Week 20 of IMCDA training...

Well another week down and only like 3 more weeks to GO!!!! I can't believe it. I can't wait to hear Mike Riley say, "Shawnda Freeman, you are an IRONMAN!" I just want someone to make sure I make it to that finish line. I have to hear that! If not, I'm stuck doing this again and I don't think anyone wants that :)

Well it was a long week and weekend but we all made it through it.

The practice man was awesome! I felt great the whole time and the run was great also! I'm hoping I feel like that at ironman at mile 13!



Details for Week 20:
Monday: swim Spin and massage
Tuesday: Spin
Wednesday: open water swim and run
Thursday: night off
Friday: day off
Saturday: 40 mile ride/13 mile run
Sunday: 20 mile computrainer ride
Monday: CapTex Tri Sprint

CapTex Tri Race Report

2nd in the Sprint Athena Divison!

Man, did I need this race! I had the best time ever! I raced the Sprint Athena divison and just had a blast with this race. I needed something light and fun before IMCDA rolls around. The morning started off well. I didn't have to get up early...6am is sleeping in these days. I ate some breakfast and called Ali to make sure she was awake. She was and she was off to town lake to do her race also.

Collin and I make our way down there and I get setup. No big deal since the bike was already there. I make my way down to the water and just sit and wait for my group to go off. I hate waiting for anything in life and waiting for a race to start is not much fun either.

Finally, after some chat with a few friends, I'm in the wetsuit and I'm getting ready to go.

I make it down to the dock and see some teammates and get a quick pic with one and we are in the water. Before I know it the gun has sounded and we are off! I'm cruising in the water and loving it. The water was a little cold at first but not to bad.

I make it out of the water after 750meters and I'm headed to the bike. I get the wetsuit off and put on my socks, shoes, helmet and sunglasses and I'm off! I'm just hoping to not crash and end my ironman career this late in the game. The first loop went by quickly..6.25miles goes fast. The second loop seemed faster until I get to a harry turn. So jackass decides to cut the corner from the outside inward and rub his back wheel with my front wheel...what the F*&K dude! You can't do that! I'm yelling and trying to stay up right, and then I make it through that and about take out another woman during it! But we all stayed upright and kept going. I wanted to kick that guy.

I get off the bike and make it to my tennis shoes for the run. I told myself only 3 miles and you are not allowed to walk...ok, I walked but for only like a minute or less total! That is great for me! I walk to much during races and beat myself up in the end about it! I was all smiles on the run! It was so much fun!

I crossed that line and felt great! Best race for me since I've started triathlons!

The things I can't wait to to do...well that is after ironman...

The things I can't wait to do that I've been putting off...

1. Spring clean my house. I need to scrub base boards, dust ceiling fans, maybe do some painting on the walls(alison, you are signed up for painter)

2. Spend some quality time with my dogs. I've only been a part-time mommy to them..poor things...

3. Visit a couple of Texas swimming spots that was featured in Texas Monthly last year.

4. PLAY GOLF! I have never wanted to play a round of 18 so bad in my life.

5. U2 concert in October with David and Kelly and Collin.

6. Maybe a trip to the East coast...NY or Myrtle Beach.

7. Sprint distances only for triathlons maybe and olympic thrown in there and a half-ironman to keep me from being fat.

8. Should be 1. on my list but here it goes SLEEP IN! I can't sleep past 6:30am right now. My weekday's are considered sleeping in...oh how that sucks.

9. Spend time with friends that don't do triathlons(yes, there are those kind of people out there)! Right now if you want to see me you have to come to watch me race or show up at the house by 5pm to eat as I'm starving at that time and leave by 8:30pm as I need to be in bed by 9pm to get up by 5am to ride my bike or run.

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure there are more things I will add to the list but this is a good start.

Week 19 of IMCDA Training...

Wow, about a month out and I'm getting excited and nervous. This was our last long weekend of training and I have to say I'm glad it has come and gone. I decided early on in the week to take off Thursday evening and go home and re-do my flower beds...most if not all my poor flower had died. Friday, is always my day off so I went home and napped. It was all I could do to get up and plant a few more things in the flower beds and go to bed.

Saturday morning came early...like 5am early. So I got up and headed to meet the group for a ride I was a little concerned about. No shoulders on this road and I was going to be out in the middle of nowhere. And did I mention...possibly rain starting between 11am-4pm. We get going and I'm feeling good. We make it about 50 miles and the rain is coming down pretty good. We continue on and make it to a major intersection and I decided the roads were unsafe(wheel slide going down a hill)and started to head back to the school with a few others. We made it to Freescale and hooked it to the parking garage and waited on Collin to pick up a few of us. We load up and head back to the school in the pouring rain and unpack and everyone heads home. I went home and slept part of the day and enjoyed it.

