How to fit it all in?!

Yikes on several levels!

Ifyoufollow either of us on Facebook, you no doubt saw our SHOCKED posts about us qualifying for Age Group Nationals....it should be a blast to go, and I personally was especially thrilled since the two Olympic distance races I did last year both had slight snafus.  For the NYC Tri it was a zillion degrees (yes, that's technical term when high temperature is combined with city humidity, ha), and at the Nations Tri, my derailleur on my bike somehow got bumped either in transition or when I sent my bike down to DC from NYC, and I didn't realize it until I was on the race course, but I couldn't shift out of my bottom two gears!   The Nation's Tri course is notoriously flat and fast, so being in those tiny gears meant my legs were spinning like CRAZY for 90% of the race and I sort of coasted the whole way it seemed.  At least my legs were super fresh for the run, right?

And THEN, the next day, I learned I also made it in the Half-Iron distance, which is funny, because I've actually never done a half-iron race.  There must be some glitch in the system, because I did the Mighty Man Hamptons race in Montauk at the end of September, which has all three distances (sprint, Olympic, and half) over the course of the weekend, and I did the SPRINT with my husband, who was doing his first triathlon, so I thought it would be fun to do it together (and so I could make sure he had his goggles, shoes, towel, etc. He was so cute.  He had his swim cap on an hour before start time.  Put me in, coach!!).

Anyway, I did quite well in the spring, placing 3rd, and I guess being in the top 10% in my age group, according to that USAT email, but it was definitely NOT for half-iron! Oh well, I guess I'll have my pick come registration in February.  

But August seems VERY far away, as Amanda and I focus on just making it through until Christmas (work has been crisis after crisis after sh*t storm each day and Amanda is hunkering down for final exams for her first semester at med school) we are already looking ahead to the summertime, when the bulk of our training is going to be, and we both already have the NYC Tri on the schedule in July, and now AG Nationals, which will be great prep and a way to work out kinks (because sometimes, the best way to train for a triathlon is to DO triathlons!) but travel and a bit of pre-race rest will definitely have to be factored in to our training timeline so our long runs and rides are not affected. 

I pulled the plug on the real-world and have already come down to DC to see the fam for an early Christmas before heading down to Richmond to join the hubs and his family, and as it looks to be quite mild for the next few days, I hope to squeeze in a ride or two on the W&O trail along with some runs.  I have my old road bike stored in my parent's garage here.  I may try and go find some aero bars to pop on them, as I still need to get used to riding in that position for longer than minutes at a time when actually out on the road.