What's Next: Summer 2017 Edition.
Usually my What's Next posts happen because I've signed up for my next big race. An Ironman. A marathon. 3 marathons. Whatever.
This edition is extra complicated, because I've signed up for.. several things. Several very varied things. I will not get bored, is what I'm trying to say.
For ease of narrating, I will list them in chronological order. When relevant, I will note how they did not at all get signed for in that order!
So first up is the Jack's Generic sprint triathlon on August 6th. That would actually be the most recent thing I signed up for, if I were signed up for it, which I am not. I should probably get on that, but I'm not sure it threatens to fill soon. Of note is the fact that I'm signing up for the sprint, not the olympic. This was Karen's idea, to get a group of her athletes together and do the sprint and cheer each other on. We're hoping to encourage some folks who've never done a triathlon to come out and join us.
So I have 2 months to train for that, and I'm already very overtrained for those distances.
Anticipating: A fun lark.
Next up is Ironman 70.3 North Carolina, formerly known as Beach to Battleship, in late October. This was not an event on my radar or in my plans, but Karen and Trista decided to do it as part of Trista's 40th birthday celebration, and they invited Cecilia and I to join them for another crazy girls' weekend. After saying it was highly unlikely (in light of Item the Third, coming shortly), I consulted my coach (information about whom is also coming shortly), and we decided it was at the very least not an un-good idea, and maybe even an okay idea! He mostly told me what I wanted to hear, which I appreciate in a good coach.
The band is getting back together in NC in October! I'm mostly maintaining my fitness currently at "could do a half Ironman with a few weeks' notice", so I'm not too concerned about the training. I guess I'll need to actually take my bike off the trainer once or twice before October, but I can worry about that later.
Anticipating: A weekend of laughing and drinking, maybe with a triathlon if we feel like it.
And then the big one. I think the seed was planted during CIM 2015, when I told Kate I thought I'd rather do a 100 miler than a marathon with a time goal. I'd had a 100 miler on my "it seems likely I'll try one eventually, but there are several things that make me hesitant" list. Those things were: I'm not a very strong or confident night trail runner, and I really like sleep.
I haven't really solved either of those problems, but at some point I realized that probably most people doing 100 milers aren't any better at night trail running than I am, and in fact a lot of them spend some of the nighttime hours walking. I can walk! I can probably walk and still make the cut-off with no problems. Which just leaves the sleep thing. I don't think there's any solving that, or knowing how I'll react to it. And since I don't know.. why not try it?
Which means my next BIG big thing is the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler trail run next February!
I had been considering it, so I went to the website to read up on the details, and I noticed it was on February 3rd, which is my BIRTHDAY! I love birthday races, and I've only ever done one before, that I can remember! Of course, it's also on February 4th, unless I get a LOT faster between now and then. I have 30 hours to complete it! Fingers crossed.
One thing I learned from my Ironman Texas training is that I do a lot better training for big events if I have a coach, so once I decided to do Rocky, I reached out to a friend, and I'm happy to announce that ultra-running legend, Green Party candidate, and author Russ Secker has agreed to coach me for my first 100 miler! For now I'm a free agent, but he'll start working with me officially in September to get me ready.
Anticipating: Probably the hardest thing I'll ever attempt. Yikes.
That sounds like a solid schedule, doesn't it? Leads right up to an impossible race, and then I can rest and maybe never run again? Well, maybe not..
A couple months ago, my Ironfriends and I were sitting around chatting about things, and Trista mentioned some of her Masters friends were applying to do a swimrun. I'd heard of swimrun, and I placed it firmly on my list of "things I will absolutely do someday, because holy crap that sounds amazing". Basically it was something a bunch of drunk Swedes came up with (it ALREADY sounds good, doesn't it?) where you run across an island, jump in the water and swim to the next island, run across, swim to the next island, etc. It's called ÖTILLÖ, which is "ö till ö" in Swedish, which means "island to island". Or, if you don't want to deal with Swedish, simply "swimrun".
When Trista mentioned her teammates applying, I said I totally wanted to do that someday, she said she did too, one thing led to another, and suddenly Trista and I put in an application for team "Adorkable" to do the 2018 Inaugural SwimRun Lake James in North Carolina.
