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!