A WOMAN IN MOTION

Tale of Two Race Reports: Frosty 5k and Disney Half Marathon

2012-01-24T10:11:00.001-05:00

I'm back... again. I am fighting tooth and nail with myself to not let this blog turn into a portfolio full of race reports. Unfortunately, over the past year I have grown extremely frustrated with Blogger and do not enjoy using the Blogger format. Often I will spend 2 hours writing up a post, inserting pictures, making sure that the texts wraps neatly around said pictures, hit submit... BAM! Blogger completely changes the format, erratic spacing is rampant, text doesn't wrap, etc... I will then spend another hour trying to edit out all of the erratic spacing in HTML before throwing my hands up and issuing an "apology for the spacing" as a footnote.

So there you have it. My goal is to migrate over to Word Press, but I'm scared. This blog is old and the posts that I made during 2008 are some of the most important journal entries of my life. I don't want to lose them (easily remedied by backing them up on my computer), but I also don't want them to be read by myself or others out of context. If I move to Word Press, I would like everything to move to Word Press. More on all of this later... onto my most recent race reports and two new PRs!

First up... the Frosty 5K!

DECEMBER 17, 2011
TWIN LAKES PARK, SARASOTA, FL
NEW 5K PR: 22:06

I had been looking forward to the Frosty 5k for the better part of the prior 6 months. It's one of the more interesting 5k courses because it's a mixture of asphalt, grass and packed shell terrain. Members in my running club spoke very highly of not only the course, but also of the race direction. Finally, it's held in Sarasota and is a pretty large event for a local race, so I knew that some really great local runners would be there. There's no better way to push yourself than to give chase!

It had been well over a year since I had run a 5k that wasn't attached to a sprint triathlon and even with all of the slow marathon training, the fact that I had just finished my first marathon 3 weeks earlier and the fact that this would not be the fastest of courses (with the grass and shell components), I was hoping that my open-5k PR from April 2010 (23:14) would go down.

It did! The morning wasn't particularly conducive to good running, but in South Florida we take whatever break we can get. It was 64F with 90% humidity... not ideal, but doable for a 5k. Although I was hoping for a small PR, I did not have high expectations nor did I really have any clue what I could race at. I had taken nearly two weeks off after the marathon to let the flexor tendons of my foot rest, so I had really only been back to running one week prior to this event. I felt a little bloated and a little out of shape. Nevertheless, I figured I would run a high 22:XX and so I seeded myself about 4 rows back from the starting line. Off we went... all 637 of us!

I love watching the rabbits at the beginning of a race. They run like wild fire, huffing and snorting away, and then collapse at precisely the 1/2 mile mark. I've done this in the past... more times than I care to admit, but over the past year (really since Disney 2011), I've gotten much better at understanding my RPE and how it relates to the outcome of an event. Interestingly enough, I think I may actually be short changing myself now... but more on that later.

I really tried to keep things in check during the first mile of this course. I let plenty of runners go by me and maintained my RPE. The grass portion of the course came upon us right before the 1 mile mark and I was surprised at how swiftly I moved over that part. I actually passed a fair amount of people on the grass. About 0.1 of a mile after the 1 mile mark clicked over, I did a quick pace check... and discovered that I was running about a 6:45 pace. Yikes! I immediately backed off. I felt OK, but I decided to reign it in anyway. My lack of 5k experience over the previous year left me confused. I really didn't know what I was capable of running for 3 full miles. I figured that at that point, I was definitely going to PR and that there was no point in trying to stretch my limits.

The final two miles were uneventful. I tucked in with a group of 3 men and we ran steady at around a 7:08 for quite sometime. My effort remained comfortably hard and I soon left the men and began to work on catching the two girls that I saw up ahead of me about 1/10 of a mile. One was wearing a tutu!

The last portion of the run is on packed shell. I love running on packed dirt and the shell was just as nice. Cushy! I run on concrete and asphalt 99.9% of the time where I live, so ANY change in terrain is wonderful! As we came around the lake, I inched closer and closer to the two girls ahead of me until all three of us were neck and neck at the sprint to the finish line (see picture below). Of course there had to be a dude in the way, so I decided to go around him... on the inside lane! Boo-ya! Lift those legs... sprint! I managed to out-sprint the the girl in the purple and the two dudes. Miss tutu beat me to the line by a mere second, but what a fun finish! I looked at the race clock and let out a big WOOO as I crossed the line! Feeling great!

Once in the finishing chute, I was able to gather myself and look at my watch. I had a new 5K PR... but dang, I was only 6 seconds from going sub-22! I then proceeded to recover from the sprint super quickly and of course, promptly chastised myself for not giving a bit more in miles 2 and 3. I wound up 3rd in my AG (with two insanely worthy competitors taking first & second-- girls I will never be as fast as unless I attach rockets to my back) and 13th overall out of 348 women. I smiled all day after that race, satisfied with the knowledge that I can absolutely run sub-22 and freakishly excited about what the Disney Half Marathon in 3 weeks would bring.

Race Splits: 7:13, 7:10, 7:07, 6:05 pace (.1 to the finish). Average pace: 7:07.

I managed to out-sprint everyone in this picture, except the tutu. Dang.

WALT DISNEY WORLD HALF MARATHON
JANUARY 7, 2012
NEW 1/2 MARATHON PR: 1:41:46

This race belonged to MSL! He is the biggest Donald Duck fan you could ever meet (he even has a Donald Duck tattoo) and he had been looking forward to this race since I brought home my Donald medal in 2011.

So first and foremost, my mind was set on making sure that MSL was ready and that he would absolutely PR at this race. His training had gone beautifully. He was nailing all of his pace runs and I was confident that he would do well. As for myself, much like the Frosty 5K, I really didn't know what to expect. When you come off of marathon training (which in my case consisted of a low of easy, slow mileage and pretty much NO speedwork), any sort of race that might push you out of that comfort zone is really a big old question mark. You just don't know how your body will react. My half marathon PR was set on this same course in 2011... a 1:48:21 over 13.32 miles (yes, I ran the course long). My goal for 2012 was to PR the course, but my goal was ~1:45 with a super-secret goal (the one that you don't dare tell anyone) of ~1:43. Unfortunately, I had done 2 HMP-focused training runs after the Frosty 5K and was really doubting if 1:43 was even a remote possibility. Those pace runs felt so dogone HARD!

The weather for this race pretty much mimicked that of the 2011 Philadelphia Marathon and even though I would have preferred it to have been cooler and dryer, the fact that the conditions were the same as Philly provided me with a sense of confidence. At least the weather would not be an unknown. It was 51F at race start with 96% humidity. Nice and cool, but definitely sticky. Typical Florida winter morning.

Disney is a really large race and this year there were 27,000 people running the half marathon. It is also a walker-friendly race, so it tends to attract a wide range of abilities. Thankfully, I was once again seeded in corral A. Scott was with me (doubly thankful). Last year I started about 3/4 of the way back in corral A thinking that the people in front of me HAD to be much faster than I was; this year, I did not make that mistake. I started myself about 1/4 of the way back from the starting line which was a really good move. I still had to pass a lot people in that first mile and a half, but it wasn't nearly as bad as last year.

It's no secret that I love large races. I love how I have a built in pace manager (there's no chance of going out too fast when you are packed into a corral like cattle) and I love using the energy of others out on the course. I thrive on it! I used the congestion of that first mile to my advantage and ran at an 8:04 pace. I felt good, everything felt loose, I was high-fiving the Disney characters on stilts, passing people right and left and moving forward. I knew that if I averaged around an 8 min/mile that I would make my 1:45 and PR; I felt good.

And then I felt better...

In true Sherry-style, it takes me no less than 4 miles to really warm up and I seem to be trending towards negative & even split races, with my fastest cluster of miles coming late in the race. I did this at Philly and I did it again at Disney.

I felt really good during this race. Comfortably hard, right where I should be. I peaked at my watch here and there and often saw either 7:40 or 7:35 pace being displayed. I knew that this was going to lead to a faster time than even 1:43; I just didn't know where it was all coming from and every now and then my confidence would be shaken a bit. Could I really reach the finish line at this type of pace without blowing up somewhere around mile 12?

I could and I did. Yahoo!

By mile end of mile 11, the only real thing bugging me was the fact that I was running this course long again... by 2 tenths of a mile. In a half marathon, that's really a lot of time. When I hit mile marker 12, the clock flashed 1:34 and change, of course, I was at mile 12.32 by my watch. Argh. A bit of quick calculation (it's always a good thing when you can still do math at mile 12 in a half marathon) and I realized that if I had run this course at a true 13.1 distance, that I would be able to finish ~1:40. Holy cow! Math also told me that because I was running the course long, that I was going to have to be happy with something around a 1:41. No crying from me though... this was a huge milestone and I was determined to run as close to that 1:40 mark as I could, so it was time to turn on the afterburners.

Afterburners... sometime during the last 0.3 miles. A very rare "airborne"
shot of me. I have such a high cadence when I run (up around 94-96 rpm), that
I usually never get a shot a like this. One foot is always on the ground.

The word elated does not cover it. I was beyond thrilled with my performance at the Disney Half. It was very unexpected and I know now that I can be a sub-1:40 half marathon runner. Way back when, I remember thinking to myself that there was no way in heck that I would ever be capable of running under 1:40. No way! That was for people with a heck of a lot more natural ability than me. Yet, here I am. On my Garmin, I ran 13.32 miles (ironically, the same distance as last year) in 1:41:50 (av of 7:38 pace). A 7:38 pace actually puts me at 13.1 miles in 1:40:04. Being that Disney is not necessarily the type of course that a person sets a PR on (it's way too crowded and not entirely flat), sub-1:40 was truly right there. Oh my!

I love having all of these new goals to work towards now. Just when I thought that I might be plateauing, here I am setting new personal bests at distances that I hadn't even specifically trained for. I think that makes it even sweeter!

Race Splits: 8:04, 7:38, 7:43. 7:36, 7:41, 7:46, 7:36, 7:42, 7:39, 7:43, 7:36, 7:40, 7:10, 6:47 pace (for .32 miles to the finish). I finished 22/1925 in my age group (top 1%) and 123/12322 in gender (also top 1%). I forgot to set my watch to capture the half-way split, but I did gather some good HR data from this race, averaging 175 bpm which is 7 beats more than what I averaged at the Philly marathon. I don't train with HR, but I do love utilizing a few of the really good HR spreadsheets out there. Data geek!

Voila! A new personal best... and a new goal to shoot for!

MSL, born to run the Duck (as we affectionately call this race), had a huge PR himself. He knocked 6 minutes off of his previous half marathon PR (from 2010) and took nearly 10 minutes off of his Philly Half Marathon time from this past November. Not too bad for a guy who pretty much spent 2011 in the saddle. I expect to be chasing his booty soon! So proud of you sweetie!

Race Report: Philadelphia Marathon

2011-12-10T11:48:00.001-05:00

PHILADELPHIA MARATHON

November 20, 2011

The idea of completing a marathon first entered my mind in late January of 2008. Spirit of the Marathon was scheduled for a one-night only showing at our local theater and although I had only been run/walking for a little more than one month at that point in time, I felt absolutely compelled to see the movie.

I recall feeling incredibly awkward while standing in the theater hallway. I was surrounded by people who I guessed were real runners... unlike my wannabe-self. I eavesdropped on their conversations, wishing that I had something to contribute. Alas, they were talking about their racing history (I had never raced), GPS watches (I was waiting for my first non-GPS "running" watch to arrive in the mail) and of course, the marathon (I was on week 7 of Couch to 5K). Did I even belong at this movie?

The theater doors parted and we all entered. I walked into the theater feeling like a wannabe... I exited feeling like a runner. Walk/run, hobble, plod, jog, sprint, shuffle, float... it didn't really matter how I was getting from point A to point B, all that mattered was that I was getting there.

I left the theater that evening with great personal respect for the marathon distance. It was clear to me that night that someday I would complete a marathon, but I knew that it wasn't going to be anytime soon. It's difficult for me to put into words exactly how I feel about the marathon. Suffice it to say that for me, it sits up on a pedestal, high above any other endurance event that I have done or will ever do. I wanted to train and race for it on my own terms, with a few years worth of running and endurance experience under my belt. I wanted to give it the respect that I knew it demanded. In the end, it was worth the wait.

Philadelphia 2011 was not supposed to be my first marathon. I was actually scheduled to run my first one in February 2011 at 26.2 with Donna- The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer. By early December 2010, I knew that this was going to be impossible for me to do... at least in the way that I wanted to do it. I had not left enough time for base training between Beach 2 Battleship Half Iron and a 2.5 week trip to Colorado Springs in December (um, altitude baby) seriously put a dent in my ability to get in any long runs. By the end of our Colorado trip, I had decided to opt out of 26.2 with Donna.

When registration opened for Philadelphia 2011, it became my numero uno. The race would take place on my 35th birthday in the city that I was born in! Surely, fate had a hand in this, right?

RACE PREP

Enjoying fall in NJ the day before
the marathon. Legs up!

For nearly 8 months (April 1st through November 20th), the marathon was what I lived and breathed for. I had a few triathlons on the calendar that I needed to get through first, but on May 17th, I declared myself to be in "Marathon Prep" mode. I completed my last triathlon for the season in mid-July and then completely traded in my goggles and helmet for a pair of baby blue Nike Vomeros.

From mid-May through my final week of taper before the race, I ran 850.2 miles. From August 1st through marathon race day, I ran 603 miles for an average of 37 miles per week over a 16 week period. I had 7 weeks where I ran 40+ mile weeks, which includes one peak week of 50.9 miles. I ran 4 long runs, each spaced two weeks apart: 17.5, 19, 20, 19. I also had a mid-week "longish" run that ranged in distance from 10 to 11 miles. Looking back, the fact that I averaged only 37 miles per week over a 16-week block would be considered very low mileage for marathon prep, but my biggest fear was not being able to reach the start line due to an injury, so I took the slow boat to China in terms of progressive overload. I think the fact that I did as well as I did on relatively low mileage means that there is a lot of room for improvement for me at this distance. Overall, I feel that I absolutely nailed my training for my first marathon and would not change a single thing about my approach.

EXPO, ETC...

Expo time!

I was not at all nervous about racing Philadelphia-- a fact that had me concerned the night before about whether or not I was being overconfident. Sure, I had some excited butterflies swirling around, but I was not nervous about the distance itself. I had nailed every single one of my long runs and well, I guess I just felt very prepared. I felt that aiming for 4-hours (I really wanted sub-4) was completely achievable. I just had to go out there and follow my race plan from mile 1.

We flew into Philly on Friday, November 18th, picked up the rental car and drove right to the expo for packet pick-up. The expo sort of stunk. Maybe it's just that after a while if you've been to one expo, you've been to them all. Same vendors, same set-up, different zip code.

I take it all back... I was worried, but not about the race itself; rather, I was concerned about a few external factors.

Pinning on my bib! Let's go!

#1 - Lovely Aunt Flo was due on the 18th and was turning me into a bloated, crampy, PMS of a mess! I spent the 48-hours before the marathon worrying more about what in the world I would do if I got my period the day before the race, race morning, during the race, etc... than the fact that it was going to be unseasonably warm on race day. Aunt Flo ended up arriving a full week late, leaving me only to deal with full-blown PMS on race morning. As if carb loading doesn't bloat a person enough, right?

#2- The weather. Typical race-start temp for Philly is 37F. Not this year. This year, we started off at a balmy 50F. It was 61F by the time I finished the race. The poor Northern folks did not know what to do with themselves. I don't say this often, but for once I was happy that I was from Florida. I heard a lot of "it's too hot and humid," from folks all around me and while I would have loved for it to have been 10-15F cooler, not once did I find myself thinking, "heat or hot." I nearly passed on the mylar blankie at the finish line, but I wanted it for a souvenir.

PRE-RACE

Yum!

My choice of pre-race meal is either pancakes or french toast. Pre-Philly, I chose french toast. Scott and I indulged in our feast around 4PM the evening before the race. I had a few bites of scrapple too. I know, I know... no grease before a race, but it was fresh scrapple. I had to.

At 10 PM, after packing a portable "goody" bag to control Aunt Flo should she decide to join me on race day, I flopped into bed. I slept for a whopping 3.5 hours and then was wide awake. This is the first time ever that I have slept this lightly before a major race. Thank goodness I slept like a rock on Friday night. I laid in bed and played around on Facebook until 4:30 AM, when the alarm clock signaled that it was time to get moving! A little bit of eyeliner and waterproof mascara and I was ready to go!

MSL and I arrived in Philly right before 6AM. We quickly slipped into a parking lot on Vine Street and then made our way towards the starting area. It didn't take me long to realize that at 50F there was no need for arm warmers or even for any pre-race, tossable clothing. So, before dropping our race bags off at the bag check-in, I stripped off all of my unnecessary layers, leaving on only a pair of thin gloves.

Scrapple! Double yum!

Next came the hunt for a port-a-john... of which the race was about 500 short! I've been racing for 4 years now and tend to arrive at races very early. Never have I been squeezed out of using a port-a-john... until this race. The lines were at least 30 to 40 minutes long (they were unbelievable) and we had a 20 minutes to race start. We walked all over the place trying to search for shorter lines, but there were none. Everyone looked to be in a panic.

This is where being a pee-all-over-yourself triathlete comes in handy! There we were, standing right across the street from the majestic art museum and I was about to break the law and urinate in public. I found a section of grass that was covered in leaves, sat on the ground, pulled my shorts aside, pretended that I was wild animal (they are free to pee wherever, right?)... and went. Sweet relief. MSL was a bit less tactful than I was, but I won't go into that. Let's just say that he made our dog, Koby, very proud.

Proud and pumped after peeing in public, MSL and I made our way to the Green corral with a few minutes to spare. Oh, I was so darn excited! We hugged and kissed each other good luck. He knew what a special moment this was for me and how patiently I had waited for it. The half and full participants go off together at Philly and I feel so lucky to have been able to share those minutes before the race with MSL.

THE RACE

Race goal: Sub 4 hours (3:59:59 would do)

Race plan: Go out easy and gradually warm up over the first mile or two, easing to ~9:05 pace. Re-eval pace at the 10k mark; Re-eval pace at halfway mark; Re-eval pave at 20 mile mark. Run by feel. Finish strong.

MILE 1 through MILE 5 (aka, public service announcement: This is not a half marathon!)

