pool so she can watch me swim also. Here’s a video of my stroke and then another of Grant Hackett swimming the 1500.