Calgary Marathon Weekend

Well, 5 years ago I did my first full marathon with my 16 year old brother and Ben. It was a tough day for my brother and I, while Ben happily danced across the line. We aimed to complete the marathon in 4 hours, and we finished in 4 hours and 37 minutes. We went out too hard,so we wound up walking a lot the last 12 kilometers, and my little brother vowed to never ever do a marathon again. In training for Ironman, I decided to do the full marathon, and it was very fitting as it was 5 years later. Instead of crossing the finish line near tears, I crossed with a big smile. I didn't expect too much from myself. I had 2 goals, 1) to get a solid training run in and get used to running on sore legs, and 2) not to walk. As I mentioned before I hadn't run over 21 kms in training, so I knew that my legs would hurt, and they did. From about kilometer 17 until the finish line my legs were sore, but I still managed to maintain a fairly consistent pace throughout the entire race. When my legs starting aching, I just reminded myself how much more they will hurt come Ironman race day. I was so proud of my self for accomplishing my goals for the day and beating my personal best marathon time was just icing on the cake. My dad came out to cheer us on, and seeing him at kilometer 17 was awesome, and then him, his girlfriend, and Ben at the finish line made crossing that line even better. It was a good course this year, the finish line is into the Grandstand stadium so you kind of feel like a pro athlete. Ben did amazing as usual, 3:26, he is seriously a machine. I have no idea how anyone can run that fast.

Studying is progressing, the exam is this week. I have one practice exam left, so I'm holding off on writing that and I'm just reviewing some weak areas that I have consistently stumbled upon on the practice exams, and now that some of the important formulas are sticking in my brain I'm trying to commit some more obscure ones to memory as well.. just in case it is asked and I can get one more question right and it makes or breaks passing.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. To all the American's I hope you enjoyed your long weekend. Here's to one more week of insanity.

May Long CFA studying Ironman Training style.... high on exercise and drunk on formulas.

May Long... oh how that phrase used to mean getting drunk and camping in the snow/rain. Unfortunately not this one. It was spent with 10 hours of training, 12 hours of studying, and chores. But, on the bright side my practice exam scores have trended upwards significantly, and I am slowly finding it easier to sit and concentrate on the exam for 3 hours. My practice exam scores are now hovering around what I hope to get on the actual exam which is making me feel more confident by day... but not to confident. I am still rehearsing formulas on my runs, and zoning out mid conversation with Ben preoccupied by the material I just covered, trying to make it stick in my brain. I was trying to quantify how hard these exams are to Ben today, and how I put it is I graduated with distinction from university, and now I am working harder then I ever did in university and I am scoring around 70s. Yep, these exams are no cake walk.

Training is also going well. Despite the depressing weather forecast for nothing but rain this weekend, it didn't rain once at our house. I hit the road on Saturday for a long 5.5 hour bike. It was tough. I did 2 loops of a route that I scientifically calculated on google maps (yes very precise I know) to be 80 kms each, but I forgot that google maps doesn't show elevation and it turned in to a very very very hilly 160 kms. oh.. and windy. But I actually felt really good. The indoor spinning on our trainers all winter definitely helped my legs since you can't coast on the trainer. I also had a run Sunday, and I went to yoga this morning, and my body seems to be recovering well. In fact my legs were completely fine on my run. This week I plan on pushing until Saturday, then either take Saturday off completely or doing a little bike to keep my legs moving.

Sunday is the Calgary marathon. I'm not too nervous at all about the marathon, since I'm not looking at it as a race. Instead, I'm looking at it as a training run, a training run surrounded by a lot of running partners and getting cheered on and a medal at the end... sounds good to me. My only goal is not to walk. I don't care if I'm running so slowly that I'm being passed by speed walkers I want to run the whole thing. My marathon goal in Ironman is 5 hours, so if I'm around 4-4:30 for the Calgary marathon I'll be pretty excited (and I'll have beaten my time from 5 years ago which is always a bonus). Considering I have not ran over 2.5 hours this year, I have a feeling that it could be painful, I'm hoping all of the biking has carried over.

How am I approaching the rest of studying? Well this week I am just going to review some weaker areas, and drill down some formulas. I have 2 more practice exams left (so in total i'll have done 5 before the actual exam). I plan on doing one on Saturday, then the other on Monday. After that it's just major review time and cramming for the rest of the week and then it is go time.

Hope everyone had a great long weekend!

Nerves...