The first 5 miles of this race is full of energy... just like any other race. I reminded myself over and over again during the first 2 miles that this was a marathon, not a half marathon and that the better I kept things in check now, the stronger I would be at the end. "Let it feel just this side of too easy, Sherry." Apparently, I listened well. Pace was slightly faster overall than I had planned for, but it still all felt incredibly easy. I learned a lot about myself while training for this race and one thing was certain, I was not going out too fast. I continued to run by feel.

9:02

8:54

8:48

9:01

8:55

Somewhere around mile 14. Smiling,
but getting ready to take that Tylenol.

MILE 6 through MILE 13 (aka, Philadelphia is an old, lopsided and slightly hilly city with heavily cambered roads that are not kind to my fragile, Florida legs).

This course presents runners with a few challenges. Despite what some reviews say, this course is not flat. Not even by Florida standards. There are no insane hills like you would find in mountainous regions, but there are ski resorts just outside of Philly for a reason. In addition, the old roads are heavily cambered and there are some very steep downhill sections. My muscles can do hills fairly well (I run larger bridges here in Florida to train for this), but I think it's near impossible to train for heavily cambered roads unless you have heavily cambered roads to train on. Maybe I can try flipping a treadmill on its side next time?

8:37 - settling in now

8:26 - relatively flat section with a little downhill blip right at the
end of the mile.

8:58 - gradual climb for a full mile.

8:35

8:50 - steepest incline of the race

8:54 - this section is entirely downhill on a steeply pitched road. I thought the tendons and

ligaments of my ankles and lower legs were going to come off of the bone. I debated on

walking portions of this, but instead just slowed myself down as best as I could. It was

so steep that it was actually difficult to slow down.

8:51 - my ankles were really hurting from the downhill section between mile 10 &

11. I longed to stop and stretch my legs, but my determined brain would not let me.

8:45 - I hit the 13.1 mark at ~ 1:56. Right before I hit the half, I thought about the fact that on

this day, 35 years earlier, my mother and father made their way into City of Brotherly

Love to welcome me into the world. I thought of my beloved Grandfather who had

passed on just a month earlier-- knowing how proud he would be of me. That was a very

special and emotional moment of the race for me.

MILE 14 through MILE 17 (aka, it's time for my first ever painkiller during a race)

8:36

8:44 - My ankles were in so much pain that I feared that if I did not take some of the Tylenol that

I had brought along to control a possible visit from Aunt Flo, that I was not going to be

able to complete the race without walking. I have never taken a painkiller during a race

before and I absolutely do not advocate it, but ya gotta do what ya gott a do. I made the

call, took a single pill and prayed for enough relief to get me through.

8:38

8:46

MILE 18 through MILE 20 (aka, sometimes you have to fall in order to fly)

9:01- Oh my. What is this. I feel loopy and dizzy. Is this the "wall?" Can I still do a simple

arithmetic problem? Yes, but barely. Ok, what do I need right now to make myself feel

better? Calories? Salt? Both? Right then and there, I made the decision to

ditch the nutrition plan that had worked so well for me for months (a combo of Honey

Stinger chews, an occasional salt tab and water) and switched over to straight-up,
lemon-lime Gatorade combined with the Stinger Chews. I took in as much of it as I could
at each aid station. Within a mile or two I felt SO much better.

8:54

8:53 - Took an orange slice from a spectator in Manayunk. Yum. So sweet. Attempted to toss

the peel onto the side of the road and hit another spectator square in the face. There is a

reason why I don't play softball. I hope he heard my apology, but just in case he is a

Philly Marathon blog stalker, I am soooo sorry!

MILE 21 though MILE 25 (aka, the fastest chunk of the day OR let's pass at least 200 people)

*I apologize for the formatting from this point on. Blogger fought me for more than an hour... and I guess Blogger won*

Somewhere near the end of mile 25...
obviously feeling tense.

8:40 - With a steady supply of Gatorade

now flowing through my veins,

my pace picked up and I started

flying by all of the carnage that

was beginning to appear on the

sides of the road.

8:44

8:35

8:28 - Law of Conservation of Energy

(ok, not really, but just go with it).

Seriously, there is nothing and I

mean nothing like passing

people at the end of a race and

sucking the sweet energy right

out of them. You then use this

energy for yourself. Ok,

this sounds mean, right?

Seriously though, don't knock it

until you experience it for

yourself (and everyone will). It's

delightful! ** I can say this b/c I

have been on the other

the energy-sucking spectrum

a countless number of times**
8:39

MILE 26 through MILE 26.57 (aka, Heavily cambered roads lead to lopsided finisher's picture! Waterproof mascara works! Hey, did I technically run an ultra?)

All crooked at the
finish line!

8:53 - Slightly uphill now. Glycogen is running low. Based on the fact
that my pace had fallen off a bit from the previous couple of
miles, I was pretty sure that I was going to have just

enough fuel left in me to get across the finish line and not one
step more. I was crying like a baby at this point. Very thankful for
waterproof mascara.

8:26 pace (.57 miles) - I reached 26.2 miles at 3:51:xx an 8:46 average
pace! {insert expletives of excitement} Chip time for 26.57 miles
ends up being 3:53:09, an 8:53 average pace.
Mission accomplished and then some. I crossed the finish line with about 50 of my closest friends (my other 26,550 friends were either finished or still out on the course) and then waddled over to a volunteer who was handing out pretty space blankies. At this point I understood the meaning of the marathon zombie shuffle. My goodness, my legs were moving fairly fast a minute ago; now they won't move at all! I also noticed that I was crooked. My lopsidedness was not just a product of shuffling my feet, I'm was literally crooked. My right hip was jutting out and I was bent at the waist to compensate. Darn cambered roads. I bought MSL a bright orange sweatshirt right before the race and instructed him to wear it while he was waiting for me. It worked like a charm. He stuck out like a sore thumb and I was able to find him relatively quickly. There were a lot of hugs, kisses and tears. I made it! It was worth it! I want to do it again! So happy!

RACE STATS- CHIP TIME
26.2 miles in 3:53:09 (8:53 pace)

Splits: Front 13.1 in 1:56.48
Back 13.1 in 1:56:21
How's that for even splits?

Place AG: 182/768 females aged 30-34 (top 23%) . Note: I turned 35 on the day of the race, so I have no idea why they kept me in with the 30-34 year olds. If I had been put in the proper age group, I would have been138 out of 645 (top 21%) in females aged 35-39. See, age has its perks! Place Gender: 861/4271 females (top 20%)

I'm a data girl and I'm just really thrilled with all of the numbers that I posted above. I'm certainly not bragging; I'm not fast. However, this probably represents about as good of a first marathon as any. I often run negative splits in longer road races (rarely ever in shorter races b/c I go out too fast), but I still can't believe that I ran near even splits. Even splits are like the gold standard. So difficult to do. This race may have been a once in a lifetime performance.

THE AFTERMATH

Best race ever!

MSL and I didn't waste any time getting back to the car. We skipped the food line (the selection was pretty horrid anyway) and went straight for the salty broth. I grabbed a few cups worth and then sipped on them while we walked (he walked; I waddled) back to the car. My legs hurt so badly. I've never felt felt this kind of pain. I couldn't pinpont exactly what location hurt worst, just that everything really hurt. I was extra concerned about my right foot and ankle, which I felt had taken the brunt of the cambered roads. I did a lot of self-massage on my right foot on the way home only to get out of the car and find that the arch of my left foot was killing me. What the heck?

We celebrated my 35th birthday that evening with the family. I ate cake! Two pieces of it! My adorable nephews were told to take it easy on Aunt Sherry. While I iced my seemingly broken ankles, my 5-year-old nephew gave me a neck and shoulder rub. So sweet.

After making sure that I peed a few times (kidneys working- check), I took a couple of Tylenol and went to bed. I full-on expected to not be able to walk on Monday morning, but this was not the case. My upper legs (quads, hamstrings), really faired very well and while they were fatigued, I was not overly sore. I had been told that I wouldn't be able to walk up and down any stairs, but I truly was a-ok. What was not ok was my left arch. It felt strained. It hurt to walk. I ended up purchasing a pair of orthopedic clogs to wear b/c they were the only thing that seemed to take the edge off of the pain. At first I thought it was a plantar fascia issue, but the location was all wrong and I had no pain upon waking or any other symptoms typical of PF.

I took six full days off from all exercise after the marathon. Aside from my foot, I feel like my body recovered pretty quickly after the race, I massaged and iced my foot daily and while it felt better each day, I knew early on that it was going to be hanging around longer than I had hoped. Seven days after the marathon, I attempted a very short, easy run that ended in arch pain. I made an appt. with a podiatrist the following day and he diagnosed me with some flexor halicus longus tendonitis. I took another week off from running.

Celebrating 35 years!

Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since the marathon. I still get quite emotional just thinking about it. My left foot is serviceable, but not perfect. I can run on it and it tends to loosen up as I go along, but it's going to be a while before it's 100%. It's not broken, so I'm not staying off it. That's just the way it is. I guess I'm stubborn.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Oh, this is a tough one and perhaps I'll just save it for another post. I thought I would have a serious case of post-marathon blues and perhaps in some ways, I do. I mean, I just completed my first marathon and it went really, really well. Is it possible to duplicate this sort of effort... but do it faster? I believe so. I think I have a lot of room to grow at this distance and I'm really looking forward to the challenge.

THIS BLOG POST IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE TWO ATHLETES WHO PASSED AWAY AT THE 2011 PHILADELPHIA MARATHON: CHRIS GLEASON & JEFFREY LEE.

In the long run...

2011-10-03T13:50:00.002-04:00

On September 10th, Scott and the Brotherhood Ride arrived in
NYC! I was seeing him for the first time in 22 days when
this photo was taken. Crying my eyes out!

Nearly two months have gone by (again) since I've blogged. If I keep this trend up, it will be Christmas time before you hear from me again.

The last time I wrote, I mentioned that I was in full-on marathon mode. Nothing has changed, but I have hit some major running milestones.

1. Prior to embarking on marathon training, the longest run that I ever completed was 15 miles. I am now the proud owner of more 15+ mile runs than I can count.

2. I used to say that I liked to maintain a 10-miler as my long run base year-round. Now, a 10-mile run is my mid-week staple... and I truly believe that it's this run that makes my longer weekend run tolerable.

3. I'm holding between 45 and 50 miles per week right now and I can't believe that my body is still in one piece. Oddly enough, once I got up over 40 mpw for a few weeks, the minor aches and fatigue that I was feeling disappeared. I ran 19 miles yesterday (the most I've ever run at one time) and today, I feel like a normal girl. Sure, I would like to take a nap, but nothing is sore, nothing is stiff. I feel pretty darn good!

4. I did a lot of 14, 15 and 16 milers before I decided that I was ready to play around with the longer stuff. So far I have completed two extra long runs and both have gone perfectly! I did a 17.5 mile run while I was up in NJ two weeks ago (in 50F weather-- glorious) and a 19 miler here at home in Florida yesterday (in 68F weather-- again, glorious).

5. Right now I am running extra long every other week. So between the 17.5 mile run and the 19 mile run, I did 13 miles. Between the 19 miler that I did yesterday and my first 20 mile run (scheduled for October 16th), I will be doing 12 miles with some of those miles done at marathon pace for neuromuscular specificity. I have done this for most of this training cycle and it seems to be working very well for me. I'm actually able to closely maintain overall mileage for each week despite cutting back on the long run. When one run shrinks, another run grows... or I run 6 days instead of 5. Always alternating an easy run with a hard run. Again, I really feel like my mid-week, mid-distane runs (10 milers) are my bread and butter training runs. They make the jump to the long run feel well... not so long. I'm not injured, I feel good, my motivation is high and with only 7 weeks to go, I'd say that's a good sign.

6. Pilates continues to be a lifesaver for me. During July & August I was taking twice per week private sessions-- a jump start so to speak. Currently, I am taking duet sessions with my mom and doing some extra work on my own at home. I feel so stable in my core when I run now. When I begin to feel any sort of fatigue during a training session or if I feel my form starting to fall apart, I think... CORE! Everything sharpens right up!

Getting in a little hill work while in NJ.

7. The Philly marathon is 7 weeks away. SEVEN WEEKS! Since three of those weeks will be devoted to tapering, that leaves me with four weeks left for quality training. I was very lucky to have been able to spend a week in NJ during mid-September. Being able to run in significantly cooler weather allowed me to truly see where I was at. Things can be quite deceiving (and emotionally taxing) when most every run that I've done in the past 4 months has been in 85F-90F heat index with 99% humidity. A baby cool front also moved into South Florida a few days ago, so I feel that the results of my 19-miler are a good training indicator as well. I feel confident in my training and I know that I will cross the finish line in an upright position.

8. Race day goals... we love to talk about them. They scare us and excite us at the same time. Philadelphia will be my first marathon, so the only goal that I should have would be to finish, right? Well, wrong. I don't think I've truly had "finish" as my only goal for any race that I've ever done except for maybe my very first triathlon. And ya know... I'm not even certain about that one. I have always, always had a time goal. That's just the way that I roll. Type "A" to the core. Have I been disappointed a few times? Yes, more than once, but not once have I ever had regrets about wanting to do more than just finish.

So, I'm gonna just put it out there. My race history and training indicate that it's a very realistic goal. If I don't meet the goal exactly on race day, I trust that my world will not end (ok, maybe it will end for a little while).

Here's the Florida crap-shoot. I have no recent race results to go on. Nobody and I mean nobody, can race in Florida during the months of May through the end of September and pump out times that truly mean anything. Maybe they would mean something if this marathon was being held in Florida, but it's not. It's being held in the Northeast in weather that will be 35-40F cooler than what I've been training in. So, I have based my training and overall goal off of a half marathon that I ran in January (on an average of 20 training miles per week) and an 8k that I ran in March (on about the same amount of training as the half).

The on-line calculators like to tell me that based on January's half, I could run a 3:48 if properly trained; based on the 8k, I could run a 3:37 if properly trained. Well, let's just toss these out the window. These are all absurd right now because I'm not "properly" trained. This is my first ever marathon and experience plays a HUGE part in the outcome, just like any distance race. However, if I am able to properly pace myself (and not dart out of the starting chute with a fire under my ass), I feel that realistically I can run somewhere around 3:55 to 4 hours. So, I'm setting my sites on a 4 hour goal. Anything right around that 4 hour mark will make me a very happy girl. Actually, I will be cool with anything under 4:20 (as in I will still celebrate at the finish line and not mope around for weeks afterwards). Anything over 4:20 and Scott may have to divorce me.

9. A few weeks ago I attended a RRCA coaching certification class in Harrisburg, PA. It was awesome, awesome, awesome! I was familiar with a lot of the information, but I also learned a great deal... especially about physiology. It's one thing to "know" that endurance is built via progressive overload and LSD training (the long run, the long ride, the epic swims), but do most of us know "why" this is so? I will admit that I did not totally understand the "why" and I bet there are a lot of athletes out there just like me. There is a lot of physiology behind aerobic base building, but one thing that really hit home for me is that long, slow training teaches our bodies how to tap into our fat stores, while sparing some of our precious glycogen. Our body requires glycogen in order to utilize our fat stores. If we do not train properly, overestimate our pace and/or do a myriad of other things, we use up every drop of that glycogen and then we... hit the wall! When I run long these days, I actually visualize my body tapping into my fat stores and morphing me into an efficient fat-burning beast with a limitless supply of calories for fuel! Heck...it beats thinking about how hot it is, right? It also reminds me not to overshoot my training pace. There's a lot more to endurance training, but for me, knowing how it improves fuel efficiency was enough to get me to slooooow down and be patient.

10. Last but not least, triathlon may have lost me to running. I am in love. I keep saying that if my body would hold up, I would run 10 miles every day. Who knows, maybe through time it will. Lately I've been telling people that I am a "triathlete turned runner." A bit unconventional, 'eh? There's just something about running... a sweet, special, simplistic something.

Rapid-fire Recap

2011-08-15T12:23:00.002-04:00

Where, oh where, has my little blog gone?

My longest blogger break has officially come to an end. The break was completely unplanned, but I'm glad that I took it. I needed some time to think about my goals for the future and then some additional time to settle into a plan to get me there. Compared to the last three summers, training has been very different for me and that has taken some getting used to.

What follows is a rapid-fire recap of what I consider to be the most important highlights of summer 2011.

Hardware at the FIT triathlon

May 14th- Florida International Sprint Triathlon. Eventually I will connect a brief race report to the sidebar link, but for now, let's just say that this triathlon was "interesting" and I'll get to that part in a moment. As mentioned in my post on May 13th (also the last time that I blogged), the run portion of this race had been moved to the beach and I was dealing with a case of peroneal tendonitis. Although I was not thrilled about the beach run, I decided to bite the bullet and waddle through it if I had to. The "interesting" part of this race were the myriad of tidal pools that formed along the run course that morning. Hence, there was never any flat sand to run on. In the end, FIT was more like a sprint aquabike with a muddy buddy run attached to it. I did manage take 1st place in my age group and 4th overall female. In retrospect, I actually enjoyed the unconventional run. I may sign up for an Xterra someday.

May 17th- I began easy base training for my November marathon. As the weeks went by, I peppered my run training with some short, easy-paced bike riding and absolutely no swimming!

13th anniversary trip to St. Augustine came to a screeching halt
when the mother of all back spasms struck!

End of June- The tightness in my right hip/lower back that had first developed during Spring 2008 and then roared it's angry head during Spring/Fall 2010, was beginning to nag me again. Around the same time MSL decided to suprise me with a surprise anniversary trip to St. Augustine. This wonderful trip came with a 5 hour car-ride which caused my hip/back to wildly protest. The pain escalated to a point where I couldn't bend over, I couldn't get into my MINI because it's too low to the ground, I couldn't even sit comfortably on the couch. Lying flat was the only comfortable position. I knew the pain was muscular since it had been relieved through Meilus Muscular Therapy in 2008, but since then, I had done nothing to actually "prevent" a reoccurrence. On July 1st, I decided that my aversion to strength training and diligent stretching needed to come to an end. I contacted an awesome trainer & Stott Pilates/TRX instructor that I knew from my "aerobics" days and began training with her twice per week. Six weeks later and I feel like a new person. No pain, lots of happy miles... life is good.

Chillin' in crisp, cool GA mountain water.

