Update

I've struggled with this, as you can see since it's almost been 2 months from my last post. Many days I don't feel like I have much to say and I didn't want this to be a "what I had for lunch" type thing so I haven't posted. I even considered scrapping the whole thing and deleting the blog. However, Susan talked me out of it (thanks Honey). As a result I am going to give it one more try. I don't know what will happen but I will try to post more, even if it's just "what I had for lunch."

I am also struggling with balancing training and life so it may be therapeutic to dump here. I have had some really good days so far. I ran 10 miles on the tow path Sunday. It may not seem like much, but for me at this point it was big. I also have some bad days. I didn't do anything yesterday. I could make excuses (I went to Mallory's track meet) but that's all they'd be. I had time I just didn't do it.

My formal training plan (I settled on 20 weeks) starts Sunday but I have been trying to do the first week of it for the last 3 weeks (does that make sense?) to stretch it out a bit more. I hope it's enough. I didn't want to start too soon because I knew the mental part would be tough for me over 25, 30, or more weeks. I just hope I haven't waited too long. I won't know until race day.

Speaking of races, I did the St. Malachi 5 miler in March. I ran pretty well I think. My time was right around 42 minutes. Less than 9 minute miles. If I could hold 9s or even 10s during the race in September I'd be thrilled.

I had planned to do a 5K in Twinsburg earlier this month but we got a last minute spring break vacation so I wasn't in town (no complaints there). I also planned to do the Hermes 10 miler this coming weekend but we are out of town again. And, I was going to do the Cleveland 1/2 marathon in May but I waited too long and it sold out (it's a road race, why does it sell out?). So my race planning hasn't been all that stellar. The good news is I have already signed up for the Musselman half-iron in July. If nothing else comes through I at least have that! Although I'm sure I'll pick up some others. There is a duathlon in Twinsburg on June 6th I want to do.

My swim training is going really well. No surprise there, but it's nice to have one part of this that won't haunt me. Not so much with biking and running. Biking has been surprisingly disappointing. I spent a fair amount of time on my trainer this winter but I have only been outside once this spring and it didn't go all that well. I am hoping it comes with time and am pretty comfortable it will, but for now it is also a question mark. Running will haunt me no matter what. I am just not ever going to be real confident in that part until I do it. I will try like hell to be ready but I am sure I will have doubts until the end. Having 2 out of 3 (the BIG 2!) in question is a bit disconcerting. All I can do is train.

So there you have it. No promises for what or when I'll post next. But I will try. Maybe I'll have more to say now that training is picking up and I try to get in a few more races.