Hey, all! To follow-up on our last (well, I guess, technically first) post, we just wanted to drop in to talk about our most favorite thing — RACES — and share our fall goals!
1.) Atlantic City 70.3
Ladies first, right? So, here’s the deal. I (Jen) sort of lost my marbles this summer. Kind of like the time I decided to the Dopey Challenge as my first marathon.
If you followed me on The Final Forty, you may know that I was just starting to dip my toes into the triathlon waters, and had signed up for my first sprint triathlon last summer: the Jersey Girl Triathlon.
Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news? I finished the race that day.
The bad news? I am now utterly and COMPLETELY obsessed with triathlon. (I’ve got the negative bank account balance to prove it).
I’ll follow-up with a post about how I got sucked into spending my summer swimming with the sharks and tricking my husband into buying me a sweet new road bike, but for now, suffice it to say that I’ve since done a handful of Olympic distance triathlons and have definitely been bitten by “the bug.”

Me and my new best friend
As soon as I finished that first longer-distance tri last summer — the Atlantic City Triathlon — I almost immediately felt the itch to see if I could move up to the next level. (After all, that’s just what I do.)

Tri AC, 2016
And that, my friends, would be the Half Ironman distance: a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. And what better place to do it then back in Atlantic City for IRONMAN Atlantic City 70.3?

Tri AC, 2017…same race director, similar course, so I figured it was great practice for IMAC 70.3!
Much like the decision to register for the Dopey Challenge, the idea to take on a Half Ironman came to me somewhat impulsively. I knew I could complete a half marathon, but a 1.2 mile open water swim and a 56 mile bike?
Well, let me tell you, I’ve busted my ass this summer. Between 5am wake-up calls for group ocean swims to 3+ hour bike rides on Sundays to back-to-back bike and run brick workouts, this summer has been rough. I’ve never been so exhausted in my life. But I’ve put in the hours of training and I’m happy to say that my BIG RACE is coming up this Sunday.
And, yes, in case you were wondering — I’m scared shitless and I’m in full-on panic attack mode. More on that later this week. 🙂

This summer’s first triathlon: War at the Shore
2.) Wineglass Marathon
Todd and I registered for the Wineglass Marathon earlier this year as our fall race. We thought it would make for a lovely little race-cation, and, well…I loves me some wine. 😉

Photo credit: wineglassmarathon.com
Sadly, I signed up for the marathon long before I realized that my life would revolve around triathlon. And guess which of the three disciplines got the shaft when it came to my training this summer? I followed a somewhat newbie-friendly 70.3 training plan, but let’s just say that I chose to focus my energy on the sports that scared me the most — biking and swimming — and I’ve been pretty much logging just 1-2 shorter weekly runs and a long run on the weekends. Oh, and I only made it up to 17 miles, and it’s too late to cram in additional training without impacting my race legs for IMAC 70.3. So it ain’t gonna be pretty.
For Todd, however, this marathon is going to be his SUPER FAST RACE. Last fall, he ran his fastest marathon ever — in 4:20 — at the Steamtown Marathon, after several months of grueling training and a ton of speedwork. (In the heat of summer, no less).
Our previous PR was just under 5 hours at the New Jersey Marathon (thanks to my usual meltdown at mile 20), so he has really come a looooong way. And left me in his dust. 😉

The day this man proved he is now *SIGNIFICANTLY* faster than his slowpoke wife. 😉
Needless to say, I’ll be running this race solo “just for fun”…which is fine by me. There’s gonna be wine. 😀

My new obsession in life? Wine slushies. ❤
3.) Paine to Pain Trail Half Marathon
I’ll let Todd take over here. (‘Cuz there’s no way in hell you’re going to catch me running in the woods) 😉

The reason I no longer do trail running… 😦
On October 8, I’ll be participating in my first trail race, the Paine to Pain Trail Half Marathon in New Rochelle, New York! It takes places on the trails of five different parks in the Westchester area, and from everything I’ve read, it seems well-organized and a great race for first-time trail runners.

Photo credit: http://www.painetopain.com
I just started trail running earlier this summer and have been doing one to two short trail runs each week to get used to the different surfaces and obstacles I’d encounter. I’m a little nervous about taking on a trail race of this distance so quickly, but I’m hoping that my marathon training will give me the endurance to make it through 13.1 miles in the woods. My goal here is simply to finish (and of course, not take a major tumble), and since it’s just one week after Wineglass, I know I’m going to have to take it slowly.

That time we got lost in the woods…
4.) Baltimore Marathon
Okay, we won’t say too much about this because we haven’t actually signed up yet. But we are thinking about possibly registering for a secondary fall marathon: the Baltimore Marathon. Mostly just as an excuse to take a race-cation, not gonna lie.

Photo credit: http://www.thebaltimoremarathon.com
I (Jen) am already SIGNIFICANTLY underprepared for the Wineglass Marathon, but Todd is the type who likes to “get the most out of his training” each fall. And it’s not like it’ll be the first time we’re running back-to-back marathons.
(Just wait ’til we tell you what it was like to run the Rome Marathon AND the Paris Marathon over the course of two weekends during our honeymoon).
So, we shall see… 😉
Catch us up! What are you training for this fall?
Who has newbie triathlon tips for Jen and trail running tips for Todd?!