I knew going into this race I had a lot going against me. I hadn't run distance since April, in spite of all my best efforts to do so. Then I'd gotten sick... it was all just a big mess.
Still, I felt pretty refreshed earlier in the week after a few days of rest while being sick. I noticed over the weekend my legs began to feel tight which was definitely not exciting. I also didn't feel very excited for this race because I hadn't been doing well with distance and half marathons are getting to be kind of unexciting for me. As we got out of the car, I told Joel I wished I was doing the full, or even capable of doing it, because I'd be so much more excited.
At the start line with friends, I didn't feel very nervous. My friend Hannah was anxious with nervous energy. I'm normally like that, but instead I was sort of happy-go-lucky and not very focused. I tried to stretch out my hamstring a few times to no avail.
As we took off, I set out at solid 9:30 pace. My goal was 2:05. 9:30s were actually feeling really good! We ran through a few miles and I could feel my legs tightening up. The tightness started in my hamstrings and calves. I still felt like I had a good stride though. As we approached the uphill into the zoo I felt great! I'd never felt so much adrenaline and comfort surging up a hill. My knee drive was forward and I felt relaxed.
As we turned into the zoo, the tightness grew worse, now in my quads. I kept pushing - watching for animals, I saw an elephant, hippo, ostrich, donkey, camels... and then the zoo was over. As we set out to mile 5, I told myself this was all flat, but it didn't feel flat. Joel was supposed to be between miles 4 & 5, but I didn't see him. That threw me off. The running felt uphill and the ground uneven. I took a gu before mile 6.
6-8 felt ok, but I felt the tightness moving into my quads, hips, and IT bands. I was starting to breakdown.
As I looped around through 9, this was when I finally fell below 10 min pace. I came through 8 miles at 1hr 20 and I never saw it again. The last time I had water was about 7.6 miles, we had gone through 9 and still no water stop in sight. Up a hill, in the sun, I felt defeated. I remembered this was where I felt defeated last year too. Finally, at mile 10, there was water. I walked. I took a minute just past the stop to bend over and stretch my legs, now painfully tight.
I ran until my Garmin said 11 miles, which was 10.8 by the markings on the course. I walked to the mile 11 marker from there. I told myself only 2.1 miles to go and again started to run. It was horrible. It was painful and slow and some of the worst running I've ever done. As I came into the park, with about .1 mile to go (by my watch...it actually was more like .3) I started to walk again. My legs were falling apart.
I pushed into the finish, finally finding Joel near the shoot - I was holding back tears.
I hardly cared about the medal as I stood around to get through the crowd. I barely had the energy to make it through the end. I grabbed a bottle of water and a protein shake, skipping everything else. Finding Joel, and saying goodbye to some friends, I limped out of the crowds. A few feet through the park I started crying in pain. I usually don't cry from pain. I told Joel I had to sit and take a break from walking. We sat in the grass for a few moments while I wiped my face and tried to stretch my legs.
We got up again and made it to the car. Joel drove home and made me a small breakfast once we got there. I drank water and put ice on my legs. It genuinely hurt to move.
In the end, it was just a really rough day. I hit the wall and it was my worst half marathon time to date.
I have a sport massage/torture session this weekend potentially followed by BolderBoulder on Monday. Let's hope - if I am recovered - that that goes MUCH better :)
Monday, May 19, 2014
Saturday, May 10, 2014
[Race Report] Wheels of Thunder Criterium
A quick and dirty race report:
I did my first criterium bike race today. For those of you who don't know, that involves lots of cyclists doing lots of laps around a rather small course (usually between 1-2 miles long, but it varies).
I chose to do this race because it is not too technical - the corners are pretty round and there are only three, and it is a women's mentoring race, which means a group of seasoned riders ran us through the course before the race to give us an overview.
During the mentoring lap, I couldn't hear a whole lot, but at least I got the gist of what lines to follow and where to avoid different bumps/holes on the course. It also gave me the opportunity to remember what it meant to ride nice and tight in a group as well as a try at starting before the actual start.
Through the first lap, I wasn't having a hard time. I managed to stay with the group. I was glad to find the corners and the start were not as bad as I imagined in my head. We weren't taking it too hard and we just sort of coasted through it.