July 16th- Englewood Sprint Triathlon. Again, I will eventually attach a brief race report. This local triathlon was to be my last tri of the season. I had not set foot in any water since the FIT tri in mid-May and had only put in a "whopping" 230 bike miles over a 2 month period. I was in complete "marathon mode" at this point and knew that I was probably going to scrape by with the skin of my teeth. Scrape, indeed. My swim time was 20 seconds slower than the previous year, my bike was 8 seconds slower and my run... eeks... was 2:30 slower! Just goes to show that triathlon is three sports. My loss of swim/bike fitness definitely affected my ability to run (at a time in my life when I am running better than ever). I did, however, manage to capture another 1st place age group placement. So while it was not my finest moment (and I knew that it wasn't going to be), I was able to ride the coattails of the training that I had done for St. Anthony's.

Fail on the Georgia trails (my leg was worse)!
Thankfully, I didn't ruin my Lulu tank.
That would have been something to cry over!

July 27th- Hills! MSL and I joined a couple of our friends in the Georgia mountains. MSL's goal was to put the final touch on his training for the upcoming 1600 mile Brotherhood Ride to NYC and my goal was to get off the concrete for a while and enjoy the shock absorbing trails. Well, while my legs felt great the entire time (dirt sure is cushy), I was pushed waaaaay out of my comfort zone on all of my runs. The area that we were staying in is famous for the Tour de Georgia and the ultra challenging Six-Gap Century ride; hence, there wasn't a piece of "flat" or even "semi-flat" to be found. I suffered in those mountains for three days! I developed a blister the size of an Easter egg on my right sole, fell over some rogue rocks and bled like a stuck pig and was reminded that while easy-paced runs are the core of marathon training, it was time for me to get a little speed back in my legs and open my lungs up.

July 4th! The "white" is not b/c it's cold out.

August 15th- Training. The 2011 Philadelphia Marathon looms on the horizon a mere 14 weeks away. I am pleased with how things have been going and am also ridiculously excited! Thanks to a mix of smart training, Pilates and TRX, my body is holding up well and I really can't complain. I am super glad that I began training in mid-May and not in early July (which is when many 20 week marathon plans would have started) as it has allowed me to cautiously ramp up mileage. My only concern right now is with the heat. Our lows do not get below 80F at this time of the year and morning humidity always averages between 96-99%. The humidity drops a bit around 2PM, but by then the heat index is well above 100F with full-on "sunburn sun." It is not at all unusual for me to end a morning run in a heat index of 90F or slightly above. I will not, however, run in a heat index higher than 95F-- that's just insane. It would be easier to deal with the temperatures if we had a break in the weather trend, but unfortunately, when you live in South Florida it's crazy hot and humid every single day. MSL and I like to joke about the fact that being a weather forecaster down here must be awfully boring if there isn't a hurricane swirling around: High of 95/Low 80... every single, darn day for months at a time!

MSL's Brotherhood Ride kit- 1600 miles
and 22 days worth of cycling (Naples, FL to NYC).
We will never, ever forget the 411 police,
fire and EMS personnel who made the ultimate
sacrifice nearly 10 years ago.

In past years, I have complained ad nauseum about my dislike of the oppressive Florida heat and humidity. This year, however, my only complaint is that it's very difficult to determine a race pace for Philly (typically 49F) when all I've got to go on is a wonky, heat-skewed take on RPE and HR. My body works so hard to keep my core cool that turning over my legs is a distant afterthought. So, two weeks ago I decided to raise the white flag and do two of my weekly runs indoors on the thrillmill. I'm hoping that this will allow me to somewhat properly prep my muscle fibers for race pace and also keep me more hydrated throughout the week.

If it isn't already blatantly obvious, this blog is now in "run mode" and it may very well stay that way 'till the end of time. I've always loved pure running much more than triathlon, but unlike the pure runner who discovers triathlon through cross-training, I pretty much jumped feet first into triathlon and then fell in love with running. Totally backwards, but then again, I have always marched to my own drummer.

Taped up and ready to race!

2011-05-13T14:37:00.004-04:00

Official diagnosis: Peroneus longus tendinitis

The best guess that the Doc and PT can come up with is that by stupidly switching to a stability shoe, I caused an overcorrection in my left foot. Evidently high arches put stress on the peroneal tendons and the stability shoes just made things worse. Lesson learned.

Pre-race accessorizing. Also notice the cute
dog butt in the background. :-)

I had my first physical therapy session yesterday and all went well. I actually told the PT that I felt "weird" seeing him because I really wasn't in any pain. Yes, I've been resting... a lot. He went through the initial eval, found quite a few tender spots down my left lateral shin/ankle and in the medial arch of my foot where... ta-da... peroneus longus inserts. After the evaluation, I was treated with some manual therapy and ultrasound. I was also warned that I would probably be sore today, which I am.

The PT found some other issues with my legs, namely with my achilles and calves. With my history of calf issues, this did not surprise me. What did surprise me was the therapist's inability to even get my achilles to a neutral position. My lower legs are ridiculously tight and are probably going to need to some serious attention in the near future (aka next week). I can't imagine training for a marathon like this. Time for me to woman-up on the stretching and strengthening as well (two things that I am VERY bad about doing) and get my butt back to ART treatment.

I left the office with my peroneus longus kinesio-taped and will be sporting my new fashion accessory at the race this weekend.

Speaking of tomorrow's sprint tri, four days ago the RD uploaded the "NEW" run course. Guess who gets to run on the powdery white sugar sand of Siesta Key beach this weekend? Me! No, I am not jumping for joy here. Remember, I'm prone to calf injuries. I would have never signed up for this race had I known this was going to be a beach run. The previous two years have had a packed-trail run start with the remainder taking place on concrete & asphalt. This year, the RD decided to change it up at the very last minute and bring it "back to the beach by popular demand." My guess is that he couldn't obtain permitting. Anyway, thanks for the generous "head's up" Florida International Triathlon RD. Boo-hiss to you.

I'm thankful that this isn't an "A" race for me and that I am not doing the Olympic distance tomorrow. 5k of the soft stuff is more than enough for anyone. If I had been registered for the Oly, I would have requested a "medical" refund (which doesn't exist on paper). That being said, I have successfully moved on from "angry" to just a wee bit "bitter" and am motivated to go out there and do what I can. I've pretty much sat around for the last 2 weeks (minus St. Anthony's), so expectations aren't high. Low pressure is always good for me, so who knows how all of this will turn out.

The big 'ole achievement in all of this is that it looks like I'm about complete my "3 triathlons in 5 weekends" challenge! YES! This is not just a physical accomplishment for me, but a huge mental one as well. I honestly never thought that my body would allow me to stack races so close together. I believe that nutrition (affecting recovery) and the spacing/quality/duration of my workouts has been key. I felt terrific after St. Anthony's... better than any race in the past. If my peroneal tendon hadn't been acting up, I could have really nailed down some quality training in the week that followed. In the past, I have felt the need for some serious down time even after sprint efforts. However, apparently my fluid intake and race-day/post-race nutrition was spot-on for St. Anthony's because not only did I have a great race, but I felt great afterwards. I truly think this made all the difference in the world. I hope that I will be able to duplicate this in the future.

So tomorrow I will race FIT a bit broken but very well rested thanks to the 3-week sprint tri taper plan. Ha! Hopefully the beach run won't jack up my calves or peroneal tendon too much; although I do expect to encounter some post-race issues with my calves. I'd be very surprised if I didn't. This may be just the excuse I need to get my butt back to ART.

Next week this blog will officially move into "Project Philadelphia Marathon" mode. I have been working on creating a training plan for well over a month now and I'm excited about putting it into action.

Stay tuned... and good luck to everyone racing this weekend... especially those doing Florida 70.3. May the grass-Gods be with you.

Shinankle-itis

2011-05-06T19:00:00.009-04:00

I eluded to a problematic left shin/ankle in my last post and unfortunately, I continue to deal with it. I made the decision to race through the "throb" at St. Anthony's and I'm okay with that choice. Of course, I knew in the back of my mind that I would have to deal with the aftermath this week. The good news is that I don't think that I made anything worse by racing St. Ants. I also definitely didn't make anything better. I am now in the midst of my fourth season of endurance sports and like most, have not been without my share of injuries. Thankfully, so far I have not had any injury that has been a season ender.

In the past I have dealt with:
Piriformis syndrome- February 2008-- only 2 months after I first got off the couch. Relieved
   via Meilus Muscular Therapy (robotic treatment).
Double calf strain- November 2008 and February 2009-- completely due to transitioning
   (poorly) to Newtons. Ran "very carefully" through these injuries.
ITB Syndrome- Dec 2009 through January 2010-- believe it or not, this was brought on
   by an 11 mile WALK!! Needed over a month off from running for this.
ITB Syndrome- November 2010-- developed "spontaneously" during Beach2Battleship
   Half Ironman. Was relieved through ART therapy within 1.5 weeks.

Notice that at no time have I dealt with an anterior lower leg or ankle injury. This is what alarmed me. All of my injuries thus far have been posterior (calf & rear end) and lateral (ITB).

My chief complaint (in medical speak):
Intermittent pain located along anterolateral aspect of lower left leg. Superior and slightly anterior to left lateral malleolus (ankle bone).
Pain can be classified as dull at times and stabbing at other times. Intermittent and inconsistent in timing.
No pain upon deep palpation.
Does not appear to worsen with exercise.

In other words, it hurts here:

Precipitating factors that might have caused problem:
1. Two weeks ago I got the bright idea that since I would soon be training for a marathon, that adding an element of stability to my shoes might be a good idea. Keeping in mind that for the past year I have been training entirely in Saucony Kinvara or Brooks Launch (both very neutral), I purchased a pair of Brooks Ravenna 2-- a mild stability shoe. Stupid. My legs, ankles and feet hurt so badly with those shoes that after over 50 miles, I called Brooks up and activated their "True Blue" guarantee. **Note: The doc believes my shoes are most likely to blame in this case.**

2. I also did two speedwork sessions 1 week apart from each other. Neither of these sessions were anything that I haven't done in the past, but who knows how much fatigue was hanging around from other training. Fatigue is often the precursor to sloppy form. Sloppy, atypical form leads to injury. I'm typically a BIG fan of rest and I'm really, really good at managing my workouts so that I am as recovered as possible for the next one, but you just never know.

Yesterday I visited the ortho. Tib-fib x-ray was negative for fracture. The ortho doc, who rides with us every now and then, was kindly flattering when he told me that my fibula is super "teeny" in width and no bigger than his pinkie finger. I asked him why my midsection did not get the same "small framed" memo that my lower legs and wrists/hands received. We laughed... and then got back to business.

Doc believed that I was suffering from some tendinitis, but that a stress fracture couldn't be ruled out from the x-ray. Since Doc has trained with me and the gang, he knows that telling me to "wait and see" is not an option, so he made some calls and was able to squeeze me in for an afternoon tib-fib MRI.

The MRI. Interesting. I've had two CT scans done before (unrelated to athletics) and they were fairly quick procedures. In contrast, the MRI had me flat on my back, motionless, for a full hour. When the test was done, I hopped in the car and called MSL to let him know that everything went well. We hung up and he called me back less than 5 minutes later. I guess our Doc friend pounced on my results. What a good guy! Preliminary analysis showed no stress fracture, but the radiologist would still need to take a deeper look. I should have clear results at Tuesday's follow-up.

In the meantime, Doc is treating my case as tendinitis (peroneal tendons, I believe). I cannot run until further notice (boo-hiss). Swimming is ok as is "easy" cycling (i.e- no intervals, low resistance). I'm using Celebrax and Voltaren Gel for pain/anti-inflammatory and moist heat to promote healing blood flow to the area. I suspect that he will have me do some PT next week.

Keeping in mind that I do not have a definitive diagnosis yet, here's my plan of attack:
1. I've taken four days off this week. I haven't had this many days off in a week since last December, so although I'm freaking out about it a bit, it's probably not a bad thing. Let's call it a mid-season break. I was actually planning on taking an entire week off after FIT (May 14th), so it's just coming a bit early.

2. No more "stability shoe" experiments. I have super high arches and over-pronate ever so slightly on my right foot only. My guess is that the Ravenna 2 was too much stability for my left foot. Back to neutral it is. I do, however, want a slightly "beefier" shoe for training. I love the lightweight Kinvara (the Launch are ok too), but I miss the plush upper of a typical training shoe. So, I'm going back to some marshmallow love... Asics Nimbus and Nike Vomero. Both of those shoes have been good to me in the past, so we'll see what happens.

3. Right now FIT is on for May 14th. I'm not sure what kind of fitness I'll have left in the tank by the time the 14th arrives, but unless the doc says "no go" on Tuesday, I'm all in!

Race Report: St. Anthony's Triathlon

2011-05-02T09:27:00.010-04:00

MAY 1, 2011

ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA

1K * 40K * 10K

Finish Time: 2:26:56

Place F35-39 AG: 14/126 (Top 11%)

Place FemaleOverall: 110/994 (Top 11%)

PRE-RACE

The night before St. Anthony's, I had decided not to complete the race in the morning. A 2x2" area on my left shin (lateral aspect beginning about 2" above lateral malleolus) had been swollen for 4 days. Since last Wednesday I had been icing, taking ibuprofin and staying off of my feet (aka- sitting on the couch and eating), but the area was not going down. There was also a dull, constant ache. I probably should have made an ortho appt. on Thursday or Friday, but I didn't.

On Saturday morning, I volunteered with the Zoomers at the Girls on the Run 5k. I was pretty much on my feet for 5 hours straight that morning and while I was working the finishing chute, I noticed that I was favoring my right leg. We were set to leave for St. Pete as soon as I returned home from volunteering and I iced my ankle the entire drive up.

Packet pick-up for St. Anthony's was uneventful and quick. We did a lot of walking (more than my leg liked) and baked too much in the sun. The relatives of a two of our triathlete friends were kindly hosting all 6 of us at their home on St. Pete Beach and after racking our bikes, we all headed to the beach for some lettuce wraps and beach walking (ouch). We crashed poolside under and umbrella at the Don CeSar for an hour or so and shared great conversation and many laughs.

By the time we left the Don, it was nearly 6PM and we were all beginning to itch for dinner. My leg was throbbing and all I really wanted was some ibuprofin and ice. We ate Italian and it was at this point that I decided that it would be foolish of me to race. My God, I could have a stress fracture! So, to ensure that I wouldn't race in the morning I sucked down the vino at dinner!

Back at the house, I helped Scott ready his transition bag, showered and called it a day at 11PM. Wake-up call was 4:30AM!

WAKE-UP

My internal alarm clock went off at 4AM. I didn't want to wake Scott up any earlier than necessary, so I just laid there in bed... and began to think. I reached down to feel my shin. It didn't feel as swollen as it had last night and it was not aching. Maybe I could race? By the time 4:30AM rolled alarm, I had decided that I was going to race and if necessary, I would only do the swim in the bike. I promised myself that if I felt any pain at all on the run (or during the transition runs) that I would drop out.

We were leaving the house at 5:15AM, so I had a whopping 45 minutes to make sure that my own transition bag was together. In the meantime, I learned that the Italian dinner from the night before did not sit very well with Scott and that he had visited the porcelain God a few times during the night. When he woke up, he declared that he was not racing. What a 180 for us! We went to bed with him racing and me not... and woke up to me racing and him not!

With an obvious injury to my lower leg and no real race-prep the night before (cheese, wine and an 11PM bedtime is not at all typical of me), I headed off to the mighty St. Anthony's triathlon with absolutely ZERO expectations regarding my race day performance. This would be my first triathlon done for fun!

SWIM- 18:23 (1:51 pace- ack), 26/126 in AG

St. Anthony's does not have a very good history with the swim. Two years ago the swim was cancelled due to rough waters. Last year, the swim was shortened after the first 1/3 of the waves went off because the water was too rough. This year, the 1500m swim was shortened to 1000m due to rough water before the race even began. The wind was howling! At least everyone had a level playing field and the swim wasn't ditched entirely.

My swim wave went off at 7:55, a little more than 1 hour after the Pro waves. This is a big race and I loved being able to watch so many pros exit the water. The lead pack of male pros actually went off course during the swim. Not sure if this was a current problem or a navigate problem, but for the age groupers standing around watching it all unfold, it was unnerving. The buzz was, "my God! If they can't navigate this bouncy swim, how are we going to?"

At the swim start, I placed myself in the third row of my age group. This is not at all typical of me as I usually always start in the first row, but it does make a statement about how chillaxed I was about this race. This poor choice in positioning, however, would prove to be quite costly as I tried to maneuver around slower swimmers during the first 1/4 of the swim. Ironically (since the swim usually outshines my bike & run), it was probably the swim that kept me from a top 10 AG finish.

Airhorn!

I walked (yes, walked) into the water. I was worried about my leg. I tried to find some clearance to dive under the swells. There was none. So I walked some more and finally went under. There was a lot of pushing and shoving during the first 1/2 of the swim.

The water was dark brown and I could not see how close I was to any of the deadly feet in front of me. Knowing how to breathe billaterally was vital for this swim. The waves were crashing in on my left side and if I tried to breathe in that direction, I would swallow a 1/2 cup of sea water. Right-sided breathing was a must for this event.

I was extremely cautious during this swim; really protecting my whole body. I did not want to get kicked in the leg and that translated to not wanting to get kicked anywhere. So, I just relaxed. I swam like I was swimming an Ironman. My HR never got up. I even stopped to say, "C'mon don't give up," to another swimmer who had stopped dead in the water. A fine moment, but definitely not one of my finer swims.

I exited the swim in a very relaxed state. I had not pushed myself, so the swim essentially served to provide my muscles with a bit of warm-up for the bike. My heart rate was low and I was ready to move on.

T1- 4:47, 11/126 in AG

Since the location of the swim had been shortened and moved, it now creating a good half mile mile run to T1. As long as my HR is under control, I thrive on running from swim to T1, so I was excited about this. Running barefoot and on concrete, I passed lots of folks along the way and felt pretty good. My shin felt ok. No pain. I actually felt so good that for a minute I contemplated the idea of getting Vibrams. I was moving.

Transition went about average. I slipped on my bike shoes, sunglasses, and helmet and off I went.

Bike dismount on the Paris Roubaix ala St. Anthony's.

BIKE- 1:12:51 (20.5 mph average), 15/126 in AG

A friend of ours told us that the St. Anthony's bike course is well suited for a road bike. It has a lot of twists and turns. He was right about the second part. This was a very twisty, turny course. Truth be told, I loved it! I thought the twists and turns kept things interesting. The same wind that made the sea angry for the swim, added an extra element of challenge to the bike. The only reprieve against the wind... all of those twists and turns. Athletes were never battling a headwind or feeling relief from a tailwind for very long. The conditions were constantly changing and hence, I think this helped my muscles to stay fresh.

My ride was solid and strong and I have absolutely no complaints. I rode this course more than a half mile per hour faster than I rode the shorter Nautica course 3 weeks ago. What more is there to say?

I also nailed my nutrition during this ride. I went through 23oz of my aerobottle (ran out at mile 15) and about 15oz of my second bottle during the ride, for a total of 38oz of Gatorade + Carbo Pro mix. I also took 1 SCap! at mile 22 to prep for the run. When I dismounted the bike, I felt an ever so slight urge to urinate. In hot race conditions, this is really good sign!

T2- 1:59, 37/126

My T2 is always slow... especially when anything longer than a 5k run is involved. I haven't attempted a shoeless dismount since my catastrophe at Madeira Beach 2 years ago and I insist on wearing socks for runs longer than sprint distance. So yes, there's about 20 seconds worth of work to be done in T2.

All smiles on the run!

RUN- 48:56 (7:53 pace Chip; 7:48 pace Garmin), 14/126

I couldn't wait to get out on the run, but I was also nervous as anything! My leg had held up so far, but other than the run to T1, it hadn't truly been tested yet. Wow! My legs were stiff from the bike. Really stiff. It would take nearly 1.5 miles for them to begin to feel somewhat better and for me to fall into a rhythm. Other than the heaviness in my legs, I felt fantastic! My heart rate was surprisingly low (hello, hydration), I had good energy, my shin was holding up and I was just pretty much in a positive mood.

Let the passing begin!

It still amazes me that I am now able to pass people on the run. During my first two years in the sport, I was the one getting passed... by everyone and their 80-year-old grandmother. I love to reflect on improvements like this because it's these tangible moments that really allow me to see how much I've grown as an athlete.

At the onset of the run, I had no expectations. With my shin and lack of race-prep, I didn't know what to expect so I had decided not to expect anything at all. I was just going to go out, pay attention to RPE and run.

Mile 1 clicked by... 8:03.

Oh wow! I didn't know I was moving at an 8:03. I thought for sure that I was somewhere around 8:30 as I felt so relaxed... like "easy run" relaxed. I thought to myself, hmmm... everything feels ok, maybe I can pick this up a bit.

Mile 2... 7:48 (alright)

Mile 3... 7:58 (I'll take that too)

At the half way point there was a timing mat and my chip clocked the first 5k of the 10k distance at 25:27 (8:11 pace). My Garmin had me faster than this, but there's always that sort of discrepancy between chip & Garmin. No problem, though... because at the time, I was showing a sub-8 pace average on my watch and that was all the mental boost that I needed.

Weeee! A very happy girl!

Once I passed over the 5k timing mat marking the halfway point, I set my one and only goal of the entire race. I was finally, FINALLY going to run a sub-8 min/mile pace in a triathlon event. I run very well in open road races, but I have not been able to translate that speed to the run portions of the triathlon. Today was going to be different. My goal was set. I didn't care about my finishing time, my placement in my AG or anything else. All I wanted to was to cross that finish line with an average run pace that was sub-8. Here we go!

Mile 4.... 7:49

Mile 5.... 7:39

Mile 6.... 7:41

Mile 6.24... 7:11 (pace)
**Note these are my Garmin splits, so they don't quite add up to the 5k splits provided by my timing chip.

Holy hell! I did it! I didn't even need a sprint tri to do it! I did it in the 10k of an Olympic! I negative split the 10k something serious...by 2 full minutes! First 5K was chipped at 25:27 (8:11 pace); second 5k was chip timed at 23:29 (7:33 pace). This just absolutely BLOWS MY MIND!

What more can I say? This was a huge, major milestone achievement for me. Not only did I finish a race that I didn't think I was going to even start, but I nailed my nutrition, nailed the bike and had the run of my triathlon career!

THE FINISH

With a half mile left to go, I was starting to feel the effects of the day. It was crazy hot out and well, I was just tired. I continued to reel other runners in and I finally came upon a girl from my AG. Visions of Nautica, Heartland and the Orlando Women's Tri danced in my head... except this time, the roles were reversed! I crept up on her, gathered myself, quieted by breathing and made a strong, decisive pass. With not a lot of time before we hit the finish line, I didn't want her to even think that she had the ability to chase me down. A little further up the road, I came across another girl in my AG and did the same thing... confidently ran on by. It looks like I have learned exactly how 'mental' triathlon can be. *wink*

Emotional happiness at the finish line!

I crossed over the finish line absolutely overjoyed! I felt so strong and so pleased with my performance. A performance that nearly wasn't. I eventually found Scott and fell into his arms... and then I cried.

I cannot even begin to express what a milestone it was for me to finally run at a sub-8 pace in a triathlon. I was certain it would happen in a sprint before it happened in an Oly and I was also certain that it was going to have to be 60F (not 80F) for me to do so. Neither was the case... which made the achievement even sweeter!

As always, I owe everything to my beloved husband, who makes all of this possible for me... and to our very best friends S&J, who enrich our lives simply by their presence. It feels wonderful to be so loved.

UP NEXT

Other than my shin, my body feels great today. I'm actually a bit surprised at my lack of soreness. I will be calling the ortho today. My shin is still swollen, but it's also not any worse than it was last week. The FIT sprint tri is next on the agenda (12 days away) and I would like to do well there, so hopefully the shin issue isn't too serious. Training wise, I will be in maintenance mode for the next 2 weeks as there isn't enough time to build upon anything. After FIT, I have scheduled myself OFF for an entire week! Totally looking forward to that!

Chillin' with the girls after the race. Shade trees!

A new challenge: Five weeks, three triathlons

2011-04-18T21:00:00.001-04:00

THREE IN FIVE!

We prefer to color coordinate with the water when we can.

With Nautica now behind me, I am faced with the fact that St. Anthony's is right around the corner. I originally registered to do this race in 2010, but when the time came, I decided to defer my registration to 2011. I admit to not being all that excited about dear 'ole St. Ant's. There are many reasons for this, but I think it's the overall size of the event, the uncertain swim and the early season heat that's presenting me with a bit of a mental challenge right now. I am really bitching and moaning here, huh? Hang on though, this post will become more positive. I promise.

When my best friend told me that she had registered for the Florida International Triathlon (May 14th), I was elated for her... and maybe a bit jealous. Honestly, my first reaction was that I would rather be doing the FIT Oly than St. Anthony's. I told her that although I know my body would never let me race two Olympics back to back, that I would make some motivational "cheer" signs and be the loudest mouth out there. Of course, I then took a look at the FIT website...

They have a sprint distance. Oh boy!

The aqua waters off of Siesta Key!

Here's the deal: Living in Florida affords me the opportunity to compete in running/tri events year-round. I am a runner... my heart belongs to running. However, I have never been able to understand how so many of my running friends can race on back to back weekends. Heck, my running bud Kim C. just raced three half marathons in three consecutive weekends! Other runners I know (some triathletes too) will race 5k and 10k events every weekend. How are they able to do this?

Then there is me. The girl who races a whopping 8 times a year (tri & running events combined) because I keep telling myself that there is no way in heck that my body could do more than that. Now we all know people who love to train more than they love to race, but this is opposite with me. I live for the race! The competition! What it boils down to is that I know that if I race every weekend, I can't possibly perform my best every weekend. While physiologically, this might be true; my mindset can be adjusted. I may not be able to give a peak performance every weekend, but I can go out and perform to the best of my ability under the given circumstances any time that I want to.

So the morning after SH called to tell me about registering for FIT, I made the decision to stop missing out on the fun and I registered for the sprint distance race. This means that I will be doing three triathlons in the span of five weeks. This is sure to be a physical challenge for me, but more than anything it's going to be a test in discipline. If I want to succeed and be able to race as best as I can at FIT (and remember, I live and breathe for short course tri) then I need to tighten my game plan.

Collegiate beach v-ball on Siesta! Way better
than a 50 miler!

KEY ESSENTIALS FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS:

SLEEP: 11 o'clock is not allowed on the radar at all. From now through May 14th- in bed by 9PM, reading is allowed until 9:30PM and then lights out. The laptop is not allowed to step foot into the bedroom (neither is the iPhone).

FUEL: Good-bye junk... okay 90% of the junk. This includes you Mr. Nutella who only recently entered my life. I need wholesome, good fuel... and lots of H2O to combat my chronically dehydrated body.

TRAINING: Last week was about recovery and maintenance. The way that I see it, I've got one "quality" week left before St. Anthony's before it's time to taper. After St. Anthony's (and before FIT) I will be 100% in maintenance mode. This obviously is not ideal, but I'm hoping that by sticking to a maintenance/recovery plan during the 13 days between St. Ant's and FIT, I will be rested and recovered well enough to nail the sprint distance.

Enjoying the tournament on one of the most
beautiful beaches in the world! The sand is soft
and silky... a lot like cornstarch!

ON THE TRAINING AGENDA

Spent some time with the gang on Siesta Key scouting out the FIT course last weekend. The traffic was horrid and the heat index was off the charts, so the planned 40 miler turned into 20... and then we hit the beach! The "Fiesta on Siesta" Women's Collegiate Beach Volleyball Tournament was going on and for about 2 hours, I wanted to ditch triathlon entirely and become a bikini clad beach volleyball player! Then I realized that I am way too short and typically afraid of "ball" sports.

Tomorrow MSL, SH and I I will be attending a speed workout with the Speedsters in Ft. Myers. I've been itching to run with them since last October and I am excited. It looks like tomorrow's workout consists of 8x400m repeats. YES! These folks are hard core and fast, yet they welcome folks of all abilities. I like this!

Race Report: Nautica South Beach Triathlon

2011-04-12T17:35:00.001-04:00

April 10, 2011

South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida

Classic Distance

1/2 mile ocean swim, 19 mile bike, 4 mile run

Chip time: 1:53:13

5th place AG F35-39 (out of 67)- Age Group Nationals Qualifier

22nd place female overall (out of 370), Top 6%

181st place overall (out of 1270), Top 14%

PACKET PICK-UP & EXPO

Where do I begin? South Beach. I've never been there before and after this weekend, I don't really have any plans to go back. The Birdcage happens to be one of my most favorite movies ever and I am grateful for the chance to view all of the nostalgic Art Deco architecture up close, but I'm not into the club scene-- or any of the other (eh-hem) scenes that one finds in South Beach. I'd also like to limit my chances of developing skin cancer. So if ya don't party 'till 5AM and ya don't lay in the sun and bake for hours on end, South Beach is somewhat useless.

We arrived in SoBe around 1PM on Saturday afternoon. After unloading the bikes/bags from the car, we headed over to packet pick-up; taking in the sites on Ocean Drive and commenting on how humid it was. It's been unseasonably warm throughout Florida for the past 2 weeks-- nearly 10 degrees above average for this time of year. As hot as it's been on the SW coast of FL, the damp heat seemed to reach another level in SoBe. Like Will Smith says, "Miami bringing heat for real."

MSL and I with Andy Potts

While packet pick-up went off without a hitch, I was disappointed in the expo. The goodie bag contained a heavy canvas baseball hat (this would be good if we lived in Canada) and a cotton t-shirt. Hmmm... $112 entry fee for a short course race and no technical tee? Outside of packet pick-up, there really wasn't much else to see. There was a ZICO tent, a small K-Swiss tent, a small ZIPP tent, a Paul Mitchell tent with haircuts going on... and the Toyota tent! Toyota was the best vendor tent... and not just because they had a pretty cool green screen photo booth set-up but because Andy Potts was there! He happens to be one of our most favorite Pro athletes to follow. He was super nice (and super tall)... and was more than happy to provide us with a photo op.

With my bestie who was making her comeback at this race!

Before leaving the expo, we took note of our race start times. The Olympic distance race participants would be first to go with waves starting at 6:55AM. The Classic distance folks would have to wait until 7:40AM to start. Unfortunately, Sondra and I were in wave #10 and would have to wait until 8:25AM for our race start. This didn't sit well with me as I knew it was going to be close to 10AM by the time I even began the run. The idea of running in a heat index of nearly 90F had me shaking in my shoes. However, I figured that we all had to do it... just had to get it done.

PRE-RACE DINNER

With the gang at Grazie

I am not a night owl. I never have been. I do know that things typically get going in larger cities around 8 or 9PM. In South Beach this is evidently more like 11PM or midnight. Hence, I was a bit freaked out when we decided to scout out a place for dinner at 6:30PM. I was already starving and I thought we would have to wait another hour or more for a table. Um, totally not so. We decided on Grazie... an amazing Italian restaurant and I ordered up a wonderful plate of Risotto Porcini with White Truffle Oil. A good risotto takes mad skills to make well (you have to really enjoy pan-sitting) and this dish was out of this world GOOD!

After dinner we all said "good night" to South Beach just as it was beginning to wake up. Bedtime was approximately 9:45PM with a wake-up call at 4:45AM.

PRE-RACE

Upon waking, I chowed down on a whole grain Panera bagel (purchased the day before and stored in an airtight ziplock) with peanut butter and enjoyed a bit of coffee. We left the hotel at 6AM and made our way to the transition area to get set up.

Since the Classic waves didn't begin to take off until an hour after the Oly folks, we had some time to take in the sites. I've never seen any professional triathletes race before and I really enjoyed watching their swim exit. As the Oly folks continued to exit the swim, those of us participating in the Classic distance gathered around the main stage for some pre-race info. Be safe on the bike course, yada, yada... and oh, "Here's former lead singer of Survivor, Jimi Jamison to sing for you!" Yes, he sang "Eye of the Tiger" for us. For a moment, I felt like I was at one of Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival concert series events.

Hamming it up on the beach race morning

While Jimi was singing, we decided to make our way North to the swim start. I caught up with Ryder Bike's own Paul T. as I made my way up the beach and we agreed that we looked pretty awesome in our team kits. MSL went off in an earlier wave and after I sent him on his way with some good luck smooches, I caught up with Sondra and we dove into the Atlantic for a warm-up swim. Hello, crystal clear water! We live on the harbor on the other side of FL and our water is brown. Every now and then Jeff will get us far enough out in to the Gulf on the boat to see some green water, but this SoBe water was a real treat! I felt like I was in the Caribbean. The water was also warm... 78F and skirting legal. I swear that water was warmer than 78F. The pool is always 81-82F and this water felt exactly the same. I think they went 30' down for a temp, but I digress. As I splashed around I had second thoughts about wearing my DeSoto Speedtube. I don't like swimming in a wetsuit anyway and I probably should have decided against wearing it earlier, but unfortunately, I was stuck with it.

SWIM

Chip Time: 18:08

AG Place: 3/67

A moment of concentration

Since aging up this year, I can now start the swim with Sondra! Everything is always more fun when you have your best friend by your side. When it was time for our wave to go, we lined up front and center and focused our attention on the swim entry. The entry was long. It required a run down to the beach on the sugar sand and then more dolphin dives than I've ever done to get across a sand bar. My SpeedTube bottom did not like the dolphin diving. I had cinched it as tight as I could while still allowing myself to breathe; however, water went right down the front and rear of it on my first dive. I had to hike the suit up twice. Not good. My goggles also shifted on the first dolphin dive and water came rushing in. Once that seal is broken, it's really difficult to get a good one again. My goggles would continue to fill with water throughout the swim, requiring me stop four times along the way to empty them. Eventually, I just swam with one eye closed. The eye that was opened was treated to breathtaking crystal clear water and gorgeous, undulating sand patterns on the sea floor.

This swim was not one of my better ones. All of the beach running, wave hopping, dolphin diving, wetsuit malfunction and goggle mishaps lead to a very high heart rate for the first 1/4 of the swim. I literally stopped kicking at one point and just let me legs drag in an effort to calm and steady myself. It did the trick after a bit and I was finally able to find a rhythm and get the swim over. I eventually caught up with the two waves in front of me. Towards the end of the swim, I could see only 1 gold cap (my wave) and she was swimming right beside me. I swam to the shore as far as I could and once my fingertips hit ground, I stood up and ran. The beach (and sugar sand) was right there and I made my way up the long swim chute to transition. The swim exit timing mat was positioned at the transition entrance, which was at least a good minute's run from when my feet actually left the water. I wish more race directors would place the timing mat at the swim "exit" and then make running to the transition area part of T2.

Chip Time: 1:58

AG Place: 5/67

I usually consider the run from the swim to T1 to be a speciality of mine, but I have to be honest here. The bit of running on the sugar sand at the swim exit whipped me! I allowed myself to walk in T1 for about 10 seconds... just enough time to let my HR come down a bit. When I got to my rack, I was alone. I am not a super fast swimmer, but I do well enough to not have ever had to battle rack crowds during T1. I like this. After removing my wetsuit bottoms and donning my shoes, helmet and glasses, I grabbed 'Hope' and made my way to the bike start line. My T1 time was decent considering that I walked some it and was in line with other top AG competitors.

BIKE

Chip Time: 57:29 (19.8mph)

AG Place: 7/67

I had a really solid bike despite the 19.8mph average. Everyone in our group captured this bike course as long. I held 21mph for more than the first half of the course and then dropped back to 20mph on the return. I distinctly recall seeing an average 20.6mph on my watch as I made the turn back onto Ocean Drive (with about 1 minute left until the dismount line)... so who knows? We all had to ride the same course, so it's not like it affects the outcome, but having nearly 1 mph difference between data sets can mess with the psyche! LOL!

Leaving the bike mount line

This course was hilly by my standards! Remember... I'm from Florida! But this tri was in Florida, you say. Yes it was... and it also took us over two causeway bridges... twice... and the first bridge had two parts! So let's do the math: 2 + 1 + 1 + 2 = six hills and they weren't leisurely inclines; they were steep bridges built for ships to go under. I'm rambling so much about these bridges that you might think that I hated them. Wrong. I loved them! I don't have a lot of hill climbing experience (um, none), but the dear Lord blessed me with a naturally high cadence on the bike and run and I can definitely spin those Granny gears. What I didn't "get" until the last return hill is that for a steeper climb (like a causeway bridge), if I abandon the aero position and sit up, I tend to climb even better. This recruits those roadie hamstrings & glutes. I have a lot to learn about riding hills/steep bridges, but I don't feel quite so afraid of them anymore.

A couple of things with the bike: It was heating up out there and I ran out of fluids about 2-3 miles before the end of the ride. I had drank an entire Profile Design aerobottle (with approx 30oz of fluid) in about 51 or 52 minutes and I was yearning for more. If I had been doing the Oly distance, I would have been in real trouble. This was a good head's up for St. Anthony's, which is sure to be just as hot. I did a lot of coasting down the backside of the bridges-- no braking-- just coasting. I would like to find the confidence to actually pedal more of the downhills. Aside from the first bridge climb (where I didn't move into my smaller chain ring, like an idiot), I kept my HR in check on the ride. I longed for a good run. Overall, it was a solid bike for me. I was passed by two people: one of whom was my super-cycling best friend (who also had the 2nd fastest female bike split of the day for the Classic distance) and the other was the girl who eventually won my AG. Not too shabby. :-)

Chip Time: 1:58

AG Placement: 7/67

The bike dismount was non-eventful. I dismounted with my shoes still on my feet. Nothing fancy. Once in T2, I chatted briefly with Sondra while she got ready to hit the run course as well. We wished each other good luck and off I went! T2 time was a bit slower than I would have liked, so I'll have to work on that dismount and unfortunately, probably leave the chatting for later.

RUN

Chip Time: 33:38 (8:24 pace); Garmin had me at 8:18 pace for 4.08 miles.

AG Placement: 8/67

The run. I had only two goals for this race and running a sub-8 pace was the big one. I have been training to run sub-8 off the bike and have done it consistently in practice (after mega hard interval rides too), but alas, I was not able to convert at Nautica. I'm quite certain that the 88F heat index at 10AM (just when I was beginning the run) is mostly to blame and I have duly noted the slower run paces overall for this event. Nevertheless, I was bummed... and am determined to find a way to get closer to what I know I am capable of regardless of the heat. This probably means that I need to get out there and train my body to work HARD in the heat (which I'll have plenty of over the next few months). I'm sure this will be painful, but I also know that I am not an 8 min/mile runner in sprint/oly course tri anymore. I've just got to find a way to make it all happen.

The run was an out and back down the famous SoBe sidewalks and beach boardwalk. It was a ridiculously crowded course because all of the Oly racers were also using it. I did a lot of energy sapping dodging throughout the run. At one point it made me think of the Disney Half Marathon. My handheld came in handy during the run and I drank nearly the entire thing. I found myself very discouraged during mile 2 and even considered walking. I was hot & miserable; my legs didn't want to move and another girl from my AG had just passed me. Thankfully, at the 2-mile turnaround either my PowerGel decided to kick in or everyone else started to fade. I began to pass people right and left and this acted as a much needed, mental pick me-up.

Mile 1- 8:03

Mile 2- 8:36

Heading into the finish chute (all smiles) and oblivious to
the very determined woman right behind me (tongue out).
She was about to make her move.

When I hit mile 3, I remember saying to myself, "only one more mile to go. It's no different than when I leave my house and run to the end of my neighborhood." I hit mile 4 on my watch before I hit the actually finish line (typical) and was then blessed (er, cursed) with a final bit of running on South Beach's sugar sand. As I approached the finish chute, I saw Scott and Jeff and heard them yelling at me! Scott shouted, "Move your butt, woman!" I smiled.

Mile 3- 8:21

Mile 4- 8:19

Mile .08- 31 seconds

What I didn't know was that while I was smiling an AG competitor was sneaking up behind me waiting to make her move. I gave chase as soon as she ran by me, but she had all the advantage. She saw my age on my calf and waited long enough until there was no way that I could react quickly enough to catch her. I felt my quads seize up immediately as I ran after her in full-on sprint mode, but I forced myself to go, go, go! She beat me to the finish line by 2 seconds... and bumped me down a spot on the AG podium. I've been beaten this way twice before, but both times it was by 4 seconds. It appears I have graduated by 2 seconds now. Maybe eventually, I'll be the one doing the bumping. That would be sweet.

PODIUM!

A real podium... with steps!

Enjoying the bling!

After my race was over, I grabbed some water and watched for Sondra to cross the line. Both she and Scott finished the day in style and both had terrific races! The entire gang took some pictures together, drank lots of water (could not find any post-race food) and continued to bake under the hot, Miami heat. Eventually race results were posted and I realized that I had taken 5th in my AG. So, while I did not meet my run pace goal, I did meet my AG placement goal. I wanted top 5 and I got it. Celebrate! What I didn't realize was that this particular race goes 5 places deep on the podium... and it's a real podium... with tiered steps and all! Very cool!

I didn't know how many women were in my AG and hence, didn't find out until later in the evening upon my return home that I also qualified for AG Nationals. This was another goal of mine for 2011; although I didn't expect it to happen so early in the season. Icing on the cake, I suppose. Nats are in beautiful Vermont this year, but I'm not sure if I will be able to go as I have some scheduling conflicts. Time will tell.

THE AFTERMATH

We ate our "recovery lunch" at the delicious Los Ranchos in Sweetwater. We dined on authentic Nicaraguan cuisine and everyone at the table enjoyed the restaurant's famous Baby Churrasco with Chimichurri sauce. We laughed and reminisced about the race for the 3-hour ride home. It truly was a great season opener for all of us and there were smiles, smiles everywhere!

Nautica SoBe Hardware

It is Tuesday morning as I write this and my calves are screaming from the beach sand. I have had recurring calf issues since late 2008 and I typically try to steer clear of any sort of beach running as even a little bit puts me over the edge. I have been using compression and applying ice to help ease the inflammation. I took the day off yesterday and enjoyed a long afternoon nap. My sleep last night was decent, but I woke up feeling extremely tired this morning. The only thing on tap for today is a swim filled with a good amount of drills. I'm sure that the water will feel awesome. I'll hop on the bike tomorrow for an easy ride, but will not run until Thursday. The remainder of the week will be about recovery and fitness maintenance. Next week it will be time to turn on the heat again as I look towards St. Anthony's (May 1st).

With most of the gang after the race!

Race Report: Venice St. Patty's Day 8k

2011-04-05T17:02:00.005-04:00

Venice St. Patty's Day 8k

March 19, 2011, 8AM

Sharky's on the Pier, Venice Beach, FL

Official time: 36:41 (7:22 pace)

Garmin (had race distance at 5.06 miles for 7:15 pace)

1st AG F30-34 (out of 17)

5th OAF (out of 168)- top 3%

20th OA (out of 281)- top 7%

This was a terrific race on a beautiful (but familiar) course. Since this was also my first time running an 8k road race, it was an instant PR! Talk about low pressure! That always makes for a great run!

I had no expectations going into this particular race. I had only registered for it a few days in advance and had basically decided that it would be a good way to get in a speedy workout as part of a solid week of triathlon training. Since I haven't raced since the Disney Half, I also thought that it might help me to get rid of some race bugs before Nautica.

Pre-race

I had my typical oatmeal + coffee breakfast and was out the door around 6:15 AM. Before leaving the house, I pulled up the McMillan Calculator on my computer and tried to figure "where" I should attempt to run an 8k race at. LOL! I plugged in my 10k race time from last October and was "told" that I was capable of holding a 7:32 pace for 8k. This sounded reasonable to me, yet I thought that I probably wouldn't be able to hit it simply because I had already put in a long week AND I needed to be able to do a long ride + swim the following day.

I arrived at Sharky's on the Pier around 7AM, picked up my packet and then headed out to a vacant lot to warm-up. I did a 1.5 mile warm-up with strides and felt pretty good. After the warm-up, I stretched my quads, hamstrings and hip flexors for about 10 minutes. While stretching, I took a good look around...

This particular race pulled a terrific local crowd with nearly 300 participants. With temps in the upper 50s at race start, the weather was nearly perfect for a short race... and being that this is March in south FL, we natives know that morning temps in the 50s become a rare treat around this time of the year. It was great to see everyone wearing their "Irish best." I don't have a drop of Irish in me, but I donned my green as well.

This race course is particularly nice in spots with terrific views of the Gulf of Mexico. The race begins at famous Sharky's on the Pier, circles around the Venice airport grounds, winds along the intercoastal waterway and then heads north along the Gulf of Mexico to the finish line. I became intimately familiar with a portion of this course last year at the Venice YMCA Sprint Tri (where I completely tanked the run). Although my one and only experience on this course was tied to my worst race performance ever, I was grateful to be somewhat familiar with the course itself... it's quite a twisty, turny one.

Race

Start time was 8AM; I would have preferred 7:30AM for slightly cooler conditions. I lined up on the right hand side of the pack, second row. I positioned myself behind a running club friend who I know runs similar paced races to myself. She also races a lot more than I do and hence, I figured that she probably had a better grasp on 8k pacing. The gun went off and I felt great. I ran the first half mile way too fast, promptly got nervous and reeled it in. I actually felt very good considering that I was running well under a sub-7 pace, but since I lack recent short course road racing experience, I didn't know what I could skate by on. Besides, McMillan told me that I should aim for a 7:32.

Mile 1- 7:08

At the beginning of mile 2, I caught up to and passed my running friend and once again had thoughts that I might be going too fast. I slowed up a bit more and then fell into pace behind another runner for the next 2 miles. I still felt great... maybe too great!

Mile 2- 7:23

Mile 3- 7:20

I hit the 5k mark at 22:34 which is a new 5k PR for me by 41 seconds. I let out an audible squeal when this happened. I definitely did not expect a 5k PR during an 8k race. As I watched Garmin tick past 3.1 miles, I decided to pick things up and pass the dude that I had been running behind. I knew at this point that I could run the next two miles faster than the 7:20s that I had just posted. McMillan had lied to me! LOL! Runner dude held out his fist as I made my move to pass him and we swapped "fist potatoes" mid run. I love that kind of shiz.

The back half of the course had a lot of twists and turns and I had no idea how many women were ahead of me. At this point, I could see only one... perhaps 1/4 mile ahead or so.

Mile 4- 7:14

During the last mile I passed three more men and seriously closed the gap on the one woman in front of me. I think if this had been a 10k and not an 8k, I would have eventually gotten her. As I finished up mile 5 (8k is technically 4.97 miles, but all of the twists and turns had me at 5.06 by the finish), I felt my legs getting heavier and heavier. This bummed me out a bit because my engine was still roaring to go! Over the past few months this has been a common complaint of mine-- it doesn't matter if I'm on the bike or if I'm running, I seem to be limited by muscular fatigue and not necessarily aerobic capacity. I sure do wish one would catch up with the other. Suggestions are welcome. :-)

Mile 5- 7:12

Cutest medal ever! Silver dollar sized!

I kicked a solid 6:20 pace for the last bit of the race and let out a loud "wooo-hoo" as I crossed the finish line. Aside from the leg fatigue, I felt terrific! There was no pukey feeling and I was talking to some club teammates right away... which means I still had some gas left in the tank. I was elated! Just like at Disney, I surprised myself! This was another race done on unrested legs and I surpassed my expectations... and McMillan's as well. :-)

Cool Down

I grabbed a bottle of water and then ran another 2 miles to cool down. What a great race! The only real bummer was that I was once again my "own" sherpa and hence, I do not have lots of race pics to post. At the awards ceremony I collected the cutest (and smallest) blue ribbon, shamrock medal ever!

The Icing on the Cake

As if breaking a 5k PR in the middle of a longer race isn't crazy awesome in itself, how about having that exact thing happen twice in one race?

I broke my 5k PR for the second time in the same race on the back half of this 8k course. If I were to break it down, I ran the first 5k in 22:34 (7:15 pace) and the last 5k in 22:30 (7:14 pace)! I think I'm ready to run a sub-22 open 5k. This has now become a goal of mine and I'm stoked to give this a go as soon as St. Anthony's is over and then hopefully I can put an "official" PR up there in my little PR box. :-) I'll even lay out the super secret goal right now... by the end of the year, I want to collect a sub-7 min/mile pace for the 5k! It's going to require some hard work and a good taper, but I know it's achievable.

A Look Back and a Look Ahead

The gang has put in some solid work over the past month or two and we are ready for the Nautica South Beach Classic this coming weekend. I am not doing a full taper as I am considering this race to be a tune-up for St. Anthony's; however, I am taking it super seriously. I'm going to give whatever I can possibly give and just see how it goes. There are some causeway bridges to deal with as well as the Atlantic Ocean. There are also 2000 people in this sold-out race. That's a lot of participants for short course. I'm really hoping that this race is not wetsuit legal. It's too dang warm out to swim in a wetsuit and I always feel like I perform worse in a wetsuit than without. We shall see. I'm sure the officials will dig down 30' to take a temperature just so folks can wear their security blankets. Sorry, wetsuit lovers.... I still love ya, but I promised to be more candid this year. ;-)

Finally, a new race has been added to my 2011 schedule... Philadelphia Marathon... November 20th! My first marathon... finally!

Blogland's quickest catch-up!

2011-03-25T10:25:00.008-04:00

It's been nearly two full months since I last posted a blog. Obviously, that's just too long.

Since I have a history of being somewhat longwinded when I write, I have decided to try my best to take a minimalist approach with this two-month update. If it works for Vibram, it should work for me.

END OF JANUARY
Exciting news! I was offered sponsorship for 2011 with Sarasota/Bradenton based Ryder Bikes. Ryder is Southwest Florida's premier cycling center and they have earned every bit of that title. Since beginning triathlon in 2008, I have made appearances at every bike shop south of Tampa and have been disappointed by most. Ryder is what I would call PERFECTION! From the moment that I first contacted the store last summer, I have been treated with friendly, old fashioned bike service. Ryder knows fast bikes & they know triathlon, but they also have a grip on the human experience that goes hand-in-hand with endurance sports. So, for the 2011 season I will proudly be wearing Ryder purple & yellow for all of my triathlon & road races! Thanks, Ryder!

FEBRUARY

With my squeeze on a group ride.

I spent half of February at the hospital with a very ill Grandmother-- fifteen consecutive days to be exact. My 85-year-old grandmother was admitted on an emergency basis with acute congestive heart failure brought on by an aortic valve (bovine) that was failing for the second time. I'm happy to report that she received a new valve on Valentine's Day (how sweet is that?) and is now at home and doing very well.

Of course, extended hospital visits = hospital food. I have gained 6 pounds. Thankfully this is not everything that I worked so hard to lose from Dec 2009-March 2010, but nevertheless, it is disappointing. I had options during those weeks at the hospital. I could have packed a cooler and brought healthy choices with me; however, my stress level was ridiculously high and packing food (or doing much of anything else) was not on my radar. The nagging issue with this is that once the pallet becomes accustomed to junk, it begins to want more junk. My junk consumption continued right through mid-March before I decided that carting around 6 extra pounds was not what I wanted to begin the 2011 season with. I am currently a work-in-progress.

MARCH
So far March has been exciting-- despite those extra few pounds. MSL and I have been doing long bike rides just about every weekend with Sondra, Jeff and a few others. I love the fact that none of these rides are more than 40-50 miles (aside from last weekend's 62 mile SNAFU). I love short course!

Mid-march and NO WETSUIT!!!

With the Nautica Classic right around the corner, I've been doing a lot of interval training with swim/bike/run. Again, I love short course! My times have been coming down across the board... even in the swim! I'm seeing 1:2X for 100y repeats now where last year I was a solid 5 seconds slower. Not that any of this qualifies as "fast", but five seconds is HUGE in swimland! I can say that the improvement certainly didn't come from yardage (I bet I'm only averaging 5000yd per week right now); so it must have come from technique (which I have been working on a lot this year).

My pacing during longer bike intervals is up by nearly 1mph this year as well and my run times have dropped so dramatically that I'm having trouble figuring out exactly 'where' I need to be training at right now. Stay tuned for my St. Patty's 8k report for more about this.

Obviously, this is all good stuff! I'm just hoping that come April 10th and then again on May 1st, that it all comes together.

SEA CREATURES

Immediately before a "sea creature" freak out in early March!

There has been one training related SNAFU. I don't understand the why/when/how of it, but nevertheless, a phobia has appeared. I noticed last year while doing OWS in the Gulf of Mexico that I was beginning to entertain some fear of sea creatures. Sondra believes it actually began in 2009 when our friend, Julie, accidentally stepped on a sting-ray and ended up with a horrible infection in her foot that caused her pull out of Ironman Louisville. No matter the 'root' of the problem, the fact is that I am having issues swimming with the 'idea' of jellyfish, sharks, sting-rays, etc... during practice. In a race situation, I seem to be fine (so far). If I'm swimming with feet directly ahead of me, I feel safe. The problem is that there aren't always feet directly ahead of me in practice. So when I'm out there and I can't really see anyone else around me (even though I know they are somewhere nearby), I freak out. Hopefully this will not become a more serious problem.

FUN STUFF

With Sondra at her "comeback" 5k!

I have been dabbling in writing training plans for MSL & SH and it's been a blast. I sincerely enjoy helping them. I'm not "coaching"... just paying it forward. Sondra hasn't raced in nearly 1.5 years and is returning to the sport after two unnecessary surgeries. Scott's tri-season will be quite short this year. After St. Anthony's in May, all of his focus will be on a 1600 mile, 22-day charity bike ride that he will participate in Aug-Sept. I'm going to whip up a post about this ride in the near future-- the cause is out-of-this-world amazing! Anyway, I'm honored that both Sondra & Scott trust in me enough to put basic plans together for them. Writing their plans is the highlight of my Monday mornings!

In mid-February I ran Son's first official comeback race with her-- a rather large, annual 5k. She had a goal in my mind and she nailed it! I'm quite sure that by the end of the race she was ready to strangle me for whispering too many words of encouragement, but alas, I couldn't help myself. I felt like a proud mother hen out there. Way to go, Son!

THE FUTURE OF THIS BLOG
I've mentioned before that I would like to take this blog back to its roots. This blog was started as a way for me to jot down my training experiences, highlight my improvements, reflect on my pitfalls and report on my races. This worked very well for me and I absolutely love reading my posts from 2008. By the end of 2009 things began to change. I became sensitive about my training, paces, performances, etc... and backed away from writing about these items for most of 2010. I look back on those posts now and I feel sad. There is so much that is missing.

This year I am going to let my cup runneth over and try to be quite candid with my training & racing. Ten years from now I want to be able to read these entries and 'see' what I was doing as well as how I was feeling. So yep- there will be workouts, numbers, times, paces and all of the things that I felt the need to leave out last year. I'm hoping that in a round-about way, this will also allow me to produce shorter, but more frequent blog posts. I'm excited about this!

Up next on the draft table is my race report from the Shamrock 8k. Stay tuned!

Disclaimer: This did not turn out to be "Blogland's quickest catch-up" after all. Once longwinded, always longwinded.

Race Report: Walt Disney World Half Marathon

2011-01-20T19:43:00.004-05:00

WALT DISNEY WORLD

HALF MARATHON

JANUARY 8, 2011

This is the story about the PR that almost wasn't.

Following our return from Colorado, my training mojo simply disappeared. I found myself preoccupied with more important 'things' and I was trying to function on 4-5 hours of sleep per night. My body was slowly turning on itself. I barely had any energy to make it to the coffee machine let alone out the door.

By the middle of our second week in Colorado I had decided to not run the February marathon. I contacted the race folks and asked them to kindly drop my registration down to the half. After that was taken care of, I realized that I needed to do 'something' about the Disney Half. The only reason I had even registered for Disney was to run it as a tune-up race for the half. Otherwise, I really had no interest in it at all.

On Sunday, January 2nd, I announced to MSL that I was not going to run Disney. He then proceeded to cancel his vacation day and we went on with our week... which included me continuing to drag ass.

On Wednesday, January 5th, I attended the Zoomer's board meeting (local running club- I edit their newsletter) and in walks our Vice-President with his arm in a cast and sling. EM is in his late 60's and has probably been running for a good chunk of his life. He's an incredibly enthusiastic and supportive guy... and he's also made of steel because when I asked him how the broken arm was affecting his training, he said, "It hurts a little, but I'm still going to run the Disney Half this weekend."

Say what?

Let me get this straight. I'm not running the Disney Half because I feel that I am underprepared and have the energy of a sloth, but EM is running the Half despite the fact that he has a freshly broken arm. What is wrong with this picture? What is wrong with me?

I didn't say any more to EM about the race that night. I don't think he even realized that I had registered for it and frankly, I was too embarrassed to tell him that while he was going to be out there kicking butt-- broken arm and all-- I would be eating my $150 race fee because I was tired.

When I returned home from the meeting, I hopped on Facebook and everybody and their brother was talking about the race. That kind of race excitement is contagious. I began to reconsider my decision to not race. At this point, however, I did not have a room booked and I if I decided to go, I would be on my own since MSL had already canceled his vacation day. I resolved to make a decision by Thursday afternoon.

I'm going. I proclaimed that I would complete the race as a training run, make it as low pressure as possible and bring home a Donald Duck medal for MSL (who worships the ground that Donald waddles on).

Upon making the decision to attend the race, a million thoughts went through my head:

I have no long runs under my belt; just one lonely 10 miler from the week after we returned from Colorado.

My run training has been seriously inconsistent since B2B: 30 miles one week, 18 miles the next and so forth.

I have no hotel room booked on Disney property which means that I'm going to have to deal with race morning logistics in my POV. At this race... scary.

I would be driving 5 hours round-trip and racing a half-marathon in period of about 20 hours. Yikes!

I would be attending the Disney Marathon Weekend, which when you add the number of participants in the half and full together, is MUCH larger than the NYC marathon! I would be attending this ginormous race ALONE!

I silenced my brain, packed my overnight bag and loaded myself into the car. I reminded myself that I am an only child and have been doing things alone since I was able to walk independently.

PRE-RACE

The night before the race was a whirlwind. I arrived in Orlando around 2PM on Friday. I then scrambled through the Expo at 5K pace, made my way to IHop and ate blueberry pancakes alone, checked myself into a hotel and was asleep by 9:30PM.

My alarm sounded at 2:40AM and I was out the door by 3:15AM. I made it to Epcot without a hitch around 3:45AM. I was able to drive into the park and park my car without a hitch. Head the pre-race instructions and not only will you pull right in, but you might even get a parking spot a mere 1/4 mile from the start/finish line.

Once at the start, I used one of the gazillion Port-A-Lets that Disney provided (I was shocked at how many were there), stood around for a bit with others who had arrived "on time" and then made the long walk to my corral.

My anticipated finish time placed me in corral "A" which I was quite happy about. It was tough enough having to make my way through people who started in front of me in the "A" corral (and I ran nearly an extra 1/4 mile trying to do so). I can't even imagine having to start in a corral further back.

There really wasn't anywhere for the average Joe to warm up, so I opted to do some squats and knee lifts inside of the corral. During this time, I watched the pre-race presentation on one of the big screen TVs that were set up. Evidently 400 soldiers stationed in Baghdad were going to run the half "real time" with us. Very cool. Natalie Morales and Al Roker took the stage and did their thing (by the way, Natalie Morales is stupid fast), the Anthem played and we were OFF!

RACE
It took me nearly 2 minutes to reach the start line and by the time I got there, I was ready to GO! The race had a 5:30AM start, so it was pitch black out. However, the ambient lighting was better than I had expected. For the first mile I darted to the left and to the right so many times that I lost count. I was on the grass, on the pavement, surging here, moving left there... ugh! All of that lateral movement really takes a toll... and adds up in terms of mileage. By the time I hit the first mile marker, Garmin already had me slightly ahead in mileage. The weaving and darting continued. At one point I was rammed into a knee-wall by a dude right in front of an ASI photographer (captured on film for the world to see). The 'squeeze' continued through to mile 7, when things finally opened up. By then I was .17 miles over in mileage and was a bit bummed by it.

What I was not bummed about was my pace. Despite a slow couple of first miles due to the overwhelming mass of people, I consistently clocked a pace between 8:01 and 8:09 from mile 4 through 10. I felt great and this surprised me. Strike that-- the McMillan Calculator told me I was capable of it based on my 10K from last October, but sometimes you just don't believe these things until you get out there and DO IT and of course, I hadn't really been putting in the training. So, a sweet, sweet surprise to say the least. I felt my legs really begin to fatigue by the time I started on mile 10, but I dug in deep and stayed on pace. Miles 11 and 12 saw the first elevation changes of the race in the form of three large overpasses. I had not done any recon on this course, so these bridges took me by surprise. I managed to get through mile 11 without falling off pace too much (8:11), but mile 12 was sad (8:21).

As I began the last 1.1 miles (or in my case, 1.32 miles), I busted it into high gear and held a 7:40 all the way to the finish line. It's such an amazing feeling to cross a finish line with enough energy in the tank to put in a good kick. I'm slowly, but surely learning how to do this (it's all about proper pacing from mile 1) and it's a wonderful feeling. I highly recommend it.

And so...
Chip time: 1:48:21 (a monstrous TEN minute PR for me) and a top 3% AG finish.

Garmin distance: 13.32 miles (8:10 pace)

Disney distance: 13.1 (8:16 pace)

This was truly a terrific race experience for me. I only wish that I could have shared it with MSL and the rest of the crew. Next year. I've done other races at Disney (on Disney property), but this was the first race that I've done that was put on by Disney. There is definitely a difference.

Moving on... next up is another half marathon on February 13th up in Jax. I'm so pleased with how Disney went that I really don't give two hoots about what happens next month. My legs are tired. My mind is tired. I've been tired for a while. I guess that's what happens when you race for three years straight with no real breaks. Oh, the joy (peril?) of living in Florida....

ETA: I'm still debating on whether or not I want to pay $75 for race pics. I may update later.

2010 RACE REPORTS

2011-01-01T08:01:00.036-05:00

Time to put together another year-end collection of reports. My goodness! Didn't I just do this for 2009? The good news is that there will not be too much to log. It appears that I didn't really race all that much in 2010.

River, Roots & Ruts Half Marathon Relay (Jan 6, 2010) - DNS due to ITBS.

Valor 5k Road & 5k Trail Run (April 17, 2010) - 5k PR (Road), 2nd AG (Road), 1st AG (Trail)

Ironman Florida 70.3 (May 16, 2010)

Englewood YMCA Sprint Triathlon (July 17, 2010) - 2nd AG, 5th Overall Female

Run 4 A Reason 5k (August 14, 2010) - 2nd AG

Venice YMCA Sprint Triathlon (September 4, 2010) - 2nd AG, 8th Overall Female

My First Century Ride (September 11, 2010)

Gasparilla Island 10k (October 3, 2010) - 10k PR, 1st AG, 2nd Overall Female

Beach 2 Battleship Half Iron (November 13, 2010) - HIM PR, 4th AG, 26th Overall Female

Hello from 6300 feet above sea level!

2010-12-02T12:09:00.019-05:00

Snuggled up in a bobsled at the Olympic Training Center

This Florida flatlander has been in mountain heaven for the past six days. I have been snuggled-up near a small mountain town just west of Colorado Springs.
The views are gorgeous, the weather is beyond wonderful, but... oh my... the altitude!

I have read that that it takes at least 3 weeks at altitude to begin to feel somewhat 'normal' while running and even more time to produce longer lasting physiological changes. Even then, a person living/working/training up here will never see the kind of paces that could be seen at sea level for the same given effort. So, what happens during those first couple of weeks? A suffer-fest much akin to running in 100F heat index at home.

Without a doubt, however, it's been fun! I've actually enjoyed learning about how my body reacts to altitude. I didn't really get a chance to test this when we were at Breck earlier this year, as everything was "downhill" and the only thing that required any serious aerobic capacity was dogsledding. So this is the first time that I've had the opportunity to see what it's like to run at altitude. At 6500 feet and on somewhat hilly terrain, my easy pace was slowed by nearly 2 minutes per mile on the slower end of my pace range and by 1:30 min/mile on the faster end. Wow, right?!? At 6000 feet and on mostly flat terrain with a few false flats thrown in b/c there is no such thing as "pancake flat" in CO, my easy pace was slowed by 1 minute/mile on the slower end or 30 sec/mile on the faster end. I actually think that both scenarios should have produced even slower paces, as my RPE was slightly more than 'easy'. So interesting!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo- Colorado Springs- 6800 to 7000 feet

I'm drinking just about as much fluid as I would on a hot Florida day and exactly the same amount as I would during a run at home (approximately 25oz per hour). I've learned that hydration at altitude is every bit as important as hydration in a very hot, humid climate. What I'm finding to be really neat (and quite comfortable) is that when I'm finished a workout, my clothes aren't soaked with sweat. It's so dry here. Sweat actually evaporates the way it is supposed to and I stay cool. My core temp stays down. Aside from the lungs, the body is very happy! I love it! At home, it's typical to have a dew point that is at least 65F and that's on a more 'comfortable' day. Just yesterday, however, the area that I am in had a dew point of -3F! Apline desert, for sure!

My lower back/right hip area, which I've been having problems with for so long that it's nearly not worth mentioning, has been very happy here. I wonder if it has to do with the decreased barometric pressure? I will have to look into this further. Another interesting tid-bit is that this Florida girl runs in less clothing than these "seasoned" mountain dwellers. I discovered that I am comfy in capris, a tech tee and gloves in 38F weather. It's sort of funny to see other runners out there in tights, long sleeved shirts, fleece vests, and hats when I could have easily changed out my capris to running shorts. I am such an oddity.

Unfortunately, as much as I love being here, it is definitely affecting my marathon prep. I'm good for about an hour of easy running per day up here... and I have to be really careful with the RPE b/c I am nowhere near acclimated. Long runs or any pace work is out of the question. I can hike and walk (as long as it's not overly hilly) without any problems. Hiking/walking, while a great way to keep my heart healthy and keep the "vacation pounds" away, is not going to do anything to help with training to "run" a marathon. I knew that this might be an issue before I left and I chose to accept that fact. Of course, I remained hopeful that my training wouldn't be affected too much by the increase in altitude. At this point in the trip, I cannot maintain the same mileage that I was doing at home (even if I do it at a much slower pace). Like I said before, running at this high of an elevation without being acclimated to it, is a lot like trying to run in a heat index over 100F. It just wipes you out!

A view during my run at Garden of the Gods

After tossing and turning over this the past few days, I am about 80% certain that I am going to move on to Option B. As much as I want to run the February marathon, I am also not willing to risk injury over it. I do not want to get back to Florida and try to "make up" for the time that I lost here. That would be a recipe for disaster! What I can do, however, is probably run two very solid half marathons. I'm already registered for the 'Disney Half' (that was supposed to be my marathon tune-up) and 'The National Breast Cancer Marathon- 26.2 with Donna' allows marathon registrations to be transferred to the half-marathon without an additional fee.

I'm a bit bummed about the possibility of having to nix the marathon, but when I factor in the Disney Half, the marathon taper, plus the race-specific training time I'm losing while here... there just isn't enough time left to properly train without risking serious injury. I plan on making a final decision early next week.

ETA: The formatting around here is starting to drive me bonkers! What's with all of the extra spacing between paragraphs? Even when I edit in HTML and manually remove the spaces, they tend to reappear if I don't insert "br" tags. What gives? Any smarties out there who can help?

Race Report: Beach2Battleship Half Iron

2010-11-18T19:52:00.018-05:00

Half Iron Distance Triathlon

1.2 mile swim * 56 mile bike * 13.1 mile run

November 13, 2010

Wilmington, NC

5:40:33

4th 30-34F AG

26th Female

142nd Overall

**New Half Iron PR by 33 minutes**

I decided to wait a few days to post my race recap because I was hoping (praying) that I would be blessed with a few good race photos. Unfortunately, I was not. Scott and I did this race without a sherpa, so I have no photos to post of this one. Bummer. ETA: I found a few pre & post-race photos and I may give in and purchase one or two of the less offensive race photos.

LOGISTICS

This was definitely the most complex race I've ever done in terms of course logistics. The swim start, T1 and T2 were all in different locations. A bus took us from our hotel to T1. Another bus took us from T1 to the swim start and then a water taxi took us from the finish line back to the hotel. We had separate changing bags for the swim, T1 and T2. The swim bag was then transported to the finish line and acted as our post-race bag. Our T1 changing bag eventually found its way to T2/finish line as well.

RACE MORNING

Despite all of the grumbling I heard from other race participants after the race, I found B2B's transportation set-up to be more than adequate. The shuttle busses got Scott & I from our hotel to T1 and from T1 to the swim start without a hitch. After the race, we opted to wait for the water taxi because we did not want to stack our bikes in the race U-Haul just so we could quickly leave on one of the busses. All athletes had the option to use either the water taxi or the bus to transport themselves or their bikes. The water taxi was the slow boat to China; the bus was much faster. Those who moaned and groaned about waiting for the water taxi should have chosen the bus option. Period.

Waiting for the shuttle bus to T1

CONDITIONS

Perfect. The water was approximately 62-64F degrees. I did a practice swim the Thursday before the race and discovered that I actually felt 'warm' towards the end of the swim. I opted not to wear any booties and I'm thankful for this. The booties affected my kick and really, there was just no need for them. The water was not 'that' cold. The swim current that B2B is known for was pretty much non-existent this year. The swim director for the event said on Slowtwitch.com that the full participants had no help on the swim at all and the half participants had very little. My swim time for this event validates this. I'm cool with this. I would rather my time be a bit more legit and not as 'aided' as say Augusta 70.3.

The air temp was about 42F at the swim start and around 49F when I finished the swim. The warmest it ever reached during my race was 64F on the run. Perfect, although I would have preferred it to be even cooler. A high of 60F would have been lovely. Bright blue, sunny skies! Not a cloud to be found. The wind was whipping pretty good on race day. Weather Underground.com reported steady 8-11mph winds during the bike portion with gusts up to 13mph. The wind was coming from the ENE.

Aside from a slightly windy bike, which I'm use to dealing with due to living in Florida anyway, I'd have to say that it doesn't get any better than this. I doubt I will ever race in such ideal conditions again.

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THE SWIM- 1.2 miles point-to-point, salt-water, wetsuit, low current

TIME- 34:36 (4th AG, 28/235 gender)

Scott's wave went off 15 minutes ahead of my wave and once he was gone, I was alone. I kept looking at all of the other feet around me. Some were wearing booties, some were not. I second guessed whether I should have put mine on. Some people even had neoprene gloves and caps on. My goodness! The water was cool, but this wasn't Alaska!

The swim was a deep water start. I was expecting to feel a strong current (like 2009 Augusta 70.3), but it wasn't there. The full went off with a total slack tide and the tide was only beginning to come in for the half. Based on my Augusta time (strong current, wetsuit, freshwater) and my FL 70.3 time (no wetsuit, no current, freshwater), I expected a time that was closer to Augusta; however, what I got was a time that was oddly closer to FL (nearly 7 minutes or so slower than Augusta and 5 minutes faster than Florida). So the swim (this particular year) was not a big "benefit" to this race. I'm actually happy about this as it better reflects my performance ability at a race that isn't "aided" by anything. I like this. Maybe 2011 will produce the fast swim times that 2009 saw.

I found a pair of feet about 400 yards into the swim and stuck to them like glue for the next 10-15 minutes or so. At that point, I noticed that she was moving steadily towards the right of the channel and hence, off course. I swam the remainder of the swim alone.

We had to climb up some ladders to exit the water and despite the fact that I was wearing earplugs (everyone said that they helped with the cold water), I felt dizzy. The day was windy and it was producing chop. I actually believe that I got sea-sick. It happens to me in the Gulf as well. I'm just not very sea worthy.

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TIME- 5:28

I bypassed the wetsuit strippers in order to keep as warm as possible. It was about 400 yd run from the swim exit to T1 and I wasn't sure what the air temp would feel like on completely wet skin. Once I got to T1, I removed my suit and realized that I didn't find it very cold at all.

I took my good 'ole time in transition, which is a bit odd for me because I usually have faster than average T1 times. This time, however, I wanted to make sure that I had everything that I might need b/c T1 was going to be broken down as soon as the last rider left the area. I also wanted to make a smart decision about what to wear on the bike.

Although it wasn't even 50F yet, I opted to stay in my damp tri tank and shorts. I stuffed a piece of mylar down the front of my shirt and put my arm warmer "donuts" on (I rolled them up about 1 mile into the bike). I also added gloves. I already had toe warmers on my bike shoes and slipped on a thin pair of socks. I figured that my aero "sperm" helmet would keep my head warm. I had a vest in my changing bag, but I opted not to use it. I'm glad I made this choice. I would have FRIED on the bike with a vest on!

A race photographer was staged about 200 yards out from the bike mount line. Who the heck wants a bike photo while they are still up on the horns, shifting around, messing with arm warmers, etc...? Thanks, photographer, for taking the worst photo EVER of me! Then again, who knows? Maybe I will thank you 15 pounds from now and post-inpatient stay at a facility for eating disorders.

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THE BIKE- 56 miles point-to-point, 2 bridges (one quite steep), lots of false flats, windy

TIME- 2:56:47 (4th AG, 43/235 gender)

I felt like I was riding through mud during the first 10 miles of the bike leg. I even looked down to see if my tire was flat. Nope. No flat. Just a product of the wind and a faster-than-average swim time which allows all of the super-bikers to fly on by. This should be of no surprise to me at this point, yet it continues to mess me up mentally at every single race. This time, however, instead of trying to give chase I held steady. See you on the run! {OMG, did I actually say that??}

The bike was windy, loaded with false flats, as smooth as silk and unbearably uncomfortable. My saddle is horrible and my bike fit doesn't help. Despite the fact that I'm on a 48cm baby bike (at 5'5" tall mind you), my top tube (even with a 70mm stem) is still a wee bit too long to handle the position in which I cycle most efficiently. I wished for my road bike from mile 5 through mile 56! I am guessing that I am one of the few people who would actually be faster on a road bike. In fact, I may tackle 2011 on nothing but a roadie with clip ons. More on that at a later date.

My main (only) goal for this race was to NOT OVER BIKE!

I have over-biked BOTH of my previous HIM races and both times I paid for it on the run. Heck, I'm very capable of over biking a sprint! Anyway, this time around I did things differently, I kept my cadence high and spun, spun, spun. I was probably in Zone 2 all day except for the bridges and a few spots of dead-on head wind. I needed to pee during the last 10 miles. I tried to go on the bike. No go. My bladder is shy.

I set my Garmin to autolap at the 28 mile mark:
28 mile Garmin split: 1:31:22;
56 mile Garmin split: 1:26:15

That second split should have been significantly faster than the first due to a decent tail wind; however, I was so uncomfortable on the bike (and my adductors in such pain from my saddle) that I just tried to muster up what I could. The run would come soon and I had saved plenty of energy for it.

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TIME- 3:05

I handed my bike off to a volunteer and ran to T2 with my helmet still on. Just as with T1, I took my grand 'ole time. I fumbled around with the knot on the top of my changing bag before realizing that I should just rip the darn thing apart. Dumb. I also had secured my handheld water bottle in a second bag within the changing bag and had to remove it and then open that bag. Too many bags.

I popped my running shoes on and forgot to secure the "bell shaped pulleys" on my Lock Laces, so the darn things banged against my feet for 13.1 miles (er, 13.37). I grabbed my race belt, visor and handheld water bottle and put them on as I ran towards the "RUN OUT". I crossed over the timing mat and then realized that I still really needed to pee.

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THE RUN- 13.1 mile loop (13.37 by Garmin), 2 drawbridges done twice, 2 small but steep hills, gentle false flats plus a flat stretch of cobblestones. I LOVED this course!

TIME- 2:00:38 (7th AG, 41/235 gender)

What a beautiful course! Definitely not flat, but not continuously hilly either. There were two large bridges that needed to be crossed twice and then a few steep hills within the downtown section. A nice stretch of flat cobblestone road was as scenic as it gets... and my feet/legs actually enjoyed the cobbles!

This was my first ever strong run at the HIM distance thanks to smart nutrition and good bike pacing (forced bike pacing). I am, however, bummed by the time. My Garmin had this course long (significantly long at 13.37 miles). My husband had the course .2 miles long as did just about every other racer I've talked to. Oh well, what can ya do?

I lost a full minute in a port-a-pot right after the T2/Run timing mat (yes, I watched my watch tick-tock-tick-tock while what seemed like a gallon of urine streamed from me). Also, when I went to pull up my shorts, my race belt somehow got twisted up and caused my bib number to break away on one side. I tried to fix it, but I couldn't. I had to run with a flippy/floppy bib number. Talk about annoying! I lost 3rd place in my AG group because of this pee break (by a mere 17 seconds). I might rethink that potty stop next time around. ;-)

The outgoing bridges required a lot of mental focus on my part. I felt really good but I knew that there were other hills within the course to navigate and I had to revisit those bridges again on the way back. So I held back. Somewhere around mile 2.5, my right glute/hip began to feel very tight. I've been dealing with some right hip pain since before FL 70.3, so this didn't surprise me; however, it felt a bit different this time. By mile 6, the pain had moved down to my knee! ITBS!!! After a 10 month break, it was back with a vengeance.

The IT band pain grew considerably worse on the back half of the course which contained a lot of gradual declines heading back towards town. I even told the volunteer at the bottom of the Ann St. hill that it sure did hurt a lot more going down than it did going up. As crazy as this sounds, I found myself looking forward to the inclines on the course as well as the two bridges, b/c the only time my ITB didn't hurt was when I was going UP something. Around mile 10, I considered walking because I feared that I might bust my ITB completely and would have to forgo my February marathon; however, one look at my watch and I changed my mind. I was so close to breaking my OPEN half-marathon PR that I couldn't just STOP. I was nearly in tears from the pain, but I mustered on.

My pace was spot on. I was holding between an 8:50-9:00 pace for most of the race which is what I thought I could run if everything else had gone perfectly. My cardio was super sound and if it hadn't been for the severe ITB pain, I know that I could have run 8:40-8:45 the entire way back to the battleship. I'm a bit bummed about this, but the good news is that I KNOW that I have more on the table to give in future races.

This past June I started to slowly up my running mileage in preparation for a February marathon and it has done wonders for me. I took the slow boat to China on this ramp-up because I didn't want to get injured. Looks like I did anyway, although I truly do not believe that mileage aggravated my ITB. Folks talk about the 10% rule-- well, I took the 3% route! Anyway, I believe that as I continue to build a more solid running base that there is no reason why I can't chop off a boat load of time from the HIM half-marathon. I was a bit on the comfy side (cardio wise) on this run. I still have a lot of room for improvement here.

That being said, this was the best executed run I've done at this distance, for sure! I know how to approach this run now and I'm confident that I can continue to improve-- if I can heal my ITB.

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THE FINISH

At the entrance to the Battleship park, I decided to run the rest of the race at 10K pace. I expunged whatever energy I had left. I crossed the finish line and fell into Scott's arms (he had crossed the line about 10 seconds before I did). I had no idea he was just ahead of me. It was so neat... the announcer actually said, "The L's are both here!" A concerned medical volunteer noticed that I was sort of hanging on Scott and came over to us. She immediately ushered me into the warming tent, wrapped me in a couple of mylar blankets and laid me down on a cot. I remember feeling very hot, very dizzy and then very, very cold. Salt was caked all over my skin. I must have sat in the med tent for about 40 minutes.

Scott and I shared a few very precious moments in that tent-- happy tears were shed. We both ended up with PRs in excess of 30 minutes. I had a goal of going sub-6 hours and the fact that I exceeded that and then some... well, it leaves me nearly speechless. I am proud.

Celebrate!

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NUTRITION

Pre-race

IHOP blueberry pancakes (4) + two strips of bacon at 4PM the evening before the race. Had a 4:30 AM wake-up call followed by 1.5 bagels with some peanut butter. I also ate a banana about 30 minutes before the swim start and sipped on Gatorade all the way up until the time I put my feet in the water.

Bike

2 Pop-Tarts plus 70oz of orange Gatorade mixed with an additional 224 cals of maltodextrin. In addition, I took in 3 S!Caps while on the bike. 994 calories consumed on the bike in total. That number makes me want to hurl, but I was completely fine with this and probably could have eaten more. Maybe I have two stomachs like a cow.

Run

Water (approx 35-40oz total) + 4 packets of Vanilla Power Gel + 2 S!Caps. 440 calores consumed on the run in total.

Post-race

Beef broth in medical tent, water, slice of pizza... and eventually a well-done, juicy hamburger!

I think I just about nailed my race day nutrition. I had absolutely no gastric distress during the race and I felt clear headed the entire time. I have never consumed that much on the run before and I believe that it helped. I actually think I could have consumed even more calories on the bike and I probably would have... but I ran out! I was taking a gel on the run about every 20 minutes or so. I should have squeezed in one extra S!Cap on the run.

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TID-BITS

SetUpEvents runs a TOP NOTCH show. Ironman brand ought to be ashamed of itself. I would recommend this event and any other SetUpEvents branded race to anyone! My husband and I will be back, that's for sure!

Volunteers and event staff were out of this world! The people of Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington, NC should be awfully proud of themselves! Bravo!

Twas the Night Before Beach2Battleship HIM

2010-11-12T19:12:00.000-05:00

THURSDAY & FRIDAY

The last two days in Wilmington, NC have been amazing. This particular race getaway has felt more like a vacation than any other race we've participated in. The town of Wilmington is adorable and the people here have really opened their arms to all of the athletes. SetUpEvents is running a top-notch show. It seems like every "i" has been dotted and every "t" crossed. The weather has been in one word... WOW! Morning lows have been in the 40s and afternoon highs in the mid-60s. Bright blue skies are everywhere with nary a cloud to be found. Perfection!

We made the nearly 13 hour drive (if you count our pit-stops) to Wilmington on Wednesday and fell into bed around 11:30 PM. I drove the last six hours of the trip and my system was running on pure adrenaline-- the kind that makes you feel sick to your stomach.

Our Thursday wake-up call was 5 AM. We were scheduled to meet a group of athletes from BeginnerTriathlete.com at Wrightsville Beach and swim the last 1500m of the swim course. Scott & I were excited about testing out our new full wetsuits in something other than chlorine. The channel water was about 62-63F, but it felt warm compared to the air temp. It was quite windy on Thursday morning and the wind chill was out of control for a bit.

Pre-swim with Brian, Alan, Cecilia and Martin

Scott says, "brrrrr...."

I was snug as a bug in a rug in my suit. It fits so well that hardly any water leaks in at all. I opted to wear booties (even though I had never swam in them before) and kept in mind that the race director was also allowing neoprene caps and non-webbed gloves. I didn't have the latter two items, but I thought that if that water was "that" cold, then I would pick them up at the expo.

We swam at the very beginning of incoming tide, so there was a decent current. Unfortunately, I came to realize all too quickly that I am one of those rare people for whom a wetsuit offers no advantage. I have good body position in the water already and a wetsuit (plus salt water) actually makes me "too" buoyant. I had NO kick for the swim. I get a lot of propulsion from my kick (as opposed to balance) and without it, I felt like a snail. No wonder why I always fall behind on pull sets in the pool. Normally Scott and I swim at a similar pace, both in the pool and in open water. During our practice swim, I couldn't even stay in his draft. He has a super pull, but lacks a bit of balance... hence, he benefits greatly from a full suit. This is really good for me to know for the future. I can't do much about it now, but it's clear that while my strong kick is definitely an asset for most of the non-wetsuit races that I do in FL, I need to work on my pull. Strong kick + strong pull... deadly!

Kicking and pulling aside, I did not find the water to be cold at all. In fact, I sort of felt "warm" towards the end of the swim. Probably from dragging myself through the water without a kick! Honestly, if the run to T1 wasn't a 1/4 mile on painful chip & seal, I don't think I would wear the booties. I definitely have no interest in a using a neoprene cap or gloves.

Post-swim- with BT.com friends Brian & Martin

Following the swim, Scott & I went on a quick 25 minute run and then set out to find some coffee. We were ridiculously pleased with how the morning went and found ourselves riding a pre-race high!

Later in the afternoon we attended packet pick-up, strolled around downtown Wilmington, had lunch at a quaint little deli, took a brief nap and then attended the athlete kick-off dinner. We met up with a few of our new friends from the morning swim and had some good laughs. Bedtime came early at 9:30 PM.

With our new friend Alan at the Athlete Kick-Off dinner

This morning we set out for some coffee and a bite to eat, took a spin by the USS North Carolina and saw where T2/Finish line would be staged and then returned to our room to prep our changing bags. The Beach2Battleship transitions are in two different locations and this was the first race of this kind that we had ever done. Deciding on what to place in each bag is difficult when you are used to having just one transition bag and one spot that you return to again and again. However, we managed to pull ourselves together and figure it out. We dropped our bikes and changing bags off at T1 this afternoon. It actually felt good to get them off our hands.

Visiting the "finish line"... USS North Carolina!

After dropping off the bikes/bags, we bumped into Alan from the swim again and the three of us decided to head to IHOP for an early dinner. A stack of pancakes and some good conversation later, we now find ourselves back at our hotel and trying our best to relax. Our alarm is set for 5 AM-- a relatively late wake-up for a triathlon. However, since the half iron begins 1.5 hours after the iron, we have the luxury of sleeping in a bit. We are booked on the 6:30 AM transfer bus. Scott's wave goes off at 8:30 AM and my wave goes off at 8:45 AM.

PRE-RACE THOUGHTS

Race day expectations... the good part of the post, right? I'm not going to go on about how, "first and foremost I want to finish." Barring any medical emergency or catastrophic mechanical bike failure, I will finish the race tomorrow. What I do have is a time goal. I want to break 6 hours. This should not be out of reach for me if I can manage to reign in my bike, stay hydrated and eat enough. The cool temps should help with the hydration (although I will note that I was definitely the only one running in a bathing suit and running shorts on Thursday morning) and I have more than enough calories on my bike to fuel myself. Staying composed and within my limits on the bike will be my biggest challenge. If I am unable to do this, I will not be able to run what I know I am capable of running. There is no bullshit here; that's really all there is to it. Sherry + over-biking = a snail could run faster. Sherry + cycling within limits = PR. Hence, a PR will not come from my swim or bike split. If it comes, it will be on the run. If I run what I'm capable of running, it will be a HUGE PR, but I'm not going to get ahead of myself. A goal of breaking 6-hours is reasonable and attainable if I am smart. So, this may not be a big PR (this is not a flat run course), but it should be enough for me to break that 6-hour mark. At least, I hope it's enough. And there it is.

I hope to return to the finish line after I'm all showered up to cheer for the rest of the HIM participants and to cheer for ALL of the full finishers! If I have it within me, I'll be there until midnight. This is a very special race, with a ton of very special people and I want to watch as many of their smiling faces cross the line as possible.

On Sunday morning we will be attending the full-distance awards cruise on the Henrietta Riverboat. Even though we are only doing the half, we thought that since we are here we might as well just enjoy the entire B2B experience. I will try to post a brief race re-cap sometime on Sunday and then a more detailed one next week... so stay tuned!

I "can" Can-Can!

2010-10-31T07:36:00.000-04:00

Yeah, yeah... MIA again. It's been a busy month.

We had family down for a week, spent some time at Disney and have been putting in peak week training volume. The Blog, Facebook, Twitter and all of the other evil social networking sites and community forums have taken a backseat to life. I'd like to pull myself out of this blogging slump, but with another insanely busy month ahead, I'm not sure it will be possible. I will try my best.

DISNEY
We recently joined our NJ family in Disney for a few days. It was a whirlwind of a getaway and was scheduled during a recovery week. I'm not sure we did much recovering at all with walking miles and miles around the parks. By the way, since when has walking become more difficult than running? It's amazing how the body adapts to repeated stress. At this point, my body appears to be more efficient at running long distances than it is at walking long distances. Too funny.

I was bad... and yes, I'm wearing a fanny pack

Aside from spending time with my awesome NJ family, the highlight of our Disney whirlwind had to be the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue... because I was selected to be a "guest" cast member. If you have never seen it, the HDD revue is phenomenal. One of the best at Disney. Anyway, like other dinner shows, a few members of the audience are selected to be participants. So, while I'm digging into some strawberry shortcake, one of the lead cast members comes up behind me, pulls the fork out of my hand and whisks me away. I was selected to be a Can-Can Dancer.

Getting pulled up the stage. I'm smiling, but I was ridiculously nervous! There were at least 500 people in the audience!

Scott captured a little video of my performance. Please keep in mind that prior to my 15 seconds of fame, I only had a vague idea of 'how' to Can-Can dance. Of course, that idea didn't apply to a version of the dance called, "impromptu and done in sneakers." In addition, asking someone with hamstrings that are so tight that they could be mistaken for a cheese slicer to Can-Can "kick" is well, a very bad idea. Oh, but I love the stage and had so much fun! For the record, that dress was very heavy and it was too big-- much like wearing a leaded vest for a dental X-Ray. Try dancing in that!

TRAINING
Yesterday was our final pre-B2B pacing brick. We were lucky to wake up to temps in the low-60s. The weather was a much needed psychological boost and the rest of our mojo came from simply knowing that this was pretty much IT!

The brick was a 50/4 done at race pace. I belong to the "Overbikers Anonymous" support group. After two half-irons and a few short course races where it has been clear that my cycling effort has had a disastrous affect on my run, my goal for this pacing brick was to get my brain and my muscles to remember what an 'easy' RPE felt like and to be able to run what I know I am capable of running for the t-run. Both my cycling & running have come a long way since Augusta 70.3 & Florida 70.3. However, I am anticipating a slightly more conservative bike split than what I did at Florida 70.3. This should allow me to finally have a solid half marathon.

Despite a heavy training load earlier in the week, I felt great on the bike. My crotch continues to be an issue, but I can nearly ignore it now. I felt steady and strong, but also relaxed... like it was just another ride on any other weekend. At mile 30 I had a high-speed collision with a very angry bee. He left his stinger (and venom sack) imbedded in my upper left arm as a present. I pulled it out with my fingernails and then spent the next 10 minutes freaking out about whether or not I was going to have some sort of allergic reaction in the middle of a wildlife preserve.

Around mile 40 I began to notice that my stomach felt very sloshy. I don't normally have gastric issues, but with the slightly cooler temps, I'm not sure if I over-hydrated (I did pee twice on the bike and once right before I started the run) or if I took in too many calories. This cool weather stuff is unfamiliar territory. I don't know how to eat for it and I don't know how to dress for it. Yes, this is a big concern for B2B.

At mile 50, I hopped off the bike, loaded it into the Element, strapped on my shoes, grabbed my hand-held water bottle, hit the porta-let and took off. The heat index was closing in on 80F by now, so it was definitely warm, but doable! My goal for mile 1 was to run conservatively. I wanted that first mile to be 'recovery run' slow. Well, I didn't hit "recovery run" but I did hold the slower end of my typical easy-pace range for the first mile and felt really great. I negative split the next 3 miles and finished feeling like I could continue on for the long haul. Success!

I am very pleased with where I'm at right now. I tackled this year without a coach and while I miss being able to pick the brain of an expert in the field, I also feel very proud of what I've been able to achieve on my own. Barring any unforeseen circumstances (bad weather, flats, illness, bee stings) and the urge to overbike, I think Scott and I are both going to have solid races.

Dreaming of 2011

2010-10-13T07:21:00.001-04:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year. No, it's not Christmas. It's time to scout out potential races for 2011!

Last year I said that I was going to make 2010 a short-course year. Of course, I got antsy about doing another half-ironman--just so I knew that the first one wasn't a fluke--and those short-course plans fell to pieces. However, 2011 is going to be about short course. My reason for this is three-fold and has been well thought out over the past 2 years.

