Two halves do not make an Ironman...

It's been about three months since Ironman Lake Placid and I've been busy - busy training, busy racing and busy at work - the only thing I haven't been busy doing is emailing and blogging - sorry about that.

I think our lives have a way of evening themselves out and my job got crazy the minute I got back from Lake Placid, so I'm thankful for having had the time to train to do that race. Ironman training is not for the faint of heart. It takes an unreasonable amount of time and dedication to not only actually do the training, but planning it along with conditioning and nutrition planning and this all leaves little time for anything else. But here I am trying to balance the competing forces in my life as I prep for the final race of the year, Ironman Florida.

About eight weeks ago I did the Timberman 70.3 in Lake Winnipisauki, NH with some friends (huge congrats to Erik, Becky & Lucy on great races - Lucy on her first ever tri, a 70.3! and Becky for finishing 7th in her AG in 5:38!). When I signed up for it last year that was to be THE big race for this year - I was sweating bullets when I signed up for it - it was more than I thought I was capable of. Having to do Lake Placid as part of the contest changed how I thought about doing a half ironman - I thought it would be so easy compared to a full IM. Boy, was I wrong, of course it didn't help matters that I did it only 4 weeks out from IMLP -in hindsight, it was just way too soon. I wasn't recovered and the 15 or so pounds I packed on following the IM certainly didn't help either ... On a positive note, we got to meet Andy Potts -he is extremely adorable! and Chrisse Wellington - ok, she is too, and such a solid athlete - she blew away the women's field and finished 5th overall, watch out Kona!

I didn't feel well going into the Timberman, yet I still had every expectation of finishing it in about 6 hours - so I was pretty disappointed with my final stats there:

Place/group Spec Name G Ag Rank Swim Pace T1 Rank Bike Rate T2 Rank Run Pace Final

27/50 Mary Lou Hoffman F 45 38 49:59 41:40 4:28 6 2:54:42 19.2 4:00 42 2:44:08 12:32 6:37:15

My 2:44 half marathon just killed my time - that run hurt, a lot - but while I was disappointed at the time, in hindsight, all things considered, this wasn't really that bad of an outing for me.

Four weeks after the Timberman was Muskoka 70.3 (thanks to Laurie for making the trek and supporting me and my fellow Buffalo Tri Club members doing the race - Sergio, Eric & Brenda). These races really need their own posts, but I just don't have the time right now. So after the Timberman, I thought, 'ok, deal with it, I've got another shot in a month and will surely do much better at Muskoka." Yet again, I was wrong ... while I felt more rested and generally in better shape than I had at the Timberman, my time was much worse. But the course was the toughest I've seen, the terrain was far tougher than Lake Placid and the Timberman combined, not to mention it was another miserable rainy day, but in the end, it was the elevation of the run at Muskoka that pretty much did me in and my disappointing 2:44 half marathon at the Timberman was almost 3 hours in Muskoka.

Place Name Time Category CategoryPlace
1028/1299 Mary Lou Hoffman 07:13:55 W45-49 46/80

That said, I did actually enjoy the race - it was it's first year and definitely had an "ironman feel' to it - the town was behind the race and I really enjoyed getting to see all the folks from Kevin McKinnon's Tri Camp I had attended up there this past May. I've already registered for this event next year along with about 15 other folks from the Buffalo Tri Club and plan on making this my only long distance tri in 2009.

So now I'm knee deep in my final build weeks leading up to IM Florida before I start to taper. Since it's been about two months since my last post, I'll try not to overwhelm you with my thoughts on Florida, I will save it for when I have all that free time on my hands during my taper ...