I officially completed my first half marathon! And I do say first because I definitely want to continue with longer distance races. I will post a full recap tomorrow but today it’s all about training schedule changes.

Now that the JCC Triathlon by the Sea and the Twin Lobster Half Marathon in the books, I am going to concentrate on training for my next big race…The Great Adventure Challenge! I love this race but it is HARD! Every year I say I am going to make more of an effort to train and every year summer creeps up and I find myself coming into race day fit but not trained.

The GAC is like a triathlon in that it has three events but very different from a traditional triathlon. The first event is a 2.5 mile kayak on a calm lake. I could probably swim this faster than I can kayak it because my kayak skills are not awesome. I’ve done this race 3 times in the past and have finished almost dead last in the kayak each time. Whomp whomp.

On thing I want to work on to help in my kayaking is upper body strength. I am not sure what my plan for this is yet but I’m thinking incorporating BodyPump into my weekly routine.

The second leg of the GAC is a 16+ mile, mostly off road mountain bike. This is my favorite part of the race! I have only mountain biked 3 times in my life, the three times I’ve done this race. To train for this I suppose I should mountain bike more. Anyone want to join me? SL? Anyone?

(Source: The Bridgton News. Yes, the newspaper interview me about the race NBD, HUGE DEAL)

The last leg on this race feels like you are climbing up a mountain…oh wait, you are. The “run” portion of this race is a hike up Shawnee Peak, a ski mountain. Most people hike (walk) up the mountain then run down. By this point I am always exhausted but knowing it’s the last leg helps. And you cant beat the views…

(Full Disclosure: Photo taken by SL on a training hike, not on race day – hence the posed nature. I am not as composed during the race – see previous picture.)

I love that you can hike this mountain on your own before race day to get a feel for it. I hope to get out there at least once and go on plenty more hikes pre-race to get my hiking legs ready for race day.

With all of that said, here is my plan for this week:

Monday – REST, I am still super sore from yesterday.

Tuesday – Swim, pretty sure I’ll still be sore so this seems like a good option

Wednesday – Short, slow run Maybe 3 miles just to start moving my legs again

Thursday – Spin

Friday – Swim

Saturday – Beach yoga with Mugsy and Michele! I am so exited for this!

Sunday – Play it by ear!

Hope everyone has a lovely Monday!