Alright, the nerves are starting to kick in. Officially 2.5 weeks until the exam. Which is 17 days.... or 408 hours of which I'll be sleeping for 136, working for 72 (thankfully we have a long weekend this weekend, and I have a 3 days off during the exam week, so I've only got 8 workdays), commuting for 16, training for 36 hours.. which leaves 145 hours left of which I will be mostly glued to my books. In fact, I am pretty sure i have a CFA text book in every room of the house, ready to pick up no matter what I'm doing. This is total cram time. This is seriously the hardest thing I have ever done. Harder than university, and ironman training... and I'm only on level 1! Thankfully I have the best most supportive Husband who is picking up the slack at home as I am frantically trying to study. I give major kudos to people who are attempting these exams with children! However, I am starting to feel more comfortable than a week a a half ago during that first practice test. The practice exams and hundreds of questions that I have done this far have definitely helped drill down some of the more important equations and concepts. Although every sentence in the 5 text books are fair game, there are definitely some prominent key points that have been tested multiple times.

As for Ironman, the Athlete Guide for 2013 came out yesterday... that got my nerves going. But more excited nervous compared to the CFA. Training is going well despite some back issues last week. My bike got some new shoes and has been taken off the trainer and I plan on hitting the road for the first time tonight! SO SO excited. Outside biking is a million times better than inside biking, even with the entertainment of tom cruise in all the mission impossible movies...

So, to sum it up, it is go time... the next 3 weeks are my highest intensity training and studying. I've been mentally preparing for this since January because I knew it was coming. So now it's time to just put my head down and take each minute as they come. My focus the next couple weeks will be to stay healthy and injury free, get plenty of sleep, keep my nerves in check, and to train and study like hell!

One. More. Month

Well, it is exactly a month until the exam. This past weekend i wrote a practice exam. How did I do? well exactly as I was expecting. So that's a good thing, I am exactly where I expected to be at this point in time. I have one month to intensely review for this exam and then it is go time. I am going to approach it with writing practice exams on the weekends, at home, and reviewing my week areas during the week. What I found the most difficult with the practice exam was just sitting and focusing for 3 hours. At around 2 hours I started to get antsy and shuffle around in my seat. The exam is 2 three hour chunks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. So I am going to separate my practice exams in to their 3 hour chunks and sit down and write it like the exam, just to get used to writing for that long without loosing concentration.

I also have one more month of pushing with my training until I start tapering for Ironman. I had a really good brick workout this weekend with 2 x 2 hour bike and 30 minute run. I felt strong, even through the last 30 minute run despite a slower pace. I feel completely different about this Ironman, instead of nervous I'm excited. My training isn't to finish, but rather to improve my time and not be in so much pain during the run. I feel as though we have been training a lot harder this time around, so we'll see that the race brings. I have read some blogs about the race last year and the hardest part of this race is the freezing cold water with potentially large waves if the wind picks up. But hopefully they're getting this warm weather that we're getting right now and it's warming that lake up! Unlike Ironman Canada this entire race is 2 loops (2 loop swim, 2 loop bike, 2 loop run). Other than the swim (because I don't think i'm going to want to get back into the water), I like 2 loops. The first loop is an adventure, you don't know what's ahead then on the second loop you know exactly what to expect and you're ready for it.



So here are 2 pictures to sum up my next month:

Progress.

Well, it is May 1st. Although the weather feels more like January, we even got more snow last night. But the days are getting longer, and I know that May will bring warmer temperatures, the trees will start to bud, and I will start itching for summer. As of today I have 4.5 weeks until my CFA exam and 7.5 weeks until Ironman Coeur D’Alene. Currently, I am tired. I more than recognize that I should not have endeavored to take on both the CFA and Ironman so close together, but that is my personality, I push myself to my limits and then try to push past them. However, I used to dread my long painful runs, now I actually find solace in them, as it gives me a much needed break on Sunday afternoons from sitting and studying. It gives my brain a chance to turn off and my legs a chance to move, progress step by step.

I think being an athlete and my training for Ironman has helped me study for the CFA. I have approached studying much like my training, and they both started at the same time. Push too hard/study too long and you will burn yourself out. It is all about consistency, just like my training, my studying approach is very similar: an hour every day, long days on the weekend, and treasuring my day off. I take Friday’s off of studying. It is wonderful. Ben and I love going on a date out for dinner on Friday nights (you have to celebrate getting through another week). Also, like Ironman, you only get what you put in. You cannot control the questions they are going to ask on the exam, just as you cannot control the weather/flat tires/other obstacles on race day…. You can only count on the hours of studying and training that you put in and have faith in yourself that you are ready. Then if/when you start to doubt yourself, I like remind myself that "you can do all things through he who strengthens you."