Go Big or Go Home: The Triple

I've done it again.  I've signed up for 3 races over the course of 3 weekends next month.  Yup, it's another Go Big or Go Home month.  I did this last year at the end of May, running the Toronto Women's Half, followed by the Bread and Honey 15km, followed by the Woodstock Triathlon.  Needless to say I was punched by the end of those 3 weeks but I think I gained a lot both in fitness and in mental toughness from the experience.  It also really made me appreciate the time off afterwards!  The distances I'm tackling this time around are a bit shorter (i.e I'm not kicking it all off with a half marathon).  To make it really interesting I've got marathon training to fit in there somewhere.  Good thing I've got a week off next month.  

August 12th:  Toronto 10 Miler.  Perfect considering my training plan has me scheduled to run 10 miles that day.  It's supposed to be an 10 easy miles but I'm not the type of girl to enter a mid-distance race like this and just take it easy.  That's just not part of my DNA. 

August 19th:  The Bala Falls Triathlon.  750 m swim, 30km bike and 7.5km run.  Given that we are on holidays that week, I better get out and 1) actually do some open water swimming and 2) get a few more bike rides in.  I've done this race once before and it's a tough one.  The bike is all rollers and the run is as well.  Should be a good challenge.   And, to top it off MSC has made this a "retro" race so apparently there will be prizes for people with the best retro triathlon gear.  I can't WAIT to see how many guys show up in neon speedos!

August 26th:  The Toronto Island Triathlon.  750m swim, 30km bike and 7.5km run.  I've watched Gary do this race many times and I've always thought it would be lovely to swim at Hanlan's Point (clear shallow water and totally sandy bottom) so I figured why not.  I'll have to practice my turning skills as the bike course has a couple of sharp turns in it.  I usually brake, unclip and put my foot down but I'm a big girl now so I *should* be able to make the turn without having to do that but we'll see.  Hopefully I don't take out any spectators!

I was feeling a little unmotivated but now that I've started to fill my race calendar again, I'm getting excited.   It also gives me some "mini-goals" to work towards.  Like making sure I get to the pool more than once a week so I don't have to do backstroke for the entire 750m swim.  

I'm not sure what has happened to me over the last couple of years but I've really taking this racing thing to a whole new level.  I used to be afraid to race two weekends in a row because I didn't think my body would be able to take it.   Oh I need the time to recover.  What the hell?  It's not like I'm 80.  I've learned that your body can adapt to pretty much whatever you throw at it.  And, if you learn to listen to it, it will tell you when it's had enough.  Is 3 weeks in a row of racing crazy?  To some perhaps.  To me it's an opportunity to build strength both mentally and physically AND most importantly to go out and have fun doing it.  The best part is that I get to race with my husband.  It's been a while since we've raced together (he doesn't run that much) so that's what I'm most looking forward to.   We're both a wee bit competitive so I suspect there might be some side bets going on but that's part of the fun. 

Do you have any races coming up?


Have you ever done multiple races either back to back or over the course of several weekends?  How did you feel by the end of it?