They Call Me Seashell

This crazy winter has taken its toll on my motivation.  I am so happy for some not-frozen weather so my motivation will hopefully return! I realized that I have a half marathon in 2 weeks.  Um, no.  I am now thinking 10k.  I am in no way close to half marathon ready. I also have a half ironman in 2 months.  Time to get back in gear!  GO GO JENN!  ~Iron Seashell

The week started off pretty good with a rest day which gave me time to plan out the week and my travel to FL.  Yesterday I got up early and did my FTP interval bike ride at 6am, and then right after work did my 35 minute steady state Z1 run at the gym, even though I was not feeling it when I left, I knew that I would feel better after doing the run.  I always do.  I have yet to feel worse after a workout.  Has anyone? Today I got up and did my 45 minute run at the gym before work.  I am on my way to another 100% week.  Now that I know that I can do it, I want to keep doing it.  I have no real excuses this week to miss a workout, so my goal is to not miss a workout!  This weekend I plan on getting in my bike ride and run first thing in the morning before heading out to the airport.  My flight leaves at nearly 4pm and I picked this as it allowed for me to still get in my bike.  With the weather being cooler now in South Florida, and ...

It is official.  I have finished week 1 of January outseason, Intermediate with EN.  This is my 2nd Outseason with EN and so far it is just as I remember it.   It hurts so good!   And as a record, this was the first time that I have ever hit training 100% in any week in my life. EVER. It was a Unicorn week!     Something that I did not believe existed (my ability to complete an entire week of training as prescribed) does in fact exist!    After the 5k TT on Wednesday,  I got my V02Max interval bike ride done on Thursday, then rocked out my bike and run on Saturday and my run on Sunday.   I made it to the gym 3 times last week, which puts me behind only 1 day for the year in order to get my reimbrusement from work on gym membership.   I plan on going 3 times this week, which will put me right on track.    In other news, I am looking forward to rocking out the workouts this week and I plan on...

RUN TEST Last night I ran my 5k TT and while it was not the fastest 5K I have ran, it was certainly not the slowest. 33:11 was my time for a pace of 10:42 and a vDot of 27. I left the OS last year with a 33, so I am hoping working to get back there and then some over this year. THOUGHTS ON THE SEASON AHEAD I posted over on the journey about my revelation in training.  As to not repeat the entire post here, I will link to it should you want to read .  In summary - this girl is moving forward in 2014 with CONFIDENCE!  I added a new section to the left column of this blog with my mantra for 2014: BE FUCKING FEARLESS.   That blog post from Elizabeth Waterstraat is exactly my mindset for this year and beyond.  I am done being fearful.  I am going to be fearless.  After all, what have I to lose?  Nothing!  Why did it take so long to realize that?   Time to be the squirrel. I WANT THE NUT.  And if I miss i...

Over the past few years I have kept many blogs - the journey, the journey to Ironman Florida, Shine Health and Personal Fitness, and this one, the now defunct journey to IM MOO.  While each one serves a purpose I have decided to re-launch my Journey to IM MOO blog as The Iron Seashell.   Firstly because I had to pull out of IM Moo this year, and secondly because there is so much more ahead of me!  I have decided to log all of my endurance race specific things on this blog as I really have enjoyed looking back over my Ironman Florida blog over the past year and it is nice to have a recollection of moods, weights, fitness, etc. for me to compare to other years.   I will still be very active in my other blog, the journey , as it is a chronicle of my lifelong journey outside of sports and fitness.   I will also be keeping up my Shine blog as it is where I plan on launching my Personal Training and Fitness information to clients. This blog ...

When I first started blogging in 2006 and joined a network of running bloggers (Running Blog Family [RBF] in da house!)  I would find inspiration in their daily musings.  I guess because I started running in order to train for a marathon -  sort of the end all be all running races back then - I felt like an insider.  I got what they were saying even if they were faster or more advanced than I.  I was one of them.   They were like me. We were runners... we got it . *pops collar.  wipes dirt off of shoulder* It was then that I discovered triathlon and stumbled upon a new group of bloggers.  They were a group of not only triathletes, but a mix of Ironman veterans and Ironmen in training.  I was enamored with their ability to not only run a marathon, but to have run a marathon after riding 112 miles (on a bike!  At one time!) after swimming 2.4 miles (in open water!) before that.  What?  I mean Who. Do...

Those were the words that came over the soundsystem at Ironman Florida, November 3rd, 2012 at 11:06 PM. 16 hours and 6 minutes after I started my very first 140.6 mile race, I finished. I chronicled the journey, or more so the final weeks and days, at my blog Journey to Ironman Florida .  I am opening this blog to chronicle my journey to Ironman Wisconsin 2014.  I learned a lot about myself on the way to Florida.  I have fallen in love with the process of Ironman.  With the lifestyle.  What it gave me and what I give to it.  I never want this process of give and take, race and learn, to end. So why two years until my next?  I decided to give myself a year to focus on speed and trying a different form of training and then a year of solid Ironman training. 2012 was a long year of training for me.  I want some space to live and learn and go back and execute the distance again.  Better. This is the start of the next leg of my journey,...