It’s time to give you a 70.3 update because it is in TWO WEEKS! How am I feeling? Pretty good! I did not follow my training plan so closely but even so, I’ve been working out, eating right and I feel ready. I’m ready to take on this new distance and will do what I can to stay calm and enjoy it. Because it’s my first 70.3, I’m not so concerned with my time. This is a weird feeling because I am super competitive but I’m just going to go with it!
This week I’ll be prepping all of my gear to make sure I have all of the essentials. I need to give a huge shout out to my friends at Ironman & Coyne PR who have really hooked me up with training and getting race ready. For the past 6 years of triathlons I’ve used gear that is fine but by no means top of the line. For this race I’ve gotten a serious upgrade. Next week I’ll take you through all of my gear and what I’m packing for race day.
And next on the agenda is the Chicago Marathon! To get myself pumped I made a training schedule:
Isn’t it pretty? One of my favorite parts of races is making my training plan (even though I rarely follow them, oops). If you are a regular Shapin’ Up reader you probably have noticed a pattern: I make a training plan, I talk about how in the past I haven’t followed my plan well enough and promise to make this time different, then I don’t follow my training plan. Well, I’m here to say I really want to follow this one!!
I crafted this plan by looking at Runner’s World Less is More plan and the Hal Higdon Novice 2 plan, with review by my friend Noa (she is a Team in Training coach and has to deal with me emailing/texting her run questions daily).
The plan is manageable while still being challenging. In addition to the noted runs, I will have 3 cycling classes a week (that I teach) and would like to also include a day or 2 of conditioning/weights for overall strength.
This weekend I forced myself up super early to get moving on my long run, I’ll give you the play by play on that as well as more details on my marathon prep tomorrow. But now, let’s talk about the long bike ride I did on Sunday.
The Timberman 70.3 bike course is 56 miles and I’m sad to admit that I haven’t ridden 56 miles this training season. I’ve done it before, just not in the last year. I have done a bunch of 40-milers, including one on Sunday. Along with Meaghan and our boyfriends (two Matts) we rode along Riverside, over the GW and out to the Palisades Market for a snack (I recommend the egg sandwich), then back home. The hills + the heat are a killer, but just what I needed as one of my last long rides before my race.
And now we begin a new week and the very short countdown to my big 70.3! Check back in tomorrow for a look at my marathon training.
