And the 2013 season begins... St. Patty's Day Sprint Tri

This is how the weather looked at 5:30 that
 morning.... not too appealing for a bike r
ide or a run

March 10th was the official start of our 2013 season, the journey we started a year ago and who would've imagine we would be so hooked from the beginning. It has been a year of ups and downs, happy times, sad times, crashes, run overs (see blog Pain over Body), but more than anything it has been a year where we have grown both as individuals and as a couple.

As individuals we have been able to push our bodies to limits we never imagined possible and we feel a lot healthier. As a couple we have grown stronger, and more the anything we have been able to share this journey together, neither one of us can imagine doing this without the other.

had to set it up to make sure we got it all

Anyways, we started our season. Last year we attempted to register for this same Tri as it is next to the house but by the time we decided it was sold out. We were happy we didn't do it as Puli had IT issues and on race day it was raining and to the point they cut the bike to half the distance, so being the first one wouldn't have been a good idea. Today wasn't any different, the weather was kind of crappy, and big storms rolled in late at night, all the forecasts pointed that no storms were going to be present in the morning, but.... by the time we woke up at 5 am some left over storm had just rolled in. Rain was coming hard and we were getting ready. Puli was worried because he had wiped out on a wet road ride a few months ago. So the idea of riding on wet roads wasn't too appealing. We pushed and got on the road. Got to the natatorium and coach M was there already. It had somewhat stopped raining, but the road was wet. Here we were hopping that from 5:30 to 8:00 the roads would dry up enough to make it safe.

Smiling on the way back

Got our transitions set and went in to the pool. It was in the 40s outside and wasn't a good idea to just waste calories there trying to stay warm. At the pool we lined up, said our typical pre-race goodbyes and off we went. The swim for both of us went well, Puli did feel ok, he is good on those short distances, while Res felt a bit slow but looking at her results it was an improvement, which she took.

Off on the bike it was a bit technical, wet roads, 17 mph head winds and just overall cold... Too cold. But we managed to get it done and 12 miles went by fairly quick, saw a few accidents, which made us just be more self conscious of the road and to be careful.

The run was definitely the best for the two of us, we got to PR our 5k both Tri and individual times by a lot! That made us really happy.

In summary the race was a good one, definitely want to do it again, just wished it was a bit warmer, but its a good kick off of the season and can't beat that is 5 min away from home :).

not a bad day

Our first official half marathon... Without anything else before it

So this weekend we did our first official half marathon. The Cowtown in Fort Worth. We say official because even though is not the first time doing the distance its the first time we do it as a stand alone. Our previous time was we did it was after getting off the bike and riding 56 miles during our first Half Ironman. So we were looking at it a bit differently.



We had been adding up a lot of miles during our Ironman training, so we weren't worried about the distance (to some extend) we did a long run last Saturday and we put 11 miles in, felt pretty good and also gave us the confidence boost we needed for a 2:00 or even a sub 2:00 half marathon.

We started our weekend by going to the expo to pickup Puli's package as he for some reason wasn't included in our team's roster (more like a user error). Saturday was pretty busy, not much training on our schedules (a 20 minute recovery run) so took advantage of it and did a bit of catchup with things at home.

Bib numbers and race belts ready

Sunday started at 5:15, woke up to get ready eat some light breakfast and bundled up, it was a cold morning at 37-deg so we knew it was going to be cold. Some our teammates were coming over to the house at 5:45 so we could carpool and avoid taking 3 cars with the typical race day traffic, probably the best idea.

We got to the start, met with the coach, stretched, warmed up which was more like trying to stay warm overall and headed to the corrals. We all started together. Saw each other for the last time crossing the start mat and Puli took off.

