12 for 2012



Happy New Year! Hope you all had a safe time ringing in 2012. Hard to believe it's already here, right? Anyway, it worked out perfectly that on the first day of the new year I had one of my final long runs scheduled. So of course, I took the opportunity to run 12 miles to kickstart 2012 : ) The run itself actually kind of sucked. I started a little later than planned, and from the start my stomach just didn't feel right. It was a cross between nausea and indigestion and just made running very uncomfortable. I was still managing sub-9s at what felt like a comfortable pace, but by halfway I was ready to be done. The sun started to go down and before I knew it I was in the dark. The trail itself is pretty safe so I wasn't so much afraid for my safety, but rather some of the critters that are out there. Plus, I like to be able to see where I'm going. Bad call on my part, I just should've started earlier.

On top of the stomach issues, my right hip flexor was pretty tight throughout the whole run. Didn't seem to effect my running much, although I did end up slowing down a bit over the last half. I still finished the run with a respectable 9:13 average, but I was glad to be done. I guess after all the awesome long runs I've had in the last month I was due a sucky one! My stomach was still off for the rest of the night, so I'm not sure what caused the problem, just hoping it's not around race day. My hip is more sore than I would like; lifting that leg at all is difficult. I went to my conditioning class this morning and that seemed to help loosen things up, but I'll be keeping an eye on it, icing and trigger pointing, and keeping my fingers crossed.

In other news, today is the first official day of IRONMAN TRAINING!! We're starting things off pretty easy with my workout this morning then a swim later this afternoon. I'll be back with regular weekly recaps now that the adventure has begun! 173 days.