We signed up for Hawaii.

Last night we made it official and signed up for the Hawaii 70.3 (half Ironman) on June 2nd.  It was a huge thrill to actually fill out the forms online and hit the "register" button.   With both this race and Cozumel, I have taken some time to decide if it's what I really want to do but then once I commit, I'm all in.  I'm not actually going to start official training for a week or two because I feel like my feet need that time to ease into it.  Plus, I feel like the weight training I am doing is providing an excellent muscular base that will give me power in the race that I otherwise wouldn't have.  I have been focusing especially on developing my lats to give me strength in a high elbow pull on the swim.    I created a little routine using the cables at the gym to simulate a swim stroke.  I can already tell I'm much stronger.  I've also been doing an insane amount of squats and lunges to strengthen up my legs for the bike and run.  It's been SO MUCH FUN to do something different for awhile.

There are several things I LOVE about this race in HAWAII:

• It's on a SATURDAY.  (It's very hard to find races on a Saturday, most are on Sunday which is a religious day for me and my family.)
• It's in a beautiful tropical location.  (Neither of us have been there before.)
• It uses the same bike course as the Kona full Ironman world champsionship, which is iconic for a triathlete.  Maybe some day we'll actually race in the full there.
• The timing is perfect because it's just the right amount of time to train and prepare for. (Just under 5 months).

Some things I don't love quite as much:

• The bike and run have hills.
• It's going to be hot!  Like, crazy stinking hot.
• Ok, that's about it....I mean really, it's Hawaii....hard to not love it.

I talked to a girl at the gym today who did Canada Ironman last fall and she said that in the 3 months she took off from exercising, she gained 20 pounds and lost all her fitness. Yikes!  I am happy to report that I haven't gained any weight, have been really careful about my eating and feel like I'm in a good place to get back into training soon.  Thank you Wild Rose Cleanse for helping me clean up my eating after indulging in sugar over the holidays.

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope your goals are going well!