Sunday's 5am wake up call was way to early! Collin had to get up to work and well I got up to wake up and head out on a 17 mile run with David. I had planned on running 7 miles before I met him but ended up running like 1 mile. I met David on Town Lake for the fastest 10 miles of my life, probably the slowest 10 miles of his life and knocked it out. It was great...a change of pace and a change of face did me justice! I'm hoping we can continue to run every weekend just so I can have something different to look forward to.

Week 19 Details...
Monday: Spin practice and massage
Tuesday: Spin practice and pt
Wednesday: half of swim at lunch
Thursday: night off
Friday: night off
Saturday: 62 mile ride(was suppose to ride about 120)
Sunday: 17 mile run(made it to 15, my ankle and knee were hurting)

A night off....ahhhhh......

So after listening to my body and my coaches, I decided to take an extra day off this week. And let me say it was great coming home after work and sitting on my couch. I forgot how great it feels. After 3 season of triathlon training you forget how the small, simple things in life are the greatest. I was able to go outside and play with my dogs and catch up on some reality tv that I've been missing.

I'm looking forward to the weekend and riding with the girls on Parmer. I'm hoping for some nice weather and some good conversation on this ride.

Week 18 of IMCDA Training

Finally a weekend without wind! It's amazing what that can mentally do for someone while they are doing a 90 mile bike ride. All in all it was a great week for working out. No lows, no super high points just a steady pace with awesome weather...ok, well a little on the hot side, but that happens in Central Texas this time of year!

Week 18 details:
Monday: Spin class and massage
Tuesday: Spin class and at least a 3 mile run with linds
Wednesday: Run with Gilbert
Thursday: Cold water swim and pizza
Friday: open water swim with Coach Pain
Saturday: 90 mile bike ride, did most of this on my own. Rode with Travis for a short time, and met some nice man on 360 while some stupid police officer stopped us mid hill to let traffic go by..who does this. Rode with him to Bee Cave(have to say this is the only thing that kept me going and not quiting) finished the rest on my own. Went through over 150 ounces of water that day...can you say hot and humid!
Sunday: 6:30am run with Linds...did 19 of the 20 miles. I have to say that is good considering I'm still have some serious hip flexor issuse but my calf had no pain! But where I cut my feet on the oysters...well they have come open again and have blisters on them..weird.

Nerves are thin and Emotions are high...

I remember people telling me that I would get this way come the end of April first of May during my Ironman training and well here I am. I think certain things will make me choke someone when on any other day or month...well not so much. At this point I need that extra push in my life but I don't want someone nagging me and pushing when I'm having a tough time or something is going wrong with my body. I feel like there are times when I should being doing things on my own just so I don't snap like a crazy woman at someone. So if I'm sitting in the corner at a practice or have my headphones on or my head in a book, probably should just leave me a lone for a few minutes...I can take care of me.

Now to the crying...I haven't cried yet...wait, I cried at Galveston but that was it. I've wanted to cry but I'm saving it all up for race day when I really feel like crap.

I have to say, I'm ready for this Ironman training season to end. I'm signing up for the Cap Tex Tri just to have one last race before CDA. Plus I'm doing the sprint and I'm going to have fun with it. Why not, I haven't had that much fun in a while so now is the time for it to happen.

Week 17 of IMCDA Training

Well another week down in the record books for IMCDA training. I'm so happy to be at this point and can't believe that I can actually sit here and say that my first and well probably last ironman is happening next month! That's right, June 21st will mark the day of the big event. I'm ready to have a normal weekend life back.

This has been a crazy week. I haven't been able to get my lunch time coached swim in since the pool has been down. Hopefully this week, I'll make it to at least one coached swim and a long open water swim. I have at least been keeping up with the long open water swims.

Saturday we had a exciting and bad day. We were all signed up to head to Shiner, TX for the 100th anniversary of Shiner Beer. They have a ride every year to Shiner and I was due for 100 mile ride this weekend so why not do a ride that is supported. We got going at 7am with little to no wind that morning. No big deal. I was hoping it would have stayed that way for a while. Well I had hoped very wrong. I'm thinking the wind picked up at about mile 40 something and just got worse...20-30mph head winds all the way to Shiner and crappy chipped sealed roads. I managed to find a few nice guys to draft off of until I either got tired or they got tired on my on their back wheel. Either way it was nice. I made it to Shiner at about 2:30pm and was so happy to be off that stupid bike. We made 3 stops that day and they were awesome!

Week 17 details:
Monday: indoor spin
Tuesday: pt, core, indoor spin and run
Wednesday: 2 mile swim and run
Thursday: indoor spin
Friday: Day off
Saturday: 100 mile bike ride
Sunday: 5 mile run(suppose to be 9 but had a lot of pain in my knee and didn't want to push it to where it was going to just kill me)