Thanksgiving Break

Oh my gosh, it is so nice to be home for a week. I am beyond exhausted from this semester. As I have mentioned before, it has been nothing but busy, busy, busy. Thanksgiving Break is always a great time because at JMU, we receive a FULL week off from classes... not like most other schools where they only get Wednesday-Friday off. In addition, after I come back to school, I only have 2 weeks of classes + finals until the end of the semester! Praise the Lord!

I am also very excited because my best friend comes home from study abroad the first weekend of December! AHHH!!!  I have missed her SO much this semester. We met our freshman year and have been best friends ever since. We have never been in a fight even though we lived together last year!  She also is such a positive influence on me in developing my relationship with Christ. She has been there for me through everything. I will never forget how supportive she was when I had my stress fracture! And listening to me complain and be sad during that time.

Matching on accident! 

Lauren tags me in picture on Facebook when she sees "Trek" signs
while in Europe. I think she misses Tyrone more than me! 

I am also very excited to ride my bike while home this weekend. I actually just got my road bike all fixed up and fit so it will definitely be interesting to ride Jamie as opposed to Tyrone this winter. As far as winter training is going, I am having a good time but am very sore. I actually have a little niggle in my hip for lack of a better term. I am not too concerned yet, but I am being very cautious. I am actually icing the heck out of it right now. I am going to go to the doctor tomorrow to make sure it is nothing serious. I'd rather take time off right now than be taking time off in March! Advil (Aleve) + Ice= Triathlete's best friend! I did tell Connie that it was bothering me to which she replied, "If you don't have some occasional aches and pains I'd be worried!" Oh Connie, how I love being your athlete but hate it at the same time!

So far in this training block, I have seriously enjoyed running at night, just don't tell my dad please! I think he would have a heart attack if he knew I have been running in the dark! So far this semester, my choice for running is either at 5:30 am or 5:30 pm and its dark at both of those times. I used to really enjoy running in the morning, however, I have recently turned myself into an evening runner. I have coffee in my body and the blood has been flowing. I am so much more energized at night than in the morning now. Weird huh?

And on that note, I am going to go take a quick nap and get out for a bike ride and buy new shoes! Hopefully the shoes will help with the "niggle"!

Ephesians 4:2 "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

Missing you!

Well, it has been a hot second since I last posted. I have been incredibly busy with school work,  catching up on sleep, and watching an embarrassingly ridiculous amount of Gossip Girl (Sorry I am SO not sorry). Confession: I like to pretend I am Serena and am living it up on the Upper East Side. I took about 4 weeks off from full on training after Half Full, it was so awesome and so necessary.

I fully enjoyed my few weekends as a "college" kid. I will always remember Hallohomecoming weekend of my junior year. A few pictures:

Meghan decided to be Courtney for Halloween and I was a
traffic cone! I am wearing a black skirt which makes it even
better! I am famous for my "duckface" and peace sign pictures
so I am trying to teach Meghan how to duckface... its a work in progress.

Just us being best friends! I <3 her! 

Oh! I forgot to add, we had a snow/hurricane day last Monday! We were right on the edge of a blizzard and a little bit of Hurricane Sandy. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as bad as they thought it would be. And we got a day off! I slept for twelve hours that Sunday night! And my teachers didn't make the following Saturday a makeup day! Thank goodness!

Post-snow day mountain picture. I went on a ride specifically to
look at the mountains in West Virginia. I am so lucky to go to
school in an area that is so beautiful.

Needless to say, it was an incredible weekend and had an amazing time with my friends, but I am so ready to start training again! How I have missed working my butt off.

However, I am now back on that training grind. The focus of this winter is on strength. I actually typed up my goals and sent them to Connie. I have always been big into having goals, in case you couldn't tell, but I had never really taken the time to create SMART goals. It is SUPER cheesy, but I learned about SMART goals in my health and wellness class freshman year. SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound. The reason you use this method is to make sure you aren't setting yourself up for failure by either setting goals that are unattainable or setting goals that aren't challenging enough. In addition to sharing with my coach, I would like to post my goals on the blog. I will follow up at least once a week! I think sharing the goals will hold me accountable to post and actually doing what I need to do to get faster!

1. Get my running back to where I was freshman year. Confession: I was absolutely obsessed and in love with running my freshman year of college. I would just go out on these runs and be totally in love with the new terrain. Also, I had no idea how fast I was running or how far. I did a half marathon in March and ran 6:40 splits. I can do that again. I know I can. So, my goal for the upcoming season is to run low 43 off the bike.

2. The bike, now this is where its easy. My leg strength is what holds me back on the bike. My legs tire out way before my heart does. In regard to time goals, I don't have any. Time and paces are too hard to gauge with wind and terrain variances. So, its going to be allot of hill repeats and time spent on the bike... and trainer.... 

3. Swimming wise, my goal is to just be fast! I dropped a lot of time this summer in the pool. I would like to be able to really drop those times even more! I am also working on keeping a high elbow throughout the whole stroke. 

4. Nutrition and core are also going to be a huge focus this winter. I'm really going to try and go to yoga at least once a week. And if yoga isn't a possibility, being diligent about my functional strength training and stretching! 

I cannot wait to see where next season goes! I have a really good feeling about it, as long as I don't get myself injured! 

As always, thanks for reading and thank you so much for your support!!