Saturday, August 24, 2013

Tribute to my Amazing Husband!!

 This is for my amazing husband! Tomorrow he will be embarking on his final celebration of his training to becoming an Ironman. For the last 40 weeks, I have watched him train, follow the advice from our coach, and enjoy this journey that he has embarked on. He has ridden his bike several weekends in a row to ride his 100 mile rides, refueling at home and at the mini mart on base..I was there to help him with his 20 mile run and every time, he had taken off on his training run, ride or swim, he has come back with a smile and a kiss  for me.

During this time, he let me train and complete in two half ironmans and encouraged and cheered me on everyday. In all of my races, whether or not if he completed  them, he was always there.

 Tomorrow it will be my turn. I will watch him take off at the swim and the gather up the family and make the trek to LaGrange, Ky (25 miles away) to watch him and cheer him on the bike. He will definitely need it. We rode the bike course the other day, and I will NEVER do this race.. the vertical climbs are a killer... I only saw this in a car.. I can only imagine what it would be like on a bike.. my quads would be on fire... People at home, if you think of the last hill on the Herb Parsons loop, over and over and over, and over and...again.. That is what the hills are like. The bike course is beautiful!The horse pastures and the farmland is amazing.. Once we  see him on the bike and have lunch in LaGrange, we will head back to Louisville and get situated by mile 13... Mile 13 is the beginning of the second lap of the marathon and is about 100 feet from the finish.. A lot of people will get demotivated and I want to be sure I am there to cheer them on.. I hope to see Don at that point too. I  have already told him that if he needs me too, I will run with him/ do the Eling Shuffle... to make it to the finish line. I am soo excited for him and can't wait to see him finish.... He is one amazing fellow! Not bad looking too.. :) I love this guy and I am so proud of his accomplishment.

The family just before the underpants run
So this is a tribute to my amazing husband! I love you and whatever happens, you will always be my Ironman!!

Happy Training!!
Eling







Monday, August 19, 2013

Running... sometimes I love it and other times it is so hard to do..

So, now that my triathlon season is over, it is now time for me to start working on the events that I would like to get better at... This fall, I have decided to really concentrate on my running.. There are days that I love it and then days that it just seems so hard to just get out there to run....

Here I am having fun running.
 I have started running with the local Memphis Women Walk/Run group and I ended  up in the advance group. I really do love to train in this group but I am the slowest one there.. During our warm-up runs, I am running a speed where I can't even talk because I don't want to lose the group and then when we start the hills, I am forever running. The groups start out with group 1: very fast group, group 2: second fastest and then group 3: the group I am in.. we take off, up the hill I go run, run, run... I am the last one and turn around... get back to the start and catch one breath.. and off we go.. I feel like I am back in high school swim practice doing intervals and never making the intervals and I just keep swimming.. well here it is the same with running... I am always running to catch up..Some of my friends are saying I am no longer the speedy turtle, but I am.. I am still learning to run my own race and not get frustrated with myself.. Tonight, we ran and I started to really get frustrated with myself until one of the coaches told me to relax and run my race. It was so nice for her to come up to me and tell me this is my time and I need to enjoy the run.. So, I tried.. I still got frustrated and now I am venting..

I know this is helping me to get faster because my last 5 mile race it showed and I finished in a faster time than my goal.. It was a really humid wet morning, but I had so much fun doing this race.. I was running with a good friend Becky, one awesome person.. and she paced me  the entire race..I hope to run like her one day.. I will need to find friends to run with to make sure I run faster.

Finishing the race with a smile. 
The running will get there.. I guess I just wish I was 25 again and running a 9:30 pace.. but this will take time.. I am slowly getting faster and one day, I will be fast like Becky and pacing someone to get better. I feel better and I need to remember to run my own run and not get frustrated.. tomorrow, I am going to run without the Garmin and just run like a kid...

Happy Training...
Eling

Sunday, August 4, 2013

End of the Season!!

Wow! I still can't believe that yesterday I finished my last triathlon for the season. What a season this has been!

I owe a lot to my coach, Lesley and my family for the amazing season. Here is a breakdown of my season of triathlons:


  • April 2013: Ironman 70.3 New Orleans PR by 45 mins for a 70.3. My last 70.3 was in Austin and it really is hard to compare races, but my time dropped. 
  • May 2013: Memphis in May Olympic distance PR by over 23 minutes from the previous year
  • July 2013: Ironman 70.3 Muncie PR by 10 mins for a 70.3. Same disclaimer above, you really can't compare races but my time dropped and the run was harder than New Orleans.
  • Aug 2013: Annie Oakley Super Sprint PR by 12 minutes from the previous year. This was the triathlon that started it all. :)
First ride after my bike crash
 I have had a lot of encouragements from my Thunder teammates and now from a very special group that now calls themselves the Speedy Turtles.. Everyone has cheered me on and just have been an inspiration to me. My triathlon family is very special and I know we will all continue to grow closer each year!

Training this year has been really amazing and I truly want to continue this training. I am really enjoying the new lifestyle of not giving in to the excuses in my head.. though I really want to and they work very hard to talk me out of working out..

Upcoming goals??? I am starting to really work on my running speed. I would love to continue getting faster, so this off season  I will be training for only a half marathon.. Trust me.. just running is brutal on the joints, so I will still cross train in swimming and biking..

I am still contemplating on what the next season will bring.. I have some of my tri buddies asking if I will do IM Florida.. WOW... that is a big decision.. I am not sure yet. If I am to do 140.6, I want to be able to finish by midnight.. right now on the best of conditions I would just make it with no room to spare.. I will have an opportunity to watch my husband complete his ironman this month.. These last three weekends of watching my husband train during his long runs and rides.. mmm, my answer is a big resounding NO.. but I have to say, I  have been known to not listen to myself and sign up for a half ironman the first year of doing triathlons and I hadn't even done an Olympic.. Who knows what next year will bring?? I know I will do a few 70.3 races. I seem to really like those and I really want to get under 13 min/miles for the run..

My journey of a better life is still ongoing and I will keep on trying to work at it.. It gets hard at times but I must not beat myself up.. I have to race my race and believe..

Happy Training!

Eling

Just before the swim...
Hey look, I look really skinny!! Love it!