A bit out of touch..

How time flies! It's already December and the last time I updated was post-ironman and England! Since Ironman, I have picked up a coach, he has done some fablous things with my training, both on the bike and the run! I have some new PB's in all my race distances. My new times are:
1/2 Marathon: 2:09
10KM: 57:00  (this should be better, but it was a very bad course)
5KM: 25:20
Olympic tri: 3:11
Sprint tri: 1:24
I am very proud of my season! I trained, toed the line and got mostly through an ironman and PB'ed every other distance.

Shortly after my 5km PB, I was out for a training run and felt quite a bit of pain in my upper shin, the pain ended up not going away and got a bit worse before getting better. Thus, I am just now getting back my running legs. I have kept pushing away on the bike. I'm taking a small break for right now, at least break from the tough session and am enjoying a resting period before I start back the hard work on Jan 7th! Next year I want to make it on the podium of the 1/2 ironman I'm planning for June 16th!

I've been busy with school since I returned from the UK too! At first, I started planning a year in Australia to do some Aupairing and enjoying the aussie life for a little while. With plans to complete my teaching certification shortly after. Then I found a great program, called Teacher Ready. It is through the Univ of W. Florida, it allows me to use my school and the international schools here in Korea as field experience while I complete an online certification program. At the end of it all I'll be certified to teach! I chose my teaching areas as K-6 because I do enjoy the youngsters, but I also chose middle grades Math, because I enjoy math and would prefer secondary school. The program began at the beginning of October and will finish next year in about July/August. In March, I will spend 1 week in America taking 4 exams to pass the FL state licensing tests. Wish me luck!! 

The biggest news since my last update is about my next move. I have been asked to move to London with a very special someone... so at the end of my contract I will be packing up my things, saying good-bye to Korea and leaving on a one way ticket to London! :) From there things get a bit complicated with the visas, but we are going to try and make it work out! I'm thrilled for it! Here is to the next step! With that, I think this blog will draw near and end. 

Thank you to anyone who's followed me and look for a new blog about life in London and training next year! xx

Ironman UK - how it all went down!

Time to fly to England was finally here! I was packed, my bike was boxed, I was ready to go! I had to board the bus at about 4:30am in order to get to the airport 2 hours before my flight for check in. I was most nervous about my bike, I wasn't sure how the airline would charge me. I flew on Southern China Air and I have to say, after calling a few times and getting different answers I was worried my bike wouldn't make it on the plane. However, I showed up prepared with their 'oversized luggage' policy in hand and was pleased with the outcome. Only 81,000w (about $80) to take the bike to England! Fantastic. So this trip was off to a good start. My flights were all on time... the SCA flight got my meal request correct, KLM did not, but I had a very kind flight attendant that shared fruit and yogurt with me! :) I arrived in Europe (Amsterdam) about 25 hours after I left Korea... I had a 5 hours lay over and had realized at that point that I hadn't slept in about 30 hours. Uh-oh! The airport didn't really have a place to enjoy a nice nap, so a massage and some time in a comfy chair listening to music had to do. I thought I would sleep on my flight to Manchester, it was only 45min long, but some sleep would be better then no sleep. I was too excited and that didn't happen. After landing and gathering my luggage, I found my ex waiting for me to pick me up. :) It was about 10pm and I was beyond exhausted. We found the hotel, and as  tired as I was, it was hard to fall asleep and stay asleep that night. The nerves for IM had set in! 