In case you're still not entirely clear on what's involved here (uh, honestly I'm still processing it all), here's some details:
- It's a partner race; you and your teammate must be within 10 feet of each other at all times. This is most easily accomplished/guaranteed by lashing yourselves together.
- You alternate between swimming and running; the running is mostly on trails and the swimming is in lakes.
- You can switch between the two sports however you want, but it's basically assumed that you will swim in your running shoes and you will run in a wetsuit and a swimcap, putting your goggles on your forehead to run and then back on your eyes to swim. Most people seem to also affix a pull buoy to their outer thigh to run, then swing it back between their legs when they get in the water.
- There are several SwimRun events, and they all differ fairly significantly according to their unique geography. According to the webpage, SwimRun Lake James has "4 miles of swimming and 14 miles of running. The course will have about 17 run sections and 16 swim sections."
- Let me reiterate that all 4 miles of swimming and 14 miles of running will be while tethered to another human.
We applied a couple months ago, but they said they wouldn't announce which teams got in until September. I was planning to exist in a state of mild "what if they don't let us in?!" panic until late August, when I'd switch over to a more urgent "Oh, shit, what if they DO let us in?!"
Well, best laid plans and all.. we got an email at the end of last week telling us that they decided to decide early, and we had been accepted! .... Oh, shit!
So we're super excited but also have no idea exactly what we've gotten ourselves into.
This is a video from the other SwimRun event in North Carolina, that gives you more of an idea of how ridiculous this whole thing is. Our course will be different, and probably won't have as many waterfalls (sadface), but will presumably be somewhat similar.
SwimRun NC from Tereza Novotna on Vimeo.
SwimRun Lake James is April 7th, so I have 2 months after Rocky to recover, convince my legs that they can still run, then work my way back up to 14ish miles. I plan to continue my swim training through the winter, so it'll just be a matter of doing some open water swims as the event gets closer.
Anticipating: Something truly new and unique, where I assume we won't stop laughing the entire time (which will be awkward while swimming).
If anyone wants to join me for some March and April swimrunswimrunswimrunswimrun workouts in the Quarry, just let me know! Uh, bring some shoes you can swim in.
And so that is my Next Big Thing(s)!
This edition is extra complicated, because I've signed up for.. several things. Several very varied things. I will not get bored, is what I'm trying to say.
For ease of narrating, I will list them in chronological order. When relevant, I will note how they did not at all get signed for in that order!
So first up is the Jack's Generic sprint triathlon on August 6th. That would actually be the most recent thing I signed up for, if I were signed up for it, which I am not. I should probably get on that, but I'm not sure it threatens to fill soon. Of note is the fact that I'm signing up for the sprint, not the olympic. This was Karen's idea, to get a group of her athletes together and do the sprint and cheer each other on. We're hoping to encourage some folks who've never done a triathlon to come out and join us.
So I have 2 months to train for that, and I'm already very overtrained for those distances.
Anticipating: A fun lark.
Next up is Ironman 70.3 North Carolina, formerly known as Beach to Battleship, in late October. This was not an event on my radar or in my plans, but Karen and Trista decided to do it as part of Trista's 40th birthday celebration, and they invited Cecilia and I to join them for another crazy girls' weekend. After saying it was highly unlikely (in light of Item the Third, coming shortly), I consulted my coach (information about whom is also coming shortly), and we decided it was at the very least not an un-good idea, and maybe even an okay idea! He mostly told me what I wanted to hear, which I appreciate in a good coach.
The band is getting back together in NC in October! I'm mostly maintaining my fitness currently at "could do a half Ironman with a few weeks' notice", so I'm not too concerned about the training. I guess I'll need to actually take my bike off the trainer once or twice before October, but I can worry about that later.
Anticipating: A weekend of laughing and drinking, maybe with a triathlon if we feel like it.
And then the big one. I think the seed was planted during CIM 2015, when I told Kate I thought I'd rather do a 100 miler than a marathon with a time goal. I'd had a 100 miler on my "it seems likely I'll try one eventually, but there are several things that make me hesitant" list. Those things were: I'm not a very strong or confident night trail runner, and I really like sleep.
