If you read my blogs from last summer, you will find out just how much I love the heat during training. Well, not so much the heat, but the thick humidity that keeps your sweat stuck to you as you train. Well, to save you some time, the answer is "notsomuch." I love to sweat during runs, bike rides, and, well...swimming you don't really... OK never mind on that one. But anyway, I love to sweat and work hard, but to sweat when it is so humid that the sweat doesn't evaporate and sticks to your clothes and it looks like you just went swimming with all your clothes on?
Well, Fall marks the beginning of no water bottles needed on the runs and Spring marks the beginning of sweating buckets of water. Either way, living in Kentucky, I at least get a chance to enjoy the change in seasons, yes I even get to enjoy the humidity (haha). Although, I do enjoy running in the cold weather, I knew it wouldn't last forever so I welcome Spring and my second full racing season!
This year will hopefully start off with the same race as last year, the Heart and Sole Sprint Triathlon in Versailles, KY on April 20th. Last year, it was my very first triathlon and I learned so much from that race alone. I learned about how to seed my swim time properly, perform transitions faster, and so much more. Well, if I can, I will be doing that race and then, a week later, I will be revisiting the spot of my first marathon, the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon in Louisville, KY on April 27th. I cramped up on mile 24 of this race last year and lost my chance of finishing under 4 hours. Unfortunately, this year, marathon training has been rather sluggish so I am not sure if this is the marathon that I will be able to get under that 4 hour mark. Either way, I will give it my best and that is all I can do. I may have a great day or I may be walking after mile 20. What matters is that I finish the race, no matter if it's crawling, walking, rolling, running, limping, or hobbling across, just as long as I cross that finish line.
I have also registered for the Buckhead Border Challenge Olympic Distance Triathlon and will probably do the Southern Indiana Olympic Triathlon too. After that, sometime in September, assuming I am still healthy, I will do one of the Half Iron-Distance races in Ohio. Then in October, I am doing the Bourbon Chase 200-mile Team Relay Race. I have never done a relay race before so I am really looking forward to that.
Well, my training is still ramping up, like I said, rather slowly this year. Not really sure why, but it has taken longer for me to find my motivation to start the season, but I am in my second week of full build training. I have been running, but when I say full build, I mean training for triathlons. Each week, I try to get in my marathon training runs along with workouts involving swimming, biking/spinning and strength (body weight exercises and weights, stretching, yoga, etc.). I am still no too keen on getting in the pool, but not nearly as bad as last year. I have been in the pool about 7 times over the past two weeks and have felt more confident each day; my endurance still sucks, but I will build up to that.
I don't know exactly what is in store for me this year, but I do know that I still enjoy it and not one second do I miss the Jason of old. Hopefully, I have put the unhealthy, larger and lazy Jason behind me for good. I have always heard that people with large amounts of weight loss end up gaining quite a lot, if not all of the weight back within two years of losing it. Well, I am still in that two year period, but I cannot imagine going back to that lifestyle. I enjoy who I have become and the challenges I have pushed myself through. I have also met new people, people that are focused, determined and very willing to lend advice or even a motivating message. The people I have met over the past two years are people that sacrifice their own lives for the chance to race for charities, hospitals, medical research, animals, lost loved ones, and those who cannot get out and race.
So I will end this blog post welcoming the upcoming season similar to the way I did last year, putting the old Jason behind me, welcoming the new race season, and remaining humbled by the people that make up these sports.
Good luck to everyone this year! I hope everyone gets a chance to race and maybe even set a personal record! If anyone wants to share your race events this season, please comment. I would love to hear what everyone is planning!!
Looking forward to the race season, the training, and yes, maybe even the swimming...but always, looking forward to the running!
Unit next time...
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