Seeing things through new eyes....

Since last weeks post was about my lack of racing and yet I continue to be surrounded by racers, I could not wait to watch the Ironman world championship online.  Ya see this is my dream race.  The start of my triathlon career was to just to see if I could.  One step in front of the other and here I am.  Where is that?  No mans land but progressing at an alarming rate.  I spend A LOT of time talking about developing runners.  Developing fitness, developing running programs.  One thing I never saw before was the patience the racers at Kona have experienced.  I am nearly 5 years into my endurance life, these guys are 3-4 times that.  karl and I have talked about this but it is glaring at me now.  Karl is 3 times that and of course he is much faster, recovers easier, and can do any race any day.  Bg shout out to Karl for his second place finish this weekend.  Way to go dude.

I watched this race from different eyes.  I can see a whole bunch more things that I didnt see before.  These coaching eyes saw these athletes from a different perspective.  The racing tactics, fitness, and performance they demonstrated was now not so foreign to me.  I watched this race and got so fired up.  I know that if I keep my head on straight, I keep training right and healthy I will be there.  I have in the past thought that since I was starting so far back that I just dont have it in my to do that.  Thats not fair.  I have to be patient.  I have to develop into this caliber of athlete.  Boston?  That is doable too.  I thought after my first marathon that it would never happen.  That is part of my old life.  My new life says, if the fitness I have right now is possible for a 1:15 min PR in one training cycle, why not over time shave the rest?  I have a long way to go but now I understand better what I am doing.  This has only doubled a hundred times, so will it continue to double?  Im sure.  I dont have all the answers but I can see how this progression goes.  It would be easy to say with no biking or swimming, how can my triathlon skills be developing?  Well my fitness is so fluid right now.  It is moving the right direction.  I feel like I get better every week.  Here is how I got better this week:

Monday-Off
Tuesday-Hill repeats.  I ran 1.5 miles to a hill, I did 0.5 up/0.5 down X 2 with a 1.5 mile cool down.  5 mile total.  The up was an average of 7:52 and the second was 7:45.  The hill gains 100 ft in that 0.5 miles.  I felt very strong.  The weather was perfect, my rhythm was strong.  I definitely need to do more reps of these.
Wednesday-Easy 4.
Thursday-8 mile progression run.  I was pumped for this workout.  I wanted to see what I could put on the last part of the run.  I was wondering how fast that last mile could be if I was able to keep myself even.  Here are my splits: 9:59, 9:13, 9:03, 9:15, 8:50, 8:52, 8:34, and 8:18.  With hills and keeping myself back i feel very strong about this result.  I stayed back, I went fast when I wanted to, and I felt totally in control.  When I do this again I think the plateaus can be faster.
Friday-Long Run.  I was disappointed in last weeks long run.  I wanted to redeem that.  I also want to know what this marathon pace should be.  The goal today was simple.  Keep it as even as possible around 9:45.  I averaged 9:46 through all 16 miles, 2:38.  This is by far my best long run.  I was in control, I did not have any issues.  I started to get a little tired at the end and the effort to run close to 9:45 was much harder but I got through it.  Karl will want splits so here they are:  9:40, 9:51, 9:45. 9:49, 9:30, 9:41, 9:38, 9:24, 9:59, 9:55, 10:38, 9:57, 9:56, 10:18, 10:25, and 9:52.  The hills are hard to avoid around the house.  I wasnt even that tired or sore.  I felt very good about this workout.  No pain, no musculoskeletal issues.  I had a little water but nothing else.  No nutrition issues.  Sully ran 10 his longest run.  
Saturday-I had to run with the cross country team.  I just wanted to go easy.  There isnt anything easy about Mt. Charleston.  I forgot my watch but I figure I went 8.  It was snowy, cold, and awesome.  It was a great workout for the team and I enjoyed the surroundings.  8 miles total.
Sunday-Again, I had to run.  I ran 4 miles easy.  Out and back 4 miles.
Stats: 45 miles total.  I got my 8 mile progression, my long 16 miler in, and my weekly mileage goal.  Overall, a great week.  If every week went like this everyone would run.  I know that the good weeks make the bad weeks tolerable so I am in check.  I am happy but not satisfied.  Quote:


“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be”
 George Sheehan quotes

In my case, athlete. become the athlete I was meant to be