Dear Marathon Training

I'm about to make you my bitch. Hope you're ready.

Love, Heather

Three Questions

One of the things I love about the running/triathlon blog community is all the great advice right at my fingertips. So I've decided to take advantage of all my expert readers and pick your brains . . . hope you don't mind!

Question #1: Seeing as how I am now the last person in the world to finally get an iPhone, what are your favorite running/triathlon/nutrition apps? I'm a teensy bit addicted to the new phone and would love to hear what might be more productive than my suduko game.

Question #2: This one's for the triathletes - How do I bit the bullet and sign up for a half ironman? I really want to. I know I can do the bike and the run. The swim scares the crap out of me. I swam 1+ miles several times last summer, but I am seriously slow in the water. Can I do it?

Question #3: How many days of winter are left? Okay, maybe I already know the answer to that questions. But seriously. Perhaps if I keep whining and complaining winter will get over with faster . . .

Thanks for your input!

Hibernating

Excuse me while I crawl out from the hole I have been hiding out in for the last week . . . It has been ridiculously cold here. One of those weeks that makes me remember why I hate winter in Minnesota. I ran last Sunday (when it was a balmy 5 degrees) and then watched the temps steadily drop all week. Finally I thought today would be warmer (with a predicted high of 10) and planned to run this morning. And woke up to -22 degree temps. Lovely. The only thing that has kept me from rocking back and forth on the floor and crying is swimming and kettlebells. But I need a run. Hopefully tomorrow after work.

Of course, watching the Packers take the NFC Championship and having the Super Bowl to look forward to helps relieve some of the pain!

Still Here

Wow, I am a terrible blogger. 2011 is starting off to be a crazy busy year. So here's a little catch-up, bullet style:

• I am gradually ramping up my miles and getting back into my "regular" workout routine.
• The office is ridiculously busy. Thank goodness. Should be able to feed the kidlet this month.
• My little brother is moving to Colorado. Anyone have any race suggestions for near Denver? May need to plan a well-timed trip to visit him in his new home . . .
• I registered for Grandma's Marathon yesterday. So Fargo on May 21st and Grandma's on June 18th - guess I better get running!

I am looking forward to catching up with your blogs. Oh, and come back tomorrow (or Friday), because I'm having a little giveaway. :)

2011 Goals

Happy New Year! I had a great New Years' Eve ushering in the new year with some fun friends, and then spent a relaxing first day of the new year with my family. Today I managed to get the Christmas decorations down and the house all put back together, so I feel like I am starting the year with a clean house, and clean slate.

Running goals for 2011:
1) Run a sub-4:30 marathon. My PR is 4:31:ish, so this should be doable.
2) Run a sub-2:00 half-marathon. My PR is 2:02:08, so again, doable.
3) Run at least 75 miles every month. I thought about setting this at 100, but my miles have been low the last few months and I didn't want to set myself up for failure right away.

Triathlon goals for 2011:
1) Do at least three triathlons this summer (hopefully at least one Olympic distance).
2) Swim twice per week starting this week!

That about covers it.

I have been ramping up my training, trying to get a good base for the start of Fargo training at the end of the month. This week:

Monday: Pilates
Tuesday: 1 hour kettlebells class
Wednesday: 4.5 mile run (hills)
Thursday: 3 mile run (easy)
Friday: rest
Saturday: 3 miles (1st run of 2011!)
Sunday: 3 miles

I had planned on running at least 6 miles today, but it was below zero out and my face was just frozen. Gotta love January in Minnesota.