From Puli's report:
The start was crowded, passed a lot of people and pushed a lot more at miles 1 and 2 than I wanted and was actually negative splitting which was something I didn't want to do. That was when I told B (girl from the team running with me) that we shouldn't be trying to negative split or keep up with her sister, so by mile 3 we had found a nice 8:26 pace which we were able to keep for a while. By mile 6 which is by the Stockyards we checked and I knew then we were possibly going to hit our sub 2:00 goal, she had a 2:00 I had a 1:50. After the stockyards we knew that was the turn into Downtown on Main St, driving through that almost every day I knew what were up against and it wasn't pretty. Seeing the Court House from the distance made us keep our easy pace so we could attack the bridge. When we got to it we just said "here we go let's get it over with" and we got at it. Thinking all the hill repeats we have done over the last few months were paying off, but at the top of the hill it was when the legs were starting to feel the miles. Saw J (another teammate volunteering at mile 9 aid station) and he yelled at us to let us know how far it was, we emptied what we had left in our bottles and refilled at that one. Cruising through Downtown was fun, considering I walk it almost every day running through it was different. It was also a bit colder as the buildings were keeping the sun and the wind was tunneling In between them. We saw a few people. Actually "run" into a friend doing the ultra so we chatted for a few blocks and then we came to the split (half to the right and the full and ultras to the left) we made our turn and headed on Lancaster back on the home stretch. By then I had told B we only had 5k to go and our time was still pretty good, however my legs were starting to feel it. I slowed down a bit and just ran behind B for a while, by mile 12 we were side by side again, by 12.5 or so B started to get further ahead because I was slowing down, I was at 8:35'/mi then, still a good pace but that was all my legs had in them, I saw her make the turn into the finish line and then I came along, finish time 1:52 @ 8:34'/mi avg. not a bad effort for the first stand alone half. Got my finishers medal a bottle of water and then went back to the finish line to wait for Res, saw K come in and she told me Res was right behind her, so I spotted her pink hat and I knew she was home.

You can see Res and her pink hat

A balancing act...

So we have started to feel the things that most people told us about, or better warned us abut before signing up for this crazy adventure. LACK OF TIME. We are so lucky we have each other to hold accountable and to help each other, but realistically it hasn't been easy at all. For some odd reason work has been keeping us really busy. For Res starting a new job closer to the house not only meant she was going to have m ore time to do some of the house stuff before Puli got home, but also was a way of stopping that long drive and her not being exhausted after it. Well, the time part is true, however it has been keeping her so busy that it seems that she just has not time for anything.

For Puli, on the other hand, work is been crazier than before, commuting to both Dallas and Fort Worth has been his life over then last two months and it does take a toll on him, by the end of the week he just wants to stop driving.

Training of course takes the biggest hit, needless to say, the house, the cars, the dog do too. It is hard to catch up with everything that goes around your life when you have to work 8-9 hour days put in 2+ hrs of training a day for 4 days (thank goodness for rest day Mondays) but also doing all the things that grown up people need to do, like getting the cars to get the oil changed or even washed becomes a challenge, we said the dog because sometimes we feel like we are neglecting her of our love, when she sees us at the house we are either on the bike or getting ready for a run (she is off running for a little while) or simply laying around because we have no energy to move. To that add up for instance traveling for the two of us at the same time, it rarely happens and of course had to happen during IM training, so the logistics of getting workouts in, figuring out what each other needed for the trips, packing, organizing dog sitting, it all added up to the already hectic life of the Ironman/Ironwoman to be.

Training, waking up 2-3 days at 4 is sometimes hard, actually the 3 day is near impossible to do, body, legs, and will don't cooperate to get on the trainer or get out of the house to got to the pool, so it is hard, we know we have to do it because it is the only way we will get our workouts in, otherwise there is not enough time during the afternoon after work to get them in unless we get home from work at 4 and hit it off.... And that ain't happening. So days like today where our week wasn't technically as hard we had to squeeze one more swim of the 3 we missed, so in theory we only missed 2 swims all week and no other workout, which is good in our book, not so much on the coach's book so Puli got to hear some of it yesterday after our morning run.

We know it isn't going to get any easier, we've signed up for 3 of our early season races, Cowtown Half, St. Pattys Sprint Tri and IM TX 70.3. Those of course added to the mother of all and the reason we are sacrificing all we are IMTX. So for now we will continue doing our best at this balancing act and hope for the best, find inspiration where we can, inspire and push each other, and tri to do what we can without killing ourselves :))