I haven't really solved either of those problems, but at some point I realized that probably most people doing 100 milers aren't any better at night trail running than I am, and in fact a lot of them spend some of the nighttime hours walking. I can walk! I can probably walk and still make the cut-off with no problems. Which just leaves the sleep thing. I don't think there's any solving that, or knowing how I'll react to it. And since I don't know.. why not try it?
Which means my next BIG big thing is the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler trail run next February!
I had been considering it, so I went to the website to read up on the details, and I noticed it was on February 3rd, which is my BIRTHDAY! I love birthday races, and I've only ever done one before, that I can remember! Of course, it's also on February 4th, unless I get a LOT faster between now and then. I have 30 hours to complete it! Fingers crossed.
One thing I learned from my Ironman Texas training is that I do a lot better training for big events if I have a coach, so once I decided to do Rocky, I reached out to a friend, and I'm happy to announce that ultra-running legend, Green Party candidate, and author Russ Secker has agreed to coach me for my first 100 miler! For now I'm a free agent, but he'll start working with me officially in September to get me ready.
Anticipating: Probably the hardest thing I'll ever attempt. Yikes.
That sounds like a solid schedule, doesn't it? Leads right up to an impossible race, and then I can rest and maybe never run again? Well, maybe not..
A couple months ago, my Ironfriends and I were sitting around chatting about things, and Trista mentioned some of her Masters friends were applying to do a swimrun. I'd heard of swimrun, and I placed it firmly on my list of "things I will absolutely do someday, because holy crap that sounds amazing". Basically it was something a bunch of drunk Swedes came up with (it ALREADY sounds good, doesn't it?) where you run across an island, jump in the water and swim to the next island, run across, swim to the next island, etc. It's called ÖTILLÖ, which is "ö till ö" in Swedish, which means "island to island". Or, if you don't want to deal with Swedish, simply "swimrun".
When Trista mentioned her teammates applying, I said I totally wanted to do that someday, she said she did too, one thing led to another, and suddenly Trista and I put in an application for team "Adorkable" to do the 2018 Inaugural SwimRun Lake James in North Carolina.
In case you're still not entirely clear on what's involved here (uh, honestly I'm still processing it all), here's some details:
- It's a partner race; you and your teammate must be within 10 feet of each other at all times. This is most easily accomplished/guaranteed by lashing yourselves together.
- You alternate between swimming and running; the running is mostly on trails and the swimming is in lakes.
- You can switch between the two sports however you want, but it's basically assumed that you will swim in your running shoes and you will run in a wetsuit and a swimcap, putting your goggles on your forehead to run and then back on your eyes to swim. Most people seem to also affix a pull buoy to their outer thigh to run, then swing it back between their legs when they get in the water.
- There are several SwimRun events, and they all differ fairly significantly according to their unique geography. According to the webpage, SwimRun Lake James has "4 miles of swimming and 14 miles of running. The course will have about 17 run sections and 16 swim sections."
- Let me reiterate that all 4 miles of swimming and 14 miles of running will be while tethered to another human.
We applied a couple months ago, but they said they wouldn't announce which teams got in until September. I was planning to exist in a state of mild "what if they don't let us in?!" panic until late August, when I'd switch over to a more urgent "Oh, shit, what if they DO let us in?!"
Well, best laid plans and all.. we got an email at the end of last week telling us that they decided to decide early, and we had been accepted! .... Oh, shit!
So we're super excited but also have no idea exactly what we've gotten ourselves into.
This is a video from the other SwimRun event in North Carolina, that gives you more of an idea of how ridiculous this whole thing is. Our course will be different, and probably won't have as many waterfalls (sadface), but will presumably be somewhat similar.
You can watch this video on www.livejournal.com
SwimRun NC from Tereza Novotna on Vimeo.
SwimRun Lake James is April 7th, so I have 2 months after Rocky to recover, convince my legs that they can still run, then work my way back up to 14ish miles. I plan to continue my swim training through the winter, so it'll just be a matter of doing some open water swims as the event gets closer.
Anticipating: Something truly new and unique, where I assume we won't stop laughing the entire time (which will be awkward while swimming).
If anyone wants to join me for some March and April swimrunswimrunswimrunswimrun workouts in the Quarry, just let me know! Uh, bring some shoes you can swim in.
And so that is my Next Big Thing(s)!