The End

Due to some cyberspace security concerns this will be my last post.

I will miss blogging, but there are bigger concerns in life no doubt.

So here goes my last post. 

First of all, I would be remiss not to mention that my heart goes out to the people of Newtown. The rest of Connecticut grieves with you.

A breif moment of silence in rememberance was taken prior to the start of the Norfolk Pub 10 miler.  

Due probably in part to a variety of life stresses, dehydration, and cumulative fatigue I just could not keep my heart rate down. I don't think the hills helped with that either.  

Did I say hills, well I don't know but it seemed like it could have passed for a MT Everest expedition! 

Anyway by mile 7 my left hip was giving me some problems. I decided to just mail it in as they say. Not too happy with my time or race,  but the bottom line is that it is nearly time to start another season of training.  

So I'll be moving on pretty quickly and not dwelling on this one.

See you out there, good bye blog, its been real.

And peace to all in 2013.

Fwd: Congratulations from USA Triathlon

This is a major surprise to me, looks like I somehow qualified for the national Olympic distance triathlon championship! 


-------- Original message --------
Subject: Congratulations from USA Triathlon
From: no-reply@usatriathlon.org
To: LANIRALSTON@MSN.COM
CC:



Congratulations Lani Ralston. You have qualified for the Olympic-Distance race at the 2013 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships on August 10 in Milwaukee, Wis., after finishing in the top 10 percent in your age group at the Women's Triathlon.



Registration will open on February 1, 2013. This event has sold out in each of the past three years and is expected to sell out again in 2013, so be sure to claim your spot on the starting line early.

The USA Triathlon Olympic Distance National Championship is the nation's premier amateur Olympic-distance event with the top age-group athletes from all 50 states forming one of the most prestigious age-group fields in the sport. A select few athletes from each age group will also qualify to represent Team USA at the 2014 International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships. ITU has not yet announced the date and location for the 2014 World Championships. Details will be added to the Team USA website as soon as ITU makes an official announcement.

For more information on the 2013 USA Triathlon Olympic Distance National Championship, please visit www.USATNationalEvents.org. Please note: Athletes must be current USA Triathlon annual members through August 10, 2013, in order to register. You may register or renew your membership at www.usatriathlon.org.

USA Triathlon annual members should CLICK HERE now to take advantage of exclusive sponsor discounts when making travel arrangements for Milwaukee. The host hotel is the Hilton Milwaukee City Center Hotel. PSA exclusively manages USA Triathlon-owned National Championship housing needs and can offer the best rate for the USA Triathlon room block. Once the room block has been filled, athletes looking to reserve other rooms at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center Hotel can use a 15% sponsor discount through USA Triathlon and Hilton.


Questions? Email NationalEvents@usatriathlon.org;

Mittens 5k

Very tired from recent trips to Philadelphia,  Arizona,  and NYC. My right shoe managed to come off during the race as well, so not the best time ever (22:41 chip). It did however get my heart rate up, so good zone 5 workout. Most of all nice to see some friendly faces, like Judy, whom I was surprised to run into there.

Biked on the trainer ( nearly killed me) and did a poor excuse for a Swim workout as well in the afternoon. 

Tomorrow I officially enter the next stage of my training plan. Offseason is over, pre-season which culminates with "testing week" during the last week of the year starts tomorrow. 

The focus has shifted from making workouts lower on the priority scale during " off season"  to working out tecnique and power issues that will be needed for testing week, as they will ultimately set up my zones for training come January.

2013 is on the way!

Philadelphia Marathon bootleg photo

Off season

Well I have been "off season" since 11:15 am yesterday when I dove across the finish line in Philadelphia in my desperate attempt to finish under 4 hours (which I did with 2 whole seconds to spare) . 

So that was about 32 hours ago.

Now I am supposed to be resting.

I feel good physically. 

But I am unwell mentally. In between the dentist, oil change, laundry, and packing for Arizona I have been obsessively checking MarathonGuide.com, Hi-tek Racing Calendar, and even the Springfield Harriers Website (they have. 50K on December 15!). I almost registered for Hyannis Marathon ( end of February) about 20 times...

But I think I better stick to my coach's carefully developed training plan (I am my own coach by the way!!) and concentrate on the bike for now. For the curious that mostly means bike trainer this time of year.

There's an interesting article in Triathlete Magazine this month about avoiding the temptation of an off season Marathon in order to have a better overall next year. The reason is that a full Marathon supposedly takes a lot out if you, and I do believe that even though for some reason I never really physically feel it in an identifiable way.

The author suggests concentrating on developing a speedy half Marathon or challenging yourself to run every day for 50 or 100 days instead. I might try this.

I think after running 5 regular marathons and one 50 miler in 2012 it seems like following that advice might be in order so that I don't develop any injuries and my training does not fall apart again in late Spring/ Summer.

If you hear me talking about registering for Hyannis, remind me of the above!

Philadelphia Marathon

This is a must- do race! Great city, very accessible by car, train, plane. Was able to navigate my journey in Philly on foot no problem. 

The race took us through all sorts of picturesque and historic areas.  Even with the addition of a few thousand extra runners from the NYC Marathon, it was hands down the most organized Marathon I have ever run.

Running the race started ok despite multiple mishaps including forgetting my running clothes, slicing open a finger on a staple, my ipod dying. Thingd were OK right on through mile 24-25 where a bout of ischemic colitis hit me like a ton of bricks. I hobbled through that last mile, then gutted out the last "point two" for a final time of around 3:59:58. 

Not my best, but I think I handled all that stuff well...

Now I am officially off season!I have 2 weeks of travel and unstructured workouts to recover before setting my eyes on 2013.

All in all a good year!

Sent with the Samsung Galaxy Exhilarate™, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone.

Sent with the Samsung Galaxy Exhilarate™, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone.