Infinitri Half with Tim Don

The Infinitri Peñíscola half starts and ends in a castle that appears in Game of Thrones… Need I say more?

You run into the beach like you are some sort of warrior and swim around the castle to a neighboring bay. You grab your bike and ride out into the hills. On your way back, the run is along the sunny but flat Peñíscola promenade that eventually brings you back to the castle for a picture perfect finish.

The Infinitri Series is family run. Manu is the Race Director and he has a huge presence on race day. Everything about the event was extremely well organised and accommodating to athletes of all abilities.

This event was particularly special because we were invited to it as two of Tim Don’s guests. And by “we” I mean Dan and Sam did… but Sam couldn’t go so I got to! Leading up to the race I was dealing with an ankle sprain from an embarrassing tequila inspired adventure in Cancun only 6 weeks before. It felt like it took forever to heal… I couldn’t run, I couldn’t kick when I swam – all I could do was ride. So I packed in a lot of time on the bike to build my fitness up. I was so nervous I’d show up to the race and not be able to finish because of it. Sometimes it’s nice to approach a race with no expectations. I ended up having a great race and I walked away from the weekend feeling motivated to train and get fast. I think Tim has that effect on people.

RACE SUMMARY

Total time: 5:49:29
Gender Rank: 21/ 58
Overall Rank: 353/ 800

Posted by allisonloosley

Outlaw Half – Middle Distance Triathlon

The Outlaw Half, is a middle distance triathlon/ half Ironman distance in Nottingham. For me, the Outlaw Half is a race in preparation for a race – later this Summer I’m racing the full Ironman distance in Mont Tremblant.

A few years ago, a Half Ironman was a terrifying thought… Approaching it for only the second time in my life, and as a “training race” rather than “focus race”, felt strange. When I trained for the Zell em See Half, it was my sole focus for the year… I put all my effort into training and being as ready as I’d ever be to get through the race and perform to my best ability.

This year, I don’t necessarily feel like I put that same amount of focus into my training. I’ve been training don’t get me wrong, but I’ve been doing so with a stressful job that involves a lot of travel and overtime, and with social plans not always taking the backseat. So training isn’t my sole focus… and when training isn’t my sole focus, I don’t feel as confident in myself ahead of a race.

I wasn’t nervous, but I wasn’t confident either… I knew I could get around the course, but I didn’t know how fast… or if I’d be faster than my race in Zell am See. It didn’t help that I was ill for about three weeks leading up to the race either, so though I knew I wanted to approach the race as a fighter, I was also just happy to treat it as a solid block of training and just saying to myself “let’s see what happens”. My mind was all over the place ahead of it all. I figured either way, my competitive self would take over day-of, and that’s pretty much exactly what happened.

Overall, super happy with my race… I felt smarter than the last time I raced this distance, I was comfortable on the TT bike, I learned A LOT in almost every stage of the race, and it was a good kick in the butt to make training a focus for the next 12 weeks so that when Ironman Mont Tremblant comes around, I am excited to race and ready to see what happens!

It was also amazing being able to share this with someone. Jodie and I signed up together, started together and cheered each other on when we crossed paths on the course. It helps a lot seeing a familiar face on the course! I’m glad that Mont Tremblant will be similar as I’ll be racing with Brenna, Alistar and Dan.

RACE SUMMARY

Total time: 5:47:03
Age group rank: 12/35
Gender rank: 53/332

Posted by allisonloosley

Ironman 70.3 Zell am See, Austria

25 weeks ago, I wasn’t feeling very well and decided that it’d be a good idea to scare myself back to good health. I sat down and signed up for Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun with the logic that ‘I’d be there anyway [cheering on Dan at World Champs]…. so I might as well race it!’ (this moment was captured on Instagram here).

And the rest is history — after all that training and nervous energy, the race is over and I am officially a finisher of Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun!

RACE summary

Total time: 5:50:27
Age group rank: 17/55
Gender rank: 78/500

Posted by allisonloosley

What have I just done? Officially registered for a Half Ironman

I’ve taken three days off of training because of this chest cough I’ve got. Today is day 3 and lets just say, I’m getting a little restless. The weather has been absolutely stunning and it is killing me being stuck indoors, so I figured I better put this downtime to good use…

Since I decided my major goal this year would be to complete a middle distance triathlon (2km swim, 90km bike and a 21km run), I have had my eye on a specific race that interests me. I’ve never done triathlon before so it’s taken me a while to muster up enough courage to even think about actually signing up for a middle distance race. I guess this whole restless thing was my tipping point!

Any second thoughts? YUP – many!

But… here we go…I’ve signed up for it!! OMG, WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

Posted by allisonloosley

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