As we came around through the first lap, I was coming towards the back but not too bad. There were still a number of girls behind me. All of a sudden, the two girls in front of me bumped into each other, the one on the right bumped into the one next to her and before I knew it...everyone was crashing. The two in front of me went down and I didn't know whether to stop, but after a moment of hesitation and seeing they were both down, I biked between them and sprinted up to the group.
That sprint took the wind out of me. Coming off a head cold, I could feel burning in my chest and labored breathing. Still, I really wanted to catch these girls before we hit the corner that took us into an uphill, so I did. I was huffing and puffing in the uphill trying to recover. I just sat on the group, telling myself to breathe to recover.
We made it through the second lap and as we were coming through, they slowed us and pushed us to the left into a single file line because they were not yet finished clearing some of the girls who had gone down. I felt really bad still racing knowing that someone had likely broken an ankle. Stringing us out like that really made for an interesting race because it meant we had to...get back together. Again, we were headed to the corner into the uphill, so I put in a little effort to hold on to the pack, and I did. Still, wheezing a little.
As we started into the last straight of the third lap, this was our first prime (pronounced "preem," meaning a lap in which if you finish first you get something) for $20 and a hat. The front group started to sprint up the hill. Some for the prime, some just to not lose the front of the group. As I was still wheezing, I didn't have it in me and the group lost me. Before I knew it, I was dropped.
I tried my hardest to push and catch them through the next lap. I could see the group the whole way, but that uphill was so much harder on my own. As we came down the back stretch, I lost them and I knew there was no hope of catching them, so I did the last two laps on my own.
 |
| catching up to some girls after I got dropped to hang out on the last lap |
I came off the bike, worried about the girls who crashed, but happy to be done because I'd gone so hard that my chest hurt. I was coughing hard for a while afterwards.
All in all - I'd call it a success. I didn't crash. I know I can hang with these girls. I do blame getting over my cold. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be AND my legs don't hurt so I know I have more strength. It was also really awesome to have a nice group there spectating and cheering for me. I rarely have anyone at my races there just for me, so that was super cool - especially since it was my first (non time trial) bike race.
Until next time...
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Challenges, defeat, and rising from the ashes
Today's blog isn't so much about me, as it is some things I'm thinking about.
Over the past few weeks something very interesting happened to me:
While at a corporate function, my co-worker, Jeff, told me about when he volunteered for this running group that worked as guides for blind runners. Here he met a young man who had been kidnapped and blinded by a group of people in Africa when he was young. Now this man lived in Colorado and enjoyed running races.
Last week, in the pool, I saw a woman teaching a man how to swim. The lifeguard explained to me that this man was blind. I was shocked. Swimming blind sounds terrifying! It's hard enough with sight to not get anxiety in the water!
I posted on my friend's Facebook wall about how cool I thought this was and through the small community that is triathlon, the woman coaching this man was quickly identified and everyone was talking about how cool they thought it was that she was helping him learn to swim to do a tri in the fall.
Last night, they were back at the pool (whom I've now learned are Sasha - the coach, and Ethan, the athlete) and I introduced myself as the one who started the Facebook chain.
Today at work I told Jeff about it and he sent me this article: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13613618
As you may have guessed... it's the same guy!
I'm so impressed by what Ethan's doing, but as Sasha said, everyone has their story.
It's easy to look at someone's challenges and weigh them as more or less challenging than our own. I've recently given up on trying to complete Colfax marathon because a short-term injury set back my training and I won't be able to truly reach that distance by 5/18. That said, I think something great came out of the hard training I had been doing - speed and strength! While a marathon might not be on the table for next month, a half certainly is, and I imagine it's going to be a pretty good one!
Ethan's decision to learn how to swim so he can do a triathlon may seem like a huge feat. I mean, it definitely is, but he has been blind for most of his life now and in the water, he doesn't regard it as a reason why he "can't" do something. I've been around him twice now in the water and he is struggling just the same as any newbie in the water. I see him dealing with the same form problems I did when I first started - breathing naturally, not displacing body position, high elbows, even strokes. He's a strong guy - mentally and physically - and I'm sure he'll learn, just through description instead of demonstration.
It has got me thinking that time, effort, and dedication to a goal can bring you to it. If he can do a tri, I can do a marathon, but it will take patience and hard work. All told, I probably could suffer through the race in May, but I don't want to suffer. I want to finish a marathon with a sense that I worked hard and did a good job. I'll be postponing it for now, but that doesn't mean I won't keep working.
Similarly, last night, I looked back on my training from before I did my first Olympic distance triathlon. I couldn't find a single workout over 1800 yards. In fact the one I did find that was 1800 yards, I didn't do, and it was estimated that it would take me about 1:06 to finish the workout. Sheesh! Now I hesitate to even get in the pool unless I'm doing 2000 m (just under 2200 y) and that only takes me between 45-50 minutes. (Last night, 2000 m took me 47:17, to give perspective.)
When I first started swimming it felt like it would never end. I still vividly remember the workout, hanging on the side of the pool, when Coach Brett stopped to ask me if I was "ok" because I'd been hanging there for so long! I told him I was "resting between sets." I mean, I was. I was super tired, but also just REALLY TERRIBLE at swimming. 3 years later (those workouts were from April 2011)....I'm not terribly fast, but I'm pretty good at it!
Your goals may not come immediately, but sometimes if you put in long, hard hours, they will come eventually. It's important not to fixate on your weaknesses, but acknowledge them. Embrace your strength, and the rest will follow.
Over the past few weeks something very interesting happened to me:
While at a corporate function, my co-worker, Jeff, told me about when he volunteered for this running group that worked as guides for blind runners. Here he met a young man who had been kidnapped and blinded by a group of people in Africa when he was young. Now this man lived in Colorado and enjoyed running races.
Last week, in the pool, I saw a woman teaching a man how to swim. The lifeguard explained to me that this man was blind. I was shocked. Swimming blind sounds terrifying! It's hard enough with sight to not get anxiety in the water!
I posted on my friend's Facebook wall about how cool I thought this was and through the small community that is triathlon, the woman coaching this man was quickly identified and everyone was talking about how cool they thought it was that she was helping him learn to swim to do a tri in the fall.
Last night, they were back at the pool (whom I've now learned are Sasha - the coach, and Ethan, the athlete) and I introduced myself as the one who started the Facebook chain.
Today at work I told Jeff about it and he sent me this article: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13613618
As you may have guessed... it's the same guy!
I'm so impressed by what Ethan's doing, but as Sasha said, everyone has their story.
It's easy to look at someone's challenges and weigh them as more or less challenging than our own. I've recently given up on trying to complete Colfax marathon because a short-term injury set back my training and I won't be able to truly reach that distance by 5/18. That said, I think something great came out of the hard training I had been doing - speed and strength! While a marathon might not be on the table for next month, a half certainly is, and I imagine it's going to be a pretty good one!
Ethan's decision to learn how to swim so he can do a triathlon may seem like a huge feat. I mean, it definitely is, but he has been blind for most of his life now and in the water, he doesn't regard it as a reason why he "can't" do something. I've been around him twice now in the water and he is struggling just the same as any newbie in the water. I see him dealing with the same form problems I did when I first started - breathing naturally, not displacing body position, high elbows, even strokes. He's a strong guy - mentally and physically - and I'm sure he'll learn, just through description instead of demonstration.
It has got me thinking that time, effort, and dedication to a goal can bring you to it. If he can do a tri, I can do a marathon, but it will take patience and hard work. All told, I probably could suffer through the race in May, but I don't want to suffer. I want to finish a marathon with a sense that I worked hard and did a good job. I'll be postponing it for now, but that doesn't mean I won't keep working.
Similarly, last night, I looked back on my training from before I did my first Olympic distance triathlon. I couldn't find a single workout over 1800 yards. In fact the one I did find that was 1800 yards, I didn't do, and it was estimated that it would take me about 1:06 to finish the workout. Sheesh! Now I hesitate to even get in the pool unless I'm doing 2000 m (just under 2200 y) and that only takes me between 45-50 minutes. (Last night, 2000 m took me 47:17, to give perspective.)
When I first started swimming it felt like it would never end. I still vividly remember the workout, hanging on the side of the pool, when Coach Brett stopped to ask me if I was "ok" because I'd been hanging there for so long! I told him I was "resting between sets." I mean, I was. I was super tired, but also just REALLY TERRIBLE at swimming. 3 years later (those workouts were from April 2011)....I'm not terribly fast, but I'm pretty good at it!
Your goals may not come immediately, but sometimes if you put in long, hard hours, they will come eventually. It's important not to fixate on your weaknesses, but acknowledge them. Embrace your strength, and the rest will follow.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
New long run distance - 15 miles!
15.11 miles done. Ow. Longest run ever. Here's to what got me through it (other than 42 oz of water and 2 energy gels):
Miles 1-7 telling myself I could do it.
7-7.5 knowing I got to turn around
7.5-8 knowing I just turned around and was over halfway
8-10 it was mostly downhill
10 stopping at a gas station to refill my waterbottle
11 my gel and the water in the water bottle
12 Language - Porter Robinson
13 Pompeii - Bastille, Red Line - Wolfgang Gartner
14 Pompeii (again), Red Line (again)
15 knowing it was the last mile, some lady who said I was doing a good job though she could clearly tell I was wincing in pain, and some Avicii
So now I'm supposed to figure out how to bring myself to run 11.1 more?
*sigh* Marathons are really long.
Miles 1-7 telling myself I could do it.
7-7.5 knowing I got to turn around
7.5-8 knowing I just turned around and was over halfway
8-10 it was mostly downhill
10 stopping at a gas station to refill my waterbottle
11 my gel and the water in the water bottle
12 Language - Porter Robinson
13 Pompeii - Bastille, Red Line - Wolfgang Gartner
14 Pompeii (again), Red Line (again)
15 knowing it was the last mile, some lady who said I was doing a good job though she could clearly tell I was wincing in pain, and some Avicii
So now I'm supposed to figure out how to bring myself to run 11.1 more?
*sigh* Marathons are really long.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Step Two: Half Marathon [That Dam Run Race Report]
This is once of those races I'll never forget, let me set the scene for you:
8:30 PM, March 1
I'm checking the weather, as snow falls outside. The high at 9 am is supposed to be 18 degrees. I cringe. I start texting my friend Cookie to make sure she is really going to do it. She is. I set out my clothes.
6:00 AM, March 2
I wake up, it's sunny. 7 degrees outside. I look at the weather. Race start is 10 am and it is supposed to be 25 degrees. I decide this isn't bad. I eat breakfast.
8:00 AM
I'm getting dressed. It hasn't gotten warmer out - it's still 7 degrees. I walk the dog.
8:30 AM
I grab an extra wind breaker, just in case. It is now 8 degrees. I leave to drive there.
9:02 AM
I arrive at the race site. I have a text from Cookie. I call her while I'm parking the car. She's there. We meet up and go get our race packets. It is 9 degrees.
9:15 AM
We walk around the race site, trying to see if we can go in the high school next door to use the bathroom. It's locked. We miserably shiver back to Cookie's car.
9:20 AM
We sit in Cookie's car drinking water, staring at the thermometer and waiting for it to go up. It doesn't. It still says 10 degrees. I put on the new dry fit they gave us under my other clothes so I have another layer on.
9:45 AM
Amanda has joined us by now. We resolve we have to get out of the car to go to the bathroom and get on the race line. We shiver over to the porto-potties.
While waiting for the porto-potties it gets to be 10 am - race start. The race leaves when we are at the front of the line. It's chip-timed so we figure "eh, it's ok, we'll get there in a minute."
10:01 AM
Cookie is still in the porto-potty when they announced "Oh, btw, half marathoners need to start right now, we are switching mats for the 5k!" SWITCHING MATS? WHO DOES THAT?!
10:02 AM
Cookie comes out of the bathroom and we bolt through a sea of 5k'ers to get to the start. We tell the announcer we're half marathoners and he says "good luck." We're not sure if our chips will go off. Yes, it's still 10 degrees.
Cookie and Amanda and I all started running out together. Cookie insisted Amanda and I were faster and we should take off. Neither of us really had a desire to. We liked this 10 min/mile pace. We all chatted. My hands, despite how cold it was, heated up before mile 2 as usual so I handed my gloves to Amanda whose hands were FREEZING.
We kept talking and it was nice - I'm not usually one to talk during my races, but I didn't want to get too crazy on this one. It was a nice distraction really. But by mile 8, once I started to hurt a little, I knew I needed some focus so I told Cookie and Amanda I wanted to pop my music on and tune out. They seemed understanding. I know it can be rude, but we had a little over 5-miles left and I needed some focus in to make it through.
I started feeling pretty good - not that I hadn't but I was surprised to be an mile 8 and not so focused on counting down the miles to the end. We started hitting some uphills that definitely burned, one brought me to a walk, but all doable. Cookie and Amanda were always nearby, then they passed me on the uphills, but I caught up before mile 10 on the flat. On the last hill, Amanda and I lost Cookie. I could tell she was getting really tired and so far she had performed really well - better than she thought she would.
Amanda took off though, and Cookie told me she was strong and pretty fast. But soon enough, I found her again at the mile 11 water stop. I too took some water but then we started running together. She was getting tired, but I felt pretty good. I told her to just "cruise" which she later told me after the race was exactly what she needed to hear. A little while down she started walking and I came up and pushed her and told her she couldn't because we had to finish!
At the very end, there was another woman in front of us. I ran up behind her to suck her energy so I would have some kick. I brought my mile pace down around 9:30s for the last few miles and I was feeling it. She started to go though and it was hard - she felt me not come with her and she turned around and said "come on!" and we ran it in hard together.
I was really proud of my time, even if it wasn't my best, it was a big stride in a good direction. My goal was under a 10 min/mile which I achieved on both my Garmin and chip time.
I was really proud of Amanda for finishing shortly behind me - her first half EVER! And then proud of Cookie for her finish shortly after that. She exceeded her expectations for herself and that is always a good feeling!
Overall a great race for all three of us and a step in the right direction.
8:30 PM, March 1
I'm checking the weather, as snow falls outside. The high at 9 am is supposed to be 18 degrees. I cringe. I start texting my friend Cookie to make sure she is really going to do it. She is. I set out my clothes.
6:00 AM, March 2
I wake up, it's sunny. 7 degrees outside. I look at the weather. Race start is 10 am and it is supposed to be 25 degrees. I decide this isn't bad. I eat breakfast.
8:00 AM
I'm getting dressed. It hasn't gotten warmer out - it's still 7 degrees. I walk the dog.
8:30 AM
I grab an extra wind breaker, just in case. It is now 8 degrees. I leave to drive there.
9:02 AM
I arrive at the race site. I have a text from Cookie. I call her while I'm parking the car. She's there. We meet up and go get our race packets. It is 9 degrees.
9:15 AM
We walk around the race site, trying to see if we can go in the high school next door to use the bathroom. It's locked. We miserably shiver back to Cookie's car.
9:20 AM
We sit in Cookie's car drinking water, staring at the thermometer and waiting for it to go up. It doesn't. It still says 10 degrees. I put on the new dry fit they gave us under my other clothes so I have another layer on.
9:45 AM
Amanda has joined us by now. We resolve we have to get out of the car to go to the bathroom and get on the race line. We shiver over to the porto-potties.
While waiting for the porto-potties it gets to be 10 am - race start. The race leaves when we are at the front of the line. It's chip-timed so we figure "eh, it's ok, we'll get there in a minute."
10:01 AM
Cookie is still in the porto-potty when they announced "Oh, btw, half marathoners need to start right now, we are switching mats for the 5k!" SWITCHING MATS? WHO DOES THAT?!
10:02 AM
Cookie comes out of the bathroom and we bolt through a sea of 5k'ers to get to the start. We tell the announcer we're half marathoners and he says "good luck." We're not sure if our chips will go off. Yes, it's still 10 degrees.
Cookie and Amanda and I all started running out together. Cookie insisted Amanda and I were faster and we should take off. Neither of us really had a desire to. We liked this 10 min/mile pace. We all chatted. My hands, despite how cold it was, heated up before mile 2 as usual so I handed my gloves to Amanda whose hands were FREEZING.
We kept talking and it was nice - I'm not usually one to talk during my races, but I didn't want to get too crazy on this one. It was a nice distraction really. But by mile 8, once I started to hurt a little, I knew I needed some focus so I told Cookie and Amanda I wanted to pop my music on and tune out. They seemed understanding. I know it can be rude, but we had a little over 5-miles left and I needed some focus in to make it through.
I started feeling pretty good - not that I hadn't but I was surprised to be an mile 8 and not so focused on counting down the miles to the end. We started hitting some uphills that definitely burned, one brought me to a walk, but all doable. Cookie and Amanda were always nearby, then they passed me on the uphills, but I caught up before mile 10 on the flat. On the last hill, Amanda and I lost Cookie. I could tell she was getting really tired and so far she had performed really well - better than she thought she would.
Amanda took off though, and Cookie told me she was strong and pretty fast. But soon enough, I found her again at the mile 11 water stop. I too took some water but then we started running together. She was getting tired, but I felt pretty good. I told her to just "cruise" which she later told me after the race was exactly what she needed to hear. A little while down she started walking and I came up and pushed her and told her she couldn't because we had to finish!
At the very end, there was another woman in front of us. I ran up behind her to suck her energy so I would have some kick. I brought my mile pace down around 9:30s for the last few miles and I was feeling it. She started to go though and it was hard - she felt me not come with her and she turned around and said "come on!" and we ran it in hard together.
 |
| This is the end. I look like I'm actually having fun :) But that arm crossover...oops :) |
I was really proud of my time, even if it wasn't my best, it was a big stride in a good direction. My goal was under a 10 min/mile which I achieved on both my Garmin and chip time.
I was really proud of Amanda for finishing shortly behind me - her first half EVER! And then proud of Cookie for her finish shortly after that. She exceeded her expectations for herself and that is always a good feeling!
Overall a great race for all three of us and a step in the right direction.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Step One: 10k
Raced the 3W Prairie Dog Half and 10k this morning in Louisville, CO.
I knew my race didn't start until 8:30 but I found myself still stressing out on my drive up. I'd calculated it so I'd arrive just before 8, but I started getting anxious - what if they closed packet pick up at 8?
As usual, I arrived on time, 2 minutes before they started the half marathon and it was packed. I'm just really impressed by people who are fit enough to run a half marathon in the middle of the winter. As you can see, it was more than just a "few" people banging out 13.1 this AM. Well, go them.
I knew my race didn't start until 8:30 but I found myself still stressing out on my drive up. I'd calculated it so I'd arrive just before 8, but I started getting anxious - what if they closed packet pick up at 8?
As usual, I arrived on time, 2 minutes before they started the half marathon and it was packed. I'm just really impressed by people who are fit enough to run a half marathon in the middle of the winter. As you can see, it was more than just a "few" people banging out 13.1 this AM. Well, go them.
My marathon training said I was supposed to run 8 this weekend for my long run, but it's been a slow off-season and I signed up for this to get in a hard 10k to get things started.
I saw a handful of RMTC women lining up the starting area. Knowing they were probably faster than I am right now, I let them sort of break off. I knew my head would want me to try to keep up which would just be...bad news bears.
I told myself when I started to just relax - everyone has a tendency to go hard out of the gate. I tried to hold myself back. I'm glad I did, because coming through the first mile I was at 9:10 by the marker and 9:17 by my watch which is a little fast for me right now. To give you context, I was aiming for 9:40s for this race given what I've been running during workouts (9:45-50).
Still, the first 3 miles felt pretty great. I had to keep telling myself not to ramp it up. Sit back, don't over do it. I came through the 3rd mile-marker (which at that point was pretty in-sync with my watch) at 28 mins - so 9:20s. I thought "well, maybe the race atmosphere really does make a difference." Plus, I took yesterday off, even though that wasn't really the plan and I was feeling pretty ok this morning.
The turn around was a little far into the course which usually throws people off so I made the loop at 3.3 miles (by my watch, but seemed like by the markers too). Unfortunately it was then I noticed I'd been running on a slight downhill with my back to the wind and guess what I got to do now? Go all the way back up that hill in the wind. Great. Glad I saved up some of that energy.
It was a little tough but nothing seriously brutal on the way back. I got concerned when I couldn't find the 4-mile marker, but as I closed in on 5 I just gave up, deciding there were no more mile markers and I just had to keep going. Good thing I did, or I would've been worrying about the mile markers until the finish line.
So we forged through the wind, with a few turns of relief until we were right back head-on into it. I looked down at my watch at 5.9 thinking "ok, .3 to go" and we made a right turn looking at a straight-away to the finish line. I mean, talk about a beautiful design for the end of the course! .3 miles is a great kick, flat, not into the wind. THANK YOU RACE DESIGNERS.
