Hello February!

Whoa, February has been quite the month so far....and it's only the 12th!

I spent the first 7 days of the month (plus two days of January) down in Dallas for the Super Bowl.  Not as glamorous as it might sound, I spent 16 to 18 hours a day inside a hotel conference center at the media center, averaging 4-5 hours of sleep a night.  And the snow and ice outside wasn't conducive to getting in a warmer weather long run.  So I did the best I could getting in my first official week of Ironman training in the hotel gym.  BIG shout out to Sheraton hotels for their Core Performance gyms!  This was the only thing that made it easier to get in a good deal of my workouts!  The gym was new and spacious, rivaling many of the smaller gyms I've ever been to.  The equipment was fairly new, and I was able to get in a few good runs, bikes (stationary bike....blah!) and strength workouts while I was there.  That is until Friday came and things got REALLY hectic, and I just didn't have the extra energy to get the workouts in....I was using every last bit of energy just to keep moving forward!  So I ended up missing my workouts Friday-Monday....still a better record than last year when I didn't even get in ONE real workout while at Super Bowl.  Small victories. :)

So after getting home Monday, I knew I needed to re-focus.  After all, my official Ironman training program with Well Fit had started while I was gone, so I was already sort of a week behind.  While still trying to catch up on my sleep (and the rest of life), I dragged myself to my bike class on Tuesday night....and it was great!  I rode a CompuTrainer for the first time and loved the feel....so much like riding on the road!  And we finished up the night with a 20' run on the treadmill.  A solid first night back.

Then Friday was my first swim class.  I was SUPER nervous about this because I am definitely no Michael Phelps.  That was apparent when I immediately placed myself in the "minnows" lane after arriving at the pool.  Now mind you, these are still Iron Minnows, so I was completely expecting to be blown away immediately.  I was more than pleased to find myself actually LEADING the minnow lane, by the end of class.  Yay me!  Sure, it was still the minnow lane, but it was a great confidence booster for me.  Another small victory.

Then this morning I got in my first "long" run outside in a very LONG while.  It was only 7 miles, but it's progress.  I've only got five weeks until the Cary Half Marathon so many more of these in my near future.

So a solid start to the month and my goal is to get in two really strong weeks (both training and nutrition) before we leave for vacation on Feb. 25 (less than two weeks until vacation!  less than two weeks until vacation!).  When I'm feeling tired, stressed and overwhelmed, and want to stay in bed instead of working out, I just have to think - only seven months until Ironman....

Happy Training!

- Her

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