Pre-race day... was too busy! The day started early with a trip to the expo (about a 20min drive), I registered and ended up speaking with a wetsuit company, HUUB about their product. Talking and talking... and I tried it on. I liked how it felt, much better then my current one.... but I wasn't sure if it would be quite right, so I asked and was granted the ability to return it if it was not comfortable, excellent... and off we went to the swim site (about 30min drive) I made it just on time to get in the water for about a 600m swim. Great news - the new wetsuit was awesome! This was a mega confidence booster because my other wetsuit just didn't fit me right. Now it was nearly 10:30am and we needed to get back to the hotel to get my bike together, pack my red and blue bags, eat and go to the 2 transitions to drop off the bags! So it was a quick lunch, good thing England is big on potatoes filled with stuff - I was able to eat carbs without gluten! Getting the bike together and packing the bags took a little longer then expected, about 2:00pm we were off to the swim/T1 site. I made a stop at the mechanic to make sure everything was tightened on the bike, filled the tired up with air and went to the check in. Mind you the cut off time for check in was 3pm for T1 and 4pm for T2, so I was pressured by the clock. I turned in my bike without going for a ride. (hmmmmmmm) Bike bag was dropped off and we were off to find a school to drop off the T2 bag. We arrived about 30min late, but we were far from the last one to get there. The school was tucked away and the GPS gave the directions to an annex, so it was a bit of a challenge to find. Thank goodness for the helpful locals! It was just after 5:00pm when we arrived back at the hotel. At this point, I was beyond exhausted. I had a shower, ordered some room service, and was in bed by 8pm. Race morning would begin at about 3:00am. (somewhere in the day we had a stop at the supermarket for my pre-race breakfast). 

Race Day: First alarm 03:00, fill myself with an apple and a few raspberries. Lay down for about 45min. I tried to sleep but mostly just went over my race plan and visualized. 03:45, alarm #2, up for my cereal and some coffee. Time to get changed, gather my white bag (post race bag) and get out the door by 04:30! It was about a 30min drive to the race site. After getting there, I left my ex with my wetsuit and bag, visited my bike and met up with my friend who was also doing the race. It was comforting to know he was there doing it to. After a little chat, I was out to get my wetsuit on and line up to get in the water. The race officials did some announcements and then let us all in. The time went by so quickly. Before I knew it, I was in the water waiting for the start. I picked a spot out to the right and about in the middle. After my last experience in a Korean race where swimmers hit, kick, swim over/under you, I wanted to be safe. The swim started after about 10min of waiting in the freezing cold water. With this race, a wetsuit was mandatory due to cold water temps. So you could imagine how cold I was after 10min of just treading water. The race started 10min late, so at 06:10 we were off! I will describe the swim as friendly and calm. I did not once get kicked, hit, swam over/under, and there were no attempts to drown me! I really enjoyed my swim. I did go a bit slower then I was planning to. My legs experienced some cramping on the 2nd loop, but overall, it was a good swim. I exited the water in 1:30 (for 2.4miles), then was off to get the wet suit off, get my bike stuff, and get on the bike! I moved a little slower than I wanted to, it took 8min to get everything done. Some things I did: remove wet suit, put on shoes and helmet, get out nutrition to put on my bike (I missed the briefing due to timing of the day, so I had no idea about special needs bags, meaning all nutrition had to be on me), ran to my bike, filled my 'bento box' and was off, all in a matter of 8min. I wasn't moving as fast as I should have, but I was cold! The first bit of the bike was about 20miles out to the 3 loop course. This went by quickly. About 10min into it my watch had flown off my handle bars, so I had to stop and get it than put it back on. Arriving at the beginning of the 3 loop course was a great welcoming party, that faded as I approached the first climb, a 3 mile slog up, up and up some more, some parts were 12% grade, most were 8%... I would say this climb was followed with a fun and fast downhill, but the downhill part was a bit scary. I don't mind going 40mph, however I was riding on these ZIPP 303 wheels, and the breaks were different than mine, and it made me nervous. First time on the big downhill, I froze, the morning temps were only about 16C and the sun was not shinning. I was still wet and shivering the whole first loop. After the big up/down, there was another good climb that wasn't nearly as bad, the downhill the followed was much more fun. After the first loop the temps had started to go up and the sun had come out. It was much more to my liking. However, a twinge in my knee had kicked in. I had a feeling that I knew just where it had come from, my seat being too high. Towards the midway point, I found my friend on the course, after a short chat, I was feeling energized, but was in pain. The 2nd half of the loop is all up/down, shorter stuff, but not ideal. It hurt. Really hurt. At this point, some back pain had set in as well. As I finished the 2nd loop I was looking at the time trying to determine if it was possible to finish before the cut off. I was moving much slower then I expected. I decided to endure the pain of the big hill and see how the 3rd lap went. This was tough, very tough. The big hill reduced me to walking for about 20meters, just up the 12% part as it was very painful. The downhill was good, I was used to it by now. But the next big climb that followed was a bit disastrous. It bought me to tears while riding. After getting to the top, I stopped to stretch out my leg a bit hoping that would help. I recalled the reasons why I was there, the fact that I spend the last 6 months training for this, the time, the effort, the money I raise, the people expecting me to finish.... and I put all the pain aside, picked up the pace and went for it. Much of this last 15-20 miles was filled with grinding my teeth and tears, but I pushed though the pain, constantly trying to do the math - do I have enough time... will I make the cut off... I think so! I can do it, if I keep up this pace, or push a little harder. I was within a mile or so, I knew it would be close, I kept pushing... I arrived! I was greeted by a race official to tell me that he would have to take off my timing chip and that I had just missed the cut off. *heartbreak* I was gutted, absolutely gutted. My race day was over, just like that. 