Unfortunately, it was so windy that the finish line sign BLEW OVER as I was about 15 secs away from crossing the mat, and I had to run around it to a little open piece of mat that wasn't obstructed by the fallen sign and tripped crossing the second mat. I managed to regain my balance (and not fall over) and run over to where I'd dropped my water bottle.
Soon thereafter I saw the super-fast woman whom I'd bought my tt bike from, and we stuck up a conversation. She too was lamenting the wind (though she had 13.1 miles to deal with it - yuck!) but we agreed it was a beautiful day and I set off to grab another mile since technically my run today was supposed to be 8. As I started to breach 7 I knew I didn't have it in my legs to go much further (which is understandable, having just "raced" a 10k) and cleaned up at 7.2. I figure with my warm up run/drills I'm probably at least over 7.5 logged for the day so - not too shabby.
Oh, and in the end I crossed the line, by my watch, at 59:03 which averages at a 9:30. While not exactly a PR, I'm pretty happy with that since I was aiming for 9:40s. Glad to be in decent enough shape to knock out 7.2 miles in the middle of January.
4 more months until I attempt 26.2...
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Coming Back with a Bang
It's been about 2 months since I last posted.
I've gotten lost in the relaxation of the off-season.
Since last I wrote, I got a new job and, with a new job, comes a new commute. While, technically, my commute is shorter than it was before (mile wise) it is through thick traffic to drive in and then there is an issue of parking. My company provides us with year passes to ride public transit so I'd been driving to the station, where it is inexpensive to park, and taking the train in. Still, this makes my 7-mile commute take 42 minutes.
Alternatively, there is a paved trail just behind my house (that I often bike/run on) which goes almost directly to the front door of my building. 7.1 miles parking lot-to-garage door. So, with my Q4 profit-sharing bonus I bought myself this guy.
I've gotten lost in the relaxation of the off-season.
Since last I wrote, I got a new job and, with a new job, comes a new commute. While, technically, my commute is shorter than it was before (mile wise) it is through thick traffic to drive in and then there is an issue of parking. My company provides us with year passes to ride public transit so I'd been driving to the station, where it is inexpensive to park, and taking the train in. Still, this makes my 7-mile commute take 42 minutes.
Alternatively, there is a paved trail just behind my house (that I often bike/run on) which goes almost directly to the front door of my building. 7.1 miles parking lot-to-garage door. So, with my Q4 profit-sharing bonus I bought myself this guy.
It was on sale at Performance Bike (given that it's not exactly bike-buying season) and for a reasonable price, I have a sturdy single-speed with a little more tire girth, that is harder to take apart and steal. Now, weather permitting, it is 30-min to traverse these 7.1 miles (given hills, that I only have one gear, and places I have to stop and stuff) AND and extra 14-miles of riding tacked on to everyday I ride. To me, this is a bonus, BUT it also means I have to consider what it means to spend an extra hour on training days riding. It's still calories burned and energy expended. When this was 2-miles of riding in college, that wasn't bad, but 14 is a whole new ball game. I all ready started to feel the effect of the riding the other day - on an off season 1500-1800 cal/day diet. Exhausted, I plopped on my sofa for the night instead of heading off to the gym. "Why am I so tired? This is awful!" "Oh. Maybe because I've done an hour of riding today and haven't replenished those calories so I'm at a net intake of 1000. Yeah. That might be it."
Other than my commuting, I'm back to blogging because Monday, Jan 13 officially starts my marathon training! (AH! WHAT AM I THINKING?!) I signed up for the Colfax Marathon on my 24th birthday figuring, heck, the next day the price for the half was going to be the same as the full, so I might as well buy today and have the option. Plus, if I really want to consider an Ironman in the near future, I should probably try the marathon part. So, here we go. I'm going to start the training. I'm going to try. Should I be met with injury or...what have you, I will say it's not my year and back-off. My A-race is Silverman 70.3 in October so I need to be prepped for that. I'm not going to destroy myself over a marathon this year. Next year may be a different story, but that is the game plan for this year.
So there. I said it. I wrote it out. That makes it official.
Oh and I'm "racing" at 10k next week. (By "racing" I mean, I'll be running it as fast as I can run a 10k right now, which will not be nearly as fast as I know I can run a 10k given some more training time.)
Happy training!
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