On the horizon...April 8

It's been a while since my last blog and after a gentle nudge, although I had been thinking I needed to write, here's the latest on this journey.

My vacation away was fabulous!  The cruise visited Cozumel, Belize, Honduras and Costa Maya and all had great beaches and open water swimming for me. 

My first open water swim was in Cozumel, after we did zip lining and snorkeling (which I loved). 

I didn't realize the undercurrent in Cozumel so half my swim was very tough where I felt like I wasn't even moving in the water.  My hubby (who was on shore - something wrong with that picture) said that I was moving, but it wasn't very much.  Of course, once I turned at the pier, I was motoring in the water.  All in all, I was tired but happy I got it done in those conditions - who knows what I'll face in Florida?

The swim in Honduras was a whole other story - calm, beautiful, crystal clear - I could have swam forever...well, not really, only 4k worth.  Met some great people and had their local beer afterwards...you know, to get rid of that salty taste.  That was a good day.

My calf strain was healed before I left, but I was still babying it a bit.  I did my Sunday long run on the treadmill (20k) nice and easy and then did my first speed workout.  On the way home from Florida, I did my second long run in a little town somewhere starting at a very dark 6:00 am.  My sweetie followed me in the car so I would be safe - I think it was just to shine his headlights so I could see where I was going.  Not long into the run, a pick-up truck slowed down and stopped.  The local version of Grizzly Adams got out and asked me if I was okay "because there's a guy following you and its weirding me out".  I assured him it was my hubby and that I was fine.  Gee, chivalry isn't dead.

Back from vacation, it was training as usual, getting the mileage in for March, which is a busy race month for me:

March 3 - Chilly Half Marathon

March 17 - NYC Half Marathon

March 24 - Around the Bay

Leading up to the Chilly Half, I developed a cold (thanks to my sweetie) which of course migrated to my chest the weekend of the race.  In spite of sound advice from my coach (yeah, yeah...blah, blah, blah), I ran the half and had a strong race (considering everything) with a 2:26 finish. 

Unfortunately, I paid for my foolishness and was sidelined from training that following week.

The rest did me lots of good, as I had a great hilly 15k run on Sunday and the trifecta of training yesterday with a pre-work 2.5k swim, wicked speed run in the afternoon and a max aerobic compu trainer workout in the evening.

We are travelling to the Big Apple on Friday for the NYC Half on St. Patty's Day - erin go bragh!

I'm going to commit to blog more consistently...promise...no doubt once April 8 comes around, I'll have plenty to talk about...or whine/complain about...

BTW, I did see my IM training plan on my coach's dining table on the weekend and was so tempted to take a peek...but I didn't.  We are having a meeting on March 30 and I didn't want to spoil the surprise...or maybe I'm just too terrified to look.