I suppose in a way I was a little lucky, my ex was there waiting for me at the transition to cheer me on. This came in handy for getting back to the hotel, as the race did not offer a ride to the finish line (odd, I assumed it is something they would do). I made a stop at the medic to try and get ice, which they didn't have, but I got some Ibuprofen to help with the inflammation and pain. Than we were off to find a cab back to the hotel. 

The rest of the day was spent trying to hold back tears, gathering my bike and bags, and eating a pizza that I did not feel was deserved. 

Being my biggest critic, it has been hard to come to terms with what happened on race day, needless to say, my failure was all my fault. I can't say the elements or food intake contributed. My body (stomach, energy levels) felt find when I arrived at the end of the bike, I am confident if I had arrived just a few minutes earlier, I would have finished the race. This was a huge learning experience for me, and I have a laundry list of items that I would change. One thing that worked well was my calorie plan, so that is something I will stick with. I know that for my next one, I want a faster swim, faster bike and faster run.... so back to work I go now that I'm back in Korea! 

The rest of my trip in England was magnificent! Some relaxing in the north, London, and some of the Olympics! Couldn't have asked for a better time, thanks to the one who treated me :) 

2012 IronYear

So I haven't updated at all this year, and it's now August. Guess I have some slack to pick up on! This year has been good, it has been nothing like last year. Last year, I played tourist a lot. This year I have been living in South Korea like I would anywhere else. At the beginning of the year I changed jobs and have been enjoying working for Bundang YBM PSA. It is a good school, I have a great boss and nice co-workers. My Co-teacher is about the laziest person in the world, but the kids listen to and respect me, so I could care less about her. I did catch a nasty illness after beginning school, it knocked me down for about 4 weeks, I used up all my sick days and took unpaid time off all within the first month of my new contract! Luckily, I haven't been sick since. I guess I just needed to build up my tolerance to young children, haha! This year my main focus has been on triathlon, the Ironman to be exact. From the point I was well enough to train again, I started on my journey to IM. This meant I spent nearly all my free time training...

I began my training program about mid-February, and it slowly built up. About 12 hours a week to begin and about 26 hours a week in the end. My life slowly became: eat, workout, eat, work, eat, sleep, workout, eat, sleep... repeat. My weekends were all day long workout, eat, nap, workout, eat sleep. I loved it, there were high points and low points, but overall I made a huge commitment to become and Ironman and to train up for this massive race, and I enjoyed it. I am very happy I made this commitment! My friendship have suffered, which is unfortunate, but I have made new friends that are in training as well. So if I'm in need of a training partner, there is usually someone around! 

Each month I would budget out the things I needed to buy for Ironman: wetsuit, aerobars, saddle, nutrition, plane ticket, race entry, water system, shoes, pedals, pool membership, trainers, and the list goes on... I can say at this point, I feel very prepared for any upcoming tris! I honestly felt like my entire life this year has been triathlon. No complaints though! I would say those around me, may complain a little.... I eat nonstop and was always training or tried! 

At the beginning of July I became both very excited and very nervous. Not only was I off to attempt my first Ironman, but I was off to spend 10 days with my ex! So much to think about! I was also unbelievably excited to go to a western country after spending the last 1.5 years in Asia! So many great things all happening in one little holiday! 

Pertaining to the Ironman, I had followed my schedule, nearly to a 'T', a few missed workouts here, but many hours/miles were logged. I was ready. And race day approached! :)