Getting Ready To Race: Another Female Face-Off!

This weekend is my first race IN THREE MONTHS!! I haven't gone that long since before my first Half IM back in July of 2007! So I'm a little nervous / excited / unsure / pumped / etc.

I started seeing my new running PT on the 5th of April, and she gave me the "OK" to start bumping up the mileage and speed. Here's what the last 3.5 weeks have looked like:

(Click for larger view)

That first week was a "test" week of more mileage and just a LITTLE speed to see how my heel would hold up. The second week was a bit of a recovery week as to not over-do anything by ramping up too fast. The third week was again a harder week with speed and distance.

Notable workouts:
- 90:00 of hard spinning with Matt on the 15th
- 4 mile tempo in 23:51 on the 18th
- "Long" run of 6.5 miles on the 20th
- Killer "duathlon workout" of b/r/b/r/b/r/b/r on the 22nd (posted about it here)
- Another 4 mile tempo in 23:34 on the 25th

This past weekend, I took it a little easy over the Easter weekend while Pharmie and I visited some family:

Borsch and I ready for the Easter Egg Hunt. Mom, thanks for my dainty ankles.


Post-Easter Egg Hunt.


My bro-in-law Dave and my nephew Ian on my Dad's 4-wheeler.


My Mom and my niece on Easter Sunday.

So now I'm getting into "RACE MODE." Matt and I are racing the Cannon Falls Duathlon on Saturday for the 3rd straight year.

Me, Matt, and Pharmie before last year's race

Last year, if you remember, I passed racing buddy Julie Hull in the final few hundred meters. (Here's part one and part two of last year's race report.) Julie was the female winner and set the COURSE RECORD!

Here's a photo that Julie's awesome hubby took nearing the finishline of last year's race. It shows me JUST after I passed Julie in the background:

I didn't know if she'd be back this year, so I asked her on Facebook:

(That's the race director who "liked" this...)

THAT SOUNDS LIKE A "SHOW-DOWN" TO ME!!!

I had "The Throw-Down with the Soccer Mom" at the Mosquito Man Duathlon last year. This year, I guess I have "The Face-Off with the Former Gymnast" at the Cannon Falls Duathlon.

I won the "soccer mom" duel by about 2 minutes last year.

This year, I'm afraid I'll have my ass handed to me by Julie.....

This should be FUN!!! I might post a quick photo on Sunday, and I'll have my full report on Monday.