Exciting News and Training Update

It was an exciting week because I am officially on board as a 2018 Skirt Sports brand ambassador! I

have a few friends that have been ambassadors and I am late to the party but better late than never, right?!

Who is Skirt Sports you ask? The Skirt Sports brand was started by former pro triathlete Nicole DeBoom. She was frustrated by the lack of cute and functional women's specific clothing available to train and race in so she created the company to help women feel confident and excited about their clothing choices. I can relate to this because some of the cycling and tri kits out there are not flattering at all - no matter what your size is. Nicole also wanted to create a brand and community for ALL women - not just the ones that look perfect. We all have our own body types, shapes, sizes, athletic abilities and that's really where the #realwomenmove campaign stems from. Real women - real bodies - real inspiration.

Now since learning more about the brand and trying more of the products and getting to know some of the fellow ambassadors I am sure that this is going to be a great year! I'll be doing some product reviews for some of the items I really like such as the Redemption run capris and knickers and the Lioness skirt in the coming weeks and months so stay tuned! If you do decide to purchase something use my code: 588McGo for 15% off your purchase!

Speaking of training, January is gone and I calculated my training mileage (see image below). I biked a lot more than I thought I did (mostly on the trainer - boo), ran a decent amount (lots of dreadmill), got in a decent amount of core work including some barre classes and started to swim again (albeit not enough). I've been feeling tired this week and now I see why! February I have some work trips to Cancun and Chicago so I will get in as much as I can but when I travel I am lucky to get in one workout a day versus my normal two or three. Maybe the downtime will be good for me so I can come home and really build up again in March.

Building up for the Spring Racing Season

The new gym aka pain cave!

If you live in Ohio or anywhere in the Northern part of the country then you probably know it's been a cold and snowy winter so far meaning that most of my training has been indoors. When you work 8-5 in Ohio in the winter it does not leave a lot of daylight hours to get the weekday workouts done but that's no excuse to skip them. Thanks goodness my awesome husband Steve finished remodeling our basement into a nicer indoor gym we can utilize during these long, cold months! I'm also getting in outdoor training as the weather allows such as last week's thaw out.

I am excited to once again be back as a Cleveland Marathon Ambassador for 2018! I think this will be my fourth year as an ambassador and I always look forward to this race and seeing my fellow ambassadors. This year the race is on Sunday, May 20th and I will be doing a giveaway contest in the coming months so stay tuned for a chance to win an entry to the race distance of your choice!

In addition to Cleveland I will be running the Hall of Fame Marathon again as a warm up for Cleveland. I am hoping for better weather conditions this time around and a faster time! I will also try to get in some shorter races in February/March/April in preperation for the spring BQ attempts. Last year I missed by about a minute in Cleveland but since I turn 40 this year I now have an extra 5 minutes if I need it (yippee).

I also am planning a return to multisport racing this season since I am on a multisport team and all (Snakebiteracing). I missed the fun of triathlon last year and especially logging all the bike miles. I think I must have went a year without even swimming but I have been back in the pool at least once a week this month and will increase that frequency soon. I don't know exactly which races I will do yet but am considering a bunch of sprint to longer races. I also bought a new tri bike so that's exciting! I really love my new Blue Norcross SP Cyclocross bike so I purchased a Blue Triad SP tri bike. So far I really dig it and feel like I will be speedy on it  especially with my race wheels.

My new bike :)

Here's a glimpse of my training for the last couple of weeks below:

Week of 1/1:
1/1 - Bike 14, Run 3.5 easy
1/2 - Core for 40 mins, Bike 16, Run 6.5 Speed ( 5 x 5 @ 7:30-7:45 pace and 4 x 1 min at 5k pace)
1/3 - Run 4.5 medium effort
1/4 - Run 3.25 easy, Bike 21 medium, 45 minutes Barre class
1/5 - Run 9.5 medium effort
1/6 - Swim 1600m easy, Bike 26, lift 30 mins
1/7 - Run 10.25 easy
Weekly total: Run 37.25, Bike 77, Swim 1 mile, Core x 3 days

Week of 1/8:
1/8 - Core 40 mins, Bike 20
1/9 - Run 9.25 with speed (tempo run with 400s alternating pace MP, faster than MP), Core 20 mins
1/10 - Run 9.5 easy
1/11 - Run 4.5, Bike 14
1/12 - Run 5.25 easy, Bike 10
1/13 - Run 2.5, Core 40 minutes
1/14 - Swim 1300m, Bike 27, Run 10
Weekly total: Run 41, Bike 71, Swim 1300m, Core x 3 days

This weekend is supposed to be warmer so I am hoping to get my longer run in outside! We'll see how it goes. Happy training everyone!