Kona and Cold Weather Running

Like many of you, I watched the 2012 Ironman World Championships on Saturday and dreamed of one day making it there to race. Overall, I really thought the coverage was really good and I totally enjoyed it. With that being said, here are a few observations I had while watching it:

Chris "Macca" McCormack has some really, really white teeth! Did you see those suckers shining, no glowing? The man has nothing on Joe Biden's choppers!

Leanda Cave looked like she is a really tall chick!  And the lighting on her interviews reminded me of the commercials that used to run that showed the residual soap left behind from normal soaps. You remember those?

I also heard that this year, every athlete made the swim cutoff!  That is too cool!

Sure wish Lance had raced.

I also liked hearing about the pre race rituals of the pros, from their eating habits, to haircuts and the hectic schedule they have. It even gave me a great idea from Crowie! No, that is not Craig Alexander in the picture, that is your truly, but I could see how you could make that mistake. I liked the way he had his iPod on his visor, with the earbuds wrapped behind his head intertwined in his visor. When I ran Sunday, I think it made me faster.

I also liked seeing less of the AG storyline. I thought this year they made it more about racing, which was cool.

Hines Ward will not be a good Ironman spokesperson. I have my doubts on him finishing! But all in all, it really fired me up and got me even more excited for my first 140.6 next year! I can't wait.

Cold Weather Running:
On Sunday morning, it turned cold in Memphis, we're talking 30 degree weather. Now in Memphis, that could possibly shut down some schools due to those kinds of temps. We are not used to it. It did warm up to be a really nice day by around 2 o'clock though.

So Monday morning, I was scheduled to do 5 miles for my marathon training. This run will put me over last years run total already, so I was fired up for it! The only thing I was not fired up for was the temperatures. It was 37 degrees at 5:45 AM. That sucks! I always have trouble knowing what to wear in cold weather, I always either get too hot or I freeze! But today, I made the correct choices.

Running pants, a sleeveless shirt, a dry tech shirt over it, arm warmers and a skull cap was perfect for 30 degree weather.The only other thing I thought I might have need would have been light weight gloves, but my hands get warm, so I am glad I did not have any. I seriously thought about going to the gym and hitting the treadmill, but I just couldn't do it, or wouldn't. I did not want my run that passed last years total mileage to be on a treadmill, that just wouldn't be as hardcore as running in 30 degree temps. I guess this is what the weather is going to be for the next few months, cold and dark in the morning, but this is also where PR's are set right? When it is cold, dark and nasty outside, right?? My next run on Wed will also put me over 100 miles running for October. I am starting to feel good about my marathon coming up and starting to really get excited about the possibility of beating my previous (and only) marathon time by a significant amount, and I do not think I can get there on a treadmill, so I have another month of running in the dark, cold mornings of Memphis looking at me.

OWS- First one this year!

I always get a little nervous on my first open water swim. I would not say I get scared, but I always tend to think back to my first Olympic race, and that swim did not go well. The water was freezing, and I started my race career with an Olympic size triathlon, which was my first mistake. Yesterday, I was more concerned about water temp. The temps had been in the mid to upper 60s in the water, but we had some nasty storms that came through during the weekend, and I knew it would drop the temperatures.

I had tried my wetsuit on the night before and I had forgotten how tight those suckers are! I blame The Pushup Challenge and the knew guns for the tightness... Ok, not really. I made sure I packed my suit, white swim cap (so I could be seen) earplugs, goggles (both tinted and clear), body glide, my towel and drove over to GH's house so we could jump in the lake.

We walked down to the bank of the lake and began the process of getting in the wetsuits. It did take a minute. I used plastic bags on my hands and feet to make it slide right on, then took the next few minutes to make the necessary adjustments. I sat on the edge on the bank and stuck my foot in the water. Whoooo, it was cold! So I had no other plan but to jump in feet first. Once I did, my feet were the only things that were cold, so I dove in and got the head under the water. Whoooo, it was cold! So I made the proper adjustments to the goggles and off we went. I got used to the water temp pretty fast, so it was not really an issue once we got going. We swam across the lake to the boat on the left in the picture I posted, which is about 1/4 mile to the boat and back.

The first time across the lake, my breathing was pretty labored, my chest felt really tight and it was hard to get a big breathe. I really focused on not getting to freaked about it because I knew it would eventually come to me, I just needed to relax and work it out. By the time I was almost back to where we started, I felt more normal while swimming. The only thing I noticed was that my shoulders were tired from the wetsuit. I swim in a full sleeve Zoot wetsuit and of course, it's tight, but the motion seemed more limited than I remember. It kind of had me concerned fro Ironman Branson 70.3 and the 1.2 mile swim. So it is something that I have time to work on this.

GH gave me the idea to not kick as much in the wetsuit. I guess all the Master Classes I have been doing lately has really got me focusing on my kicking. So I swam a little more and did not kick except only to balance myself. I thought of this as more like swimming with a swim buoy, and really focused on long strokes and my side to side motion and rotation. It felt better when I did not kick as much, so I can work on this more and work it out. I have time before September, I have access to a lake and a swim partner, so I should be able to figure it out by Sept!