Group Training at its Finest...

Did I tell you I was training as part of a group this year?  As someone who has almost exclusively trained on her own this is quite the change for me.  I am extremely independent by nature so to let go and sort of let someone else manage this facet of my life is not always as easy as it would seem.  As with a lot of training groups, our schedule is posted in training peaks so I have quickly become accustomed to knowing what my training will look like well in advance.  (...and the obvious bonus there is I didn't  have to painstakingly map out my schedule for the entire year - it was already done for me!).  The other bonus is that Team Blue Iron is taking me outside of my box.  Not only have I now done some trail running thanks to TBI, I also am venturing outside of my comfort zone and running/biking in other parts of town.  Prior to this I pretty much ran at Stone Mountain and biked out near Harbins Park week in and week out.  I have to say, I have really enjoyed getting to see some other parts of the city.

Case in point, Sunday's run was at Chastain Park.  If you are from Atlanta, you might find it hard to believe that I have lived here 44 years and have NEVER been to Chastain.  A crying shame.  For those of you not from Atlanta, Chastain is mostly known for its concert venue but also has a golf course, tennis facilities and a nice pool among other things.  We met up outside the horse park this morning.  (Who knew they had a horse park there???)  Our group only has about 6 or 7 people right now and this morning there were only three of us so I halfway expected to be running on my own. Not a huge deal, I knew it was a looped course so as long as I didn't get lost I was good.  The plan was to run 100 minutes total, that way we all re-group at the end no matter your pace.

Coach Mari and I ended up running together the whole way and had a nice get to know you session.  It was seriously some good therapy.  I mean you sign up for coaching and don't expect to get counseling but it was actually kind of nice. We ended up getting in about 9.5 miles and it went by so fast thanks to all the talking!  I actually have been feeling like my running has been slacking lately so it was nice to get in a good run and made it so much easier to have someone running with me.  (Also I wasn't as tempted to bust into super long walking stretches since I had someone with me - funny how running with others pushes you just a bit more...).

Admittedly, it took me a month or so to sort of get in the swing of the group training.  Coming off of B2B and then the Disney marathon, I think I was just ready for a little break.  In the past couple of weeks I have felt ready to dive back in and am really enjoying being part of the group.  I don't know how many of you are in the Atlanta area but we are always looking for more people to come play with us.  Check out Team Blue Iron online or shoot me an email.

Our target races are:  West Point Lake (April), Rev3 Knoxville (May), Tugaloo Oly (September) and Rev3 Anderson (October).  In addition to the races, we have a weekend of riding in the North GA mountains planned so we can work on our hills skillz and a 5k open water swim in June.  A couple of teammates also have some other IMs on their calendar so even if you don't do the team races, maybe you could just train with us.   :)