Two weeks down, 20 to go!

Its hard for me to believe that I have already completed two weeks on my official Ironman training plan.  It has flown by!  The first week I followed the plan as called for, adding in 3 days of strength training and trying to run every day as well because of my 40 Day run streak that ends this coming week.  I will be honest...it was a challenge doing all of that!  In all honesty, and for the sake of accountability, I missed my long bike that week, and one run (not one on the plan, but one for the streak) and one day of strength training.  However, if you look at what the plan actually called for, that was only missing one work out from 9 planned, and it was the long bike ride.  It was supposed to be on that Friday, but I was in a massive hurry to get things packed and ready to leave for Denver just after midnight.  So no training that day :)

The second week needed some tweaking since we were out of town  in Denver.  I was not taking my bike, and decided not to mess with swimming.  Instead I would just run every day we were there.  For accountability sake I can say I ran every single day except yesterday, which was our day to come back.  After 10 hours in the car, plus having to unpack, and then buy food for an empty house, it didn't happen.  However, according to Training Peaks, I got 5.75 hours of training (running) this week, which considering we were on vacation, was awesome!!

I had some really good runs this week!  I love running in new places.  Here are some pics I took this week while running around my parent's place.  Below is one I took on Christmas Day while running some new trails around their home.  This was about an hour before a major snow storm blew in leaving about 6-7 inches of fresh powder.  This was one of my favorite runs all week.



The next day this was my attempt at a run.  I didn't get too far but I enjoyed playing in the new snow.  The side walks hadn't been shoveled and the roads were a complete ice sheet, so I only did a mile and a half that day.  My feet are under this fresh powder somewhere!



As far as Christmas was concerned, it was one of the best I have had in recent memory.  I loved being with my family.   My grandmother is now 84 and not in the greatest health, so it was neat to spend time with her.  My uncle was up from Houston and I don't get to see him much.  We had a nice laid back week of playing games, working puzzles, going hiking, and eating way too much food.  Apparently Santa thought I was pretty good this year, because I got some cool running stuff.



I got the running jacket shown above.  In the same color.  It is every bit as awesome as I thought.  No more having to put on 14 layers for cold weather runs.  This jacket is water proof, has reflective strips on it, and the arms are actually long enough I can use the thumb holes!  There is a ton of pockets and even built in gloves.  However, they are not heavy duty, I will still use my regular gloves on really cold runs.  The picture shown where my feet are in the snow it was only 10 degrees out,  I had on this jacket and a thin base layer underneath and was PLENTY warm.  I am so excited about this!  I also got some Gu from my daughter in Salted Caramel and Salted Watermelon, my current favorite flavors.  I also got some Brooks Thermal running tights.  I am one happy girl!

As good as this week was, it is nice to be home.  I am ready to get back on a routine (sort of anyway, we still don't have school for another week), do my training as planned, and get back to eating healthy.

It also occurred to me that with 2 weeks of Ironman training complete, I only have 20 left! The time is going to fly and I am excited to get to work!

Happy Training and Racing all!!