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| We prefer to color coordinate with the water when we can. |
With Nautica now behind me, I am faced with the fact that St. Anthony's is right around the corner. I originally registered to do this race in 2010, but when the time came, I decided to defer my registration to 2011. I admit to not being all that excited about dear 'ole St. Ant's. There are many reasons for this, but I think it's the overall size of the event, the uncertain swim and the early season heat that's presenting me with a bit of a mental challenge right now. I am really bitching and moaning here, huh? Hang on though, this post will become more positive. I promise.
When my best friend told me that she had registered for the Florida International Triathlon (May 14th), I was elated for her... and maybe a bit jealous. Honestly, my first reaction was that I would rather be doing the FIT Oly than St. Anthony's. I told her that although I know my body would never let me race two Olympics back to back, that I would make some motivational "cheer" signs and be the loudest mouth out there. Of course, I then took a look at the FIT website...
They have a sprint distance. Oh boy!
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| The aqua waters off of Siesta Key! |
Then there is me. The girl who races a whopping 8 times a year (tri & running events combined) because I keep telling myself that there is no way in heck that my body could do more than that. Now we all know people who love to train more than they love to race, but this is opposite with me. I live for the race! The competition! What it boils down to is that I know that if I race every weekend, I can't possibly perform my best every weekend. While physiologically, this might be true; my mindset can be adjusted. I may not be able to give a peak performance every weekend, but I can go out and perform to the best of my ability under the given circumstances any time that I want to.
So the morning after SH called to tell me about registering for FIT, I made the decision to stop missing out on the fun and I registered for the sprint distance race. This means that I will be doing three triathlons in the span of five weeks. This is sure to be a physical challenge for me, but more than anything it's going to be a test in discipline. If I want to succeed and be able to race as best as I can at FIT (and remember, I live and breathe for short course tri) then I need to tighten my game plan.
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| Collegiate beach v-ball on Siesta! Way better than a 50 miler! |
SLEEP: 11 o'clock is not allowed on the radar at all. From now through May 14th- in bed by 9PM, reading is allowed until 9:30PM and then lights out. The laptop is not allowed to step foot into the bedroom (neither is the iPhone).
FUEL: Good-bye junk... okay 90% of the junk. This includes you Mr. Nutella who only recently entered my life. I need wholesome, good fuel... and lots of H2O to combat my chronically dehydrated body.
TRAINING: Last week was about recovery and maintenance. The way that I see it, I've got one "quality" week left before St. Anthony's before it's time to taper. After St. Anthony's (and before FIT) I will be 100% in maintenance mode. This obviously is not ideal, but I'm hoping that by sticking to a maintenance/recovery plan during the 13 days between St. Ant's and FIT, I will be rested and recovered well enough to nail the sprint distance.
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| Enjoying the tournament on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world! The sand is soft and silky... a lot like cornstarch! |
Spent some time with the gang on Siesta Key scouting out the FIT course last weekend. The traffic was horrid and the heat index was off the charts, so the planned 40 miler turned into 20... and then we hit the beach! The "Fiesta on Siesta" Women's Collegiate Beach Volleyball Tournament was going on and for about 2 hours, I wanted to ditch triathlon entirely and become a bikini clad beach volleyball player! Then I realized that I am way too short and typically afraid of "ball" sports.
Tomorrow MSL, SH and I I will be attending a speed workout with the Speedsters in Ft. Myers. I've been itching to run with them since last October and I am excited. It looks like tomorrow's workout consists of 8x400m repeats. YES! These folks are hard core and fast, yet they welcome folks of all abilities. I like this!
11 comments:
SOUNDS like a solid plan, Sherry and like fun! :)) HOPE the group track w/o goes great! Have fun! :)
Sounds like a great plan! I did a sprint and Oly in back to back weekends last year and it worked out OK - I think you just have to know which ones are your priority to "race" versus "race hard."
Good luck in your races. I've been really working on getting more sleep and it helps so much. I need to stick to the rule of no laptop/iphone in the bedroom though.
Have fun at the track. I just finished up a block of track workouts that started at 6 x 400 and went up to 12 x400. I love 400s, but 12 was too much!!
I think I stopped reading after you mentioned Nutella because I was drooling! :) Sounds like an exciting few weeks.
You can do this!! You are totally fit for doing 3 tris in 5 weeks! go get em! And I play Beach Vball and LOVE it! Although I gave it up this year for Ironman..
Yay! I'll see you at FIT. I'l be doing the Oly distance. I have a score or two to settle rom last year. I loved that race, however, as you mentioned above about the traffic, it is horrible. And, even though they do have some traffic control in place on race day, there are some hairy sections where you have to be in the bike lane to get thru several intersections and if there is a slower biker in front of you, you have to stay behind them, no room to pass b/c there is a line of cars on your left. For me, St. A's has gotten so out of hand crowd wise so I stopped doing it. Good luck with your training plan. You will do great!
That sounds awesome! I can't wait to read all your race reports because racing is not really happening for me right now. I will live through you! Good luck!
oh, this sounds like a fun experiment! can't wait to see how it works out, the body is an amazing machine. what did you think about boston yesterday?? also, i was cracking up at the fear of "ball" sports - i suffer from the same thing!!
Inspiring! I found you while surfing and thinking about a 5k...maybe I'll actually try it now.
Ha, i am just trying to get in races on back to back months! Let alone back to back weekends. WOW. Oh, and no way i am giving up the Nutella....it is the perfect dessert on a piece of toast.
You have a plan and all your training complete....just go out have fun and execute the plan! Posted about your race on my blog, come check it out
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