The Zen of Ultra Running

My first multi-day ride - Roscoe Ramble. This ride was organized by the Akron Bike Club. The riders can choose between 1) 55 miles per day or 2) 75 miles per day. I had always wanted to do this ride but since it's always in September, either between my big races or before a big race, I had not had a chance to do the ride.  This year, after finishing IM Ottawa, I was debating whether I should do another race (Portage Lake Triathlon) or do a fun two-day ride at Roscoe Ramble. After considering how much stress I was under before a race, I chose to do the long ride for fun.  Roscoe Ramble long ride started in Canal Fulton, OH. I was lucky that many people in the Saturday ride group were going to do this ride anyway, and I was able to tag along with them. We kicked off from Canal Fulton around 7:30am. The weather was perfect at the beginning of the ride. Around 10am, we arrived at the first rest stop (around mile 33) for snacks and hydration. I did not check the weather forecast be...

Originally, I was going to go to Cassadaga, NY, to cheer on my friends who were going to do the race. I just wanted a quick girls' getaway weekend as it's a long weekend in the US (Labor Day weekend). I did not feel like I had had a break since I got back from France (bike accident -> summer teaching -> Ironman -> volunteering, etc -> Fall semester started). August just flew by in the blink of an eye O_o.  Two weeks ago, my friend (T.) texted the group saying that this would be the last year that they would hold the Cassadagaman race because of low participation. I did this race as my first 70.3 distance in 2020. Then, I did another one in 2021 before I stepped up to the Ironman distance. Because this race was always on Labor Day weekend, it did not work well with my Ironman training schedule. However, I decided to sign up for the intermediate distance as it's going to be the final year. So, I went from "having a fun non-racing + knitting weekend" to ...

“Considering what you have been through, doing an Ironman is a gift” - My coach  One month after the bike accident, I finished my 3rd Ironman at Ironman Ottawa this past weekend (Sunday, August 2).  I was supposed to do this race last year, but #life happened, so I deferred it to this year. Going into the race, I was not sure how it would turn out. Exactly one month before the race, I had a bike accident, broke my front teeth, and had multiple wounds on the face and body. I had to pause the Ironman training for more than a week. Considering that I was undertrained to begin with because I just got back from spending a month in France, I was not sure if I would even start the race.  Slowly and carefully, my coach and I worked together to rebuild my confidence on the bike. I tried to get as much open water swim practice as possible with two weeks left. Compared to the preparation going into IM Mont Tremblant and Chattanooga, I think the amount of training this time was not e...

Wow. I can't believe I have not updated this blog for almost a year. Time does fly when you are busy! Here is the recap of the first 7 months of 2026. After Portage Lake Triathlon in 2025, I ran the Akron marathon (#7!), the half marathon at Run with Scissors (which was officially canceled but we ran the course anyway), and the 50K at Regal Beagle. The 50K went well and I waited until the last minute to decide if I wanted to run the 25K or the 50K. I bit the bullet and signed up for the 50K because my training was kinda going well.  Half marathon in Brescia, Italy 2026 started off with a half marathon in Brescia, Italy, in March. We signed up for this race because we had Delta credits in the account due to the flight cancellation in December. We used the points to buy tickets to Milan then I found a half marathon in Brescia. So, it was a quick getaway Europe trip :)     Pleasant Valley Duathlon in May Four days before we left for France, I did a duathlon at Mohican State ...