First, I'm a runner. I may not be a naturally gifted runner, but I am a dedicated runner. I want to become the best runner that I can be and for that to happen, I need to give it some added attention. Second, I loathe the bike training required for the 1/2 iron. I gave it a fair chance again this year, but I've concluded that I'm just not a fan. It grosses me out to have to eat all of those calories during longer 3 and 4 hour rides. Every time I begin a build for a half-iron I end up walking around feeling bloated and gross (and at least 4 pounds heavier). I do not like this. I definitely feel more fit and way more healthy during a short-course training block. Finally, it was a 6-hour process yesterday for a 65 mile ride when you factor in pack-up, drive to location, unpack, start ride, do the ride, pack-up, drive home, un-pack, clean all bottles, shower, etc... There are horses for courses and I have no problem being one of Blogland's few short-course AG representatives.

Running. I don't know why it is that running has gotten under my skin and taken ahold of my soul. I think I can safely say that I am a slightly better short-course triathlete than I am a runner (and I think this is mostly due to the swim), yet if you told me that I had free entry to either a local sprint tri or a local 10k race, I would hand's down chose the 10k.

There is something about running that makes me feel so alive. It reaches a part of me that triathlon doesn't. I'm more engaged in my surroundings when I run. I'm able to safely look at plants and animals, listen for sounds that I normally take for granted and enjoy some time off the beaten path. I usually finish a swim session bored to tears (and yes, I do swim sets), I typically always want off the bike at the 30-40 mile mark, yet I sometimes have to stop myself from continuing on with a run when the workout is over.

So, the above is my approach to 2011, now let's move on to the good stuff!

{insert drum roll, please}

January 8: Walt Disney World Half Marathon. This will be my tune-up race for February's marathon and hopefully I'll be able to catch-up with Melissa and Jen C. from 2009 tri camp. I'll be missing the River, Roots and Ruts trail run this year in order to do this event. It's probably going to kill me to miss it, but I know that nothing replaces a really good race tune-up and since it will have been more than a year since I raced a half marathon (and my running has come a long way since), I'd like to see what I can do.

February 13: National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer- 26.2 with Donna. My first marathon. I am beyond excited! It's the kind of excitement that I have experienced only twice before: my very first 5k and my very first triathlon. I'm positive that I'll be crying at the start line. This is unknown territory for me. My goal is to finish. I do have a very liberal, ultra-padded, sure to not miss time goal, but my main goal is to just cross that line. I can worry about time the next 'go round.

March 20: Gator Sprint Triathlon or Gator Sprint Duathlon. I have always wanted to do a duathlon. I've heard that they are quite tough and really challenge one's ability to pace. We'll see. This race is fairly close to home and what I really like is that there are shorter races going on while the half is going on. I like the idea of being able to CHEER when I'm finished with my race! My legs will only be just over 1 month out from the marathon, so this race would be done just for fun and would serve as a 'marker' for the beginning of tri season.

April 11: Nautica South Beach Triathlon. This would be the 'glam' race of the year. They offer a classic course (.5 mile swim, 19 mile bike, 4 mile run) and an Olympic distance course. Sounds like it would be fun and I could do some celebrity spotting.

May 1: St. Anthony's Triathlon. Olympic distance. Unfortunately this race is now part of the "Ironman 5150" series. I deferred my registration from 2010. I'm not really overly excited about this race, but maybe eventually that will change. It's a big race. Lodging and parking logistics are typically a nightmare. The swim is typically very rough, which is okay by me, but calm waters are always appreciated. This will be a nice "one and done" race for me.

June 2011: Naples Fitness Challenge. This is a very popular reverse triathlon (5k run, 15k bike, 1/4 mile swim). I've been eyeballing it for a few years now, but it never really fit into the schedule. This fun race has great scheduling potential for 2011.

Summer 2011: Zoomers summer race series. I'm hoping to hit as many of these local 5k/10k events that I can. It's boiling hot out, but I need to continue to learn proper pacing at the shorter distance and there's no better way to learn than to get out there and just do it.

July 2011: Englewood Sprint Triathlon. I would definitely consider doing this local race again. The course was nice, the race fee wasn't astronomical and it's only a 40 min. drive from our house, so no hotel fee.

August 20, 2011: USAT Age Group Nationals in VERMONT! I should hopefully qualify at St. Anthony's since it's a regional qualifier (top 33% of AG qualifies). If not I will have to work my butt off, stop coming in 2nd all of the time and actually win my AG again. I am well aware that I will get my butt handed to me at this race and will probably finish in the bottom 5% of my AG, but I care not! I didn't go to Nats last year when I qualified and I should have- for the experience alone. This year, because I chose small, local races (and ended up maid-of-honor at both), I didn't meet the qualifying %. I refuse to miss out on Vermont and that's incentive enough for me to work HARD! The race is in New England! New England! I cannot resist. Heck, I'd register for Sprint Nats just to have an excuse to race in Vermont! Bring on the Ben & Jerry's!

OFFICIAL END OF 2011 TRIATHLON SEASON! SHORT & SWEET!

The remainder of 2011 will be filled with the joy of running. I'm sure there will be a couple of 5k and 10k races as well as a Florida-based half marathon and perhaps a 'destination' half marathon.

After three triathlon-focused seasons, I'm really excited to change things up a bit. 2011 will be the first year that I'll end the tri season before November! Glory be! I will also go into the year with some focus: short course triathlon and running! I think they will compliment each other quite nicely.

Race Report: Gasparilla Island 10K

2010-10-10T17:39:00.007-04:00

GASPARILLA ISLAND 10k

October 3, 2010

A shiny, new pencil holder!

I had the race of my year this past Sunday.

All of my post-it notes and psychological mambo jambo must have worked because I was ready when I toed the line at the Gasparilla 10k.

PRE-RACE MEAL- 2 hours before race start
Whole wheat bagel with light cream cheese (standard pre-race breakfast)
Hot tea with honey (also standard)

PRE-RACE WARM-UP- 20 minutes before race start
Lately I've noticed that my best training runs have followed my C25K group training clinics. Knowing this, I decided to warm-up like a clinic. I ran for 90 seconds, walked for 60 seconds, ran for 90 seconds, walked for 60 seconds, repeat, repeat. After the last walk break, I did 3 or 4 strides and then walked over to the car to stretch. A few king pigeons and downward dogs later and I was off to the start line.

TEMPS
I am notorious about logging weather information along with my training/race stats. I use the wunderground.com history link for the location and will typically pick a time that is smack dab in the middle of my run. So, weather conditions for this race were 70F, 67.7F dew point, 76F heat index and winds 3-6mph from the North. So much cooler than what is typical for this time of year. Far from ideal mind you, but better than expected.

THE START
As I mentioned in my previous post, the 10k race goes off with the 5k race. Thank goodness the race directors provided us with different colored bibs. I was wearing a yellow 10k bib and this ensured that I was not likely to chase someone wearing a white 5k bib. Our local running club, the Zoomers, was well represented. Scott and I are new to the Zoomers organization, so while I was at the start line I took some time to spot-out people wearing purple Zoomers tanks. The Speedsters group from Ft. Myers was out in full force as well. They are all fantastic runners and super positive people. I hope to do some training with both groups after tri season is over.

The race director moved all of the speedy people up to the front of the start line and asked the rest of us to move in behind them. I started about 4-5 rows back from the front. Perfect for me. Right before the start of the race I spotted a Facebook friend, R, who also runs with the Zoomers & Speedsters. I hadn't yet met her in person, but I knew that she had done the Run 4 A Reason 5K in August and that we ran at very similar speeds, with her being just a wee bit faster. She was wearing a yellow bib like I was.

Before the gun went off, I kept saying to myself over and over again... pace, pace, pace. I had even adjusted my iPod to play... wait for it... Eye in the Sky by The Alan Parsons Project as the first song, just so I wouldn't go out too fast! I heard a few 5k racers near me talking about how they hoped to average an 8:15 pace, so I thought to myself, "hmm... maybe I'll stay near them for the first mile."

MILE 1
The most important mile! The gun went off and my plan was put into action. I watched R zoom ahead, while I tried to hold back. The "8:15" girls also zoomed ahead. I looked down at my Garmin: 7:30 pace! Too fast. I immediately backed it off, I let people pass me. Yellow bibs went by, white bibs went by, Alan Parsons Project was buzzing in my ear. I was running my own race.

I was able to adjust my pace to about a 7:50-7:55, but was not able to go any slower than that (the plan had been to run 8:10 for mile 1). I felt very comfortable. Soon after mile 0.5, I passed the "8:15 girls" who were now struggling and started reeling in yellow and white bibs. I could see R about 30 seconds ahead of me. There were many other women up ahead too, but I didn't know if they were 5k or 10k runners.

Mile 1: 7:52

MILES 2-4
Soon after the 1.5 mile mark we parted ways with the 5k runners and hit the canal bridge. I passed a 10k female runner about 0.1 of a mile before the bridge and then passed two younger dudes on the upside. I always feel badly when I pass a guy. I don't know why, I shouldn't. They pass me all the time.

After the bridge I hit the first of 3 cul-du-sac streets. This was also my first opportunity to see where I was in relation to the other women in the race. I was 2nd. R was the only woman in front of me. I now also knew that I had at least 10 seconds on the woman behind me. I found myself looking at the faces of all of the other women. Were they breathing hard? Had they gone out too fast? Did they look comfy? I've never done this before.

After the first cul-du-sac, I found myself on the heels of a male runner. He was running my pace. I couldn't pass him and he wasn't gaining any ground on me, so I decided to use him. There was a light wind blowing from the North on the outbound leg of the race, so now and then I would dip in behind him to catch a bit of his draft. I never stayed long because I didn't want to bug him (he wasn't wearing an iPod, so I knew he could hear me behind him). I ran with him for the rest of the race. At spots he would pull ahead of me and then I would pull slightly ahead of him, but we couldn't get rid of each other.

Miles 2, 3 and 4 were very solid. The pace felt hard, but not 5k hard. My legs felt great. My breathing was in check. Some people around me were really pushing air big-time, but I was not. I recall marveling about how good I actually felt. After blowing up during my last 5k and sprint tri, feeling confident and comfortable was quite welcome.

There was a cul-du-sac at miles 2, 3 and 4 (approx). With each approach, I could see that I was slowly reeling in R, who was indeed the only female 10k racer in front of me. By the time I went around the third cul-du-sac I had closed the gap between us to about 15 seconds and we appeared to be holding the same pace. For a moment I thought about just going for it, but I decided not to. Fifteen seconds is a lot of time in a running race (although Macca made it look very easy yesterday). I was there to race my race and I was doing surprisingly well at all. I was also solidly ahead of the closest woman behind me (about 2 minutes when all was said and done). There was no need to try catch R and it was unlikely that she was going to implode or that I was going to blow-up and lose 2nd to whomever was fairly far behind me. I decided to remain content with how I was racing. I definitely ran miles 2 and 3 too fast, but thankfully, not fast enough to blow-up.

Mile 2: 7:32
Mile 3: 7:25 (ohhh, someone needs to race a 5k soon)
Mile 4: 7:39

MILE 5
Mile 5 brought with it the canal bridge (again) and I was happy to see it. Folks who deal with hills and changes in terrain probably don't really think about this, but let me tell ya, it is mind numbing to run on flats all of the time. I usually try to include an over/back run over the Peace River Bridge at least once a week just to change things up. Over time, I have learned how to run hills (aka- Florida bridges) and stay pretty consistent with my pacing. I slow a bit on the way up and speed up a bit on the way down. I had to learn how to run downhill in order to do this. Most folks seem to "break" when they run downhill. I've taught myself to lean forward and let gravity carry me down. It's a weird feeling, but it works. Anyway, the backside of the little canal bridge gave me a boost of confidence as the downhill allowed me to get closer to a few of the guys running in front of me.

At one point during mile 5, I had a small lapse in concentration (mind numbing flats) and fell off my pace slightly. I quickly got my mind back into the game and reminded myself to turn my feet over. If there is one thing I have, it's quick turnover. So, even when my legs are getting tired and my stride seems to be shortening, if I can just tell my brain to turn over my legs, I'm golden.

Mile 5: 7:41

THE FINISH
The final mile is a straight-shoot down a concrete sidewalk. I finally passed one of the men in front of me and my "pacer" tried to encourage me to pass him. I said to him, "I'm trying, dude." I really wasn't trying. I was pretty happy with what I was doing and with still over a mile left to go in the race, there was plenty of time for me to blow-up if I didn't continue to race smart.

Mile 6: 7:41 (consistent and right where I should have been all along)

The run to the finish was terrific. I had juice left in the tank so I kicked hard! I ran as fast as I could toward the clock and was in awe of what I saw. All of the time that I was checking my pace on the course, I never looked at the elapsed time. I was "hoping" to come in around 49 minutes, but would have been pleased with anything sub-50. To see 47:XX on the clock as I was racing towards the finish line... well, OMG!

I tore through the finish line with everything that I had and hit a 5:35 pace somewhere along the way. When I crossed over the line, I let out a very loud, "Wooooo!!!!" Elated!

Finish time: 47:53 (a 10k PR by more than 6 minutes)

I finished the race as 2nd female overall (14 seconds behind R) and won my AG. Don't get overly excited folks, this was a small race with only 72 10k racers. Anyway, the very best thing that came out of this race was that I learned how to control my pace. I obviously still have some work to do (as seen in my mile 2 & 3 splits), but I'm getting there. This is a huge step in the right direction for me and it was a solid confidence booster. I felt great after the race. I raced my race and achieved my goal (and then some) because I played it smart.

TRAINING UPDATE
Beach2Battleship HIM peak week #1 is ovah! I've been trying very hard to focus on this race, but all I can think about is February's marathon. I'm just so darn excited! This past June I decided that I was going to sloooowly ramp up my mileage to a base of 30 miles per week. For the past 3 years, I've been averaging only between 15 to 21 mpw (and a wee bit higher before a 70.3). I knew that at some point I would be attempting to combine B2B training and marathon prep, so I decided that I was going to build my base early to reduce the chance of injury. So, for the past 4 months I've been building to 30. I spent quite a few weeks at 22-23 mpw, then backed off for a week. Next, I moved to 25-26 mpw and then again, took a recovery week. Eventually I hung out for two weeks at 28 mpw. Last week I backed off the mileage just a bit before the 10k. This past week I finally hit 30 mpw! I'm injury free (knock on wood) and feel much better about the big marathon build that is going to take place in December/January. I have decided to hang out at 30 mpw until the B2B taper. I will resume my build at the end of November.

I should note that have not gone about collecting miles via long runs. Rather, I started by just adding in another day of running. A short 3-miler worked perfectly. Eventually I started tacking on an extra mile to one of my mid-week runs. Essentially, my goal was to run more by building out instead of up. Of course, I've included long runs as well (B2B is on the horizon), but my longest long run has only been a 13.1 training run... and that was just completed yesterday.

This morning I did a recovery run on grass. I am pretty much a 100% asphalt and concrete runner. We have no running trails around here. We do have soccer fields and I will probably become quite familiar with them later on this year, but up until this morning, I had never done a grass run. Yeah. What a mess. My poor pink Kinvaras-- used and abused b/c I have no "off road" shoes. I can't believe I kicked up all of this mess. Seriously, I was on grass-- no obvious dirt. I'm a solid mid-foot striker, so no heel planting. I literally just kicked this gunk up onto the back of my legs.

I was wondering why the back of my leg was itching

ETA: I have no idea why the spacing in this blog post is not cooperating. Blogger is starting to really PMO with this problem. I apologize for the rather large breaks between paragraphs.

The Pace Race

2010-10-01T17:55:00.008-04:00

Whoa, Nelly! It's 6:30AM... and 68.5 degrees out! Of course, humidity is still 95% and it could be more like 58F, but I'll take it! It's a welcome change from "70" anything! A sign of the fall season, perhaps?

On Sunday I will run my second open-10k. My first 10k was this exact race... 2008 edition. I had been running for 10 months at the time and had completed a handful of 5k races and two sprint triathlons. I recall being so excited about the race that morning. It was a new distance for me, a new test. Unfortunately, I went out too fast and probably killed off some lung tissue trying to cross the finish line. I was very pleased with my finish time, all things considered, but it's really no fun to hurt like that. I hope that this year will be different.

It's no secret that I struggle with pacing. When I do my training runs, I have no problems negative splitting just about every one of them, but for whatever reason I can't translate that to a racing situation. I like to give chase. I like to believe that I'm stronger and faster than what I am and hence, I end up running somebody else's race when I should be running mine. The same can be said for triathlon, I am a 'chaser' on the bike and 9 times out of 10, all of that chasing catches up to me threefold on the run.

Now, I can do math. I know that giving up a few minutes on the bike, will translate into a gain on the run. I know this, yet I continue to ignore it. Same with open running. I know that holding back a bit in the beginning will allow me to finish strong in the end. Again, I know this, yet I have continued to ignore it for the majority of my races. The one race that I actually kept this in mind lead to my 5k PR this year. Hmmm, you'd think I would learn.

RACE PREP
The 10k run starts at the same time as the 5k run. Even more reason to not give chase. I could be chasing a 5k runner! The two races overlap for about 1.5 miles or enough time to completely blow oneself up by chasing 5k rabbits.

The course is out and back with a canal bridge right before mile 2. The same bridge is seen again just before mile 5. There are a few detours down residential side-streets (complete with time sapping cul-du-sacs). The lead-up to the finish line is lined with Banyon trees and is the highlight of the race. It's beautiful!

Although I am not "trained" for this race, I have done a couple of tempo runs and some race-pace repeats, so I know what I can run at this time of the year and in the weather conditions that we presently have; however, none of that matters if I don't pace that first mile well. The first mile is critical for me. For everyone, I suppose. It sets the tone for the remainder of the race.

In an effort to mentally prepare myself for the first mile of this race, I stuck some reminder Post-Its around the house. I know it's a bit cheesy, but I'm desperate to run this race properly. I don't really like putting numbers out there in Blogland anymore b/c I'm certainly not a fast runner and upon seeing my goal pace, most folks will probably think that I'm taking all of this a bit too seriously... but, what evs. I need to see these numbers, drill them into my head and eat them for breakfast/lunch/dinner.

Disclaimer: I am not an artist. I can "stick draw" a rabbit face (ironic), a stegosaurus (don't ask), a cat and a hound dog. That is it.

On the cabinet door that I open the most

On the shutter next to the bed

On the table next to my laptop

On the bathroom mirror

Good luck to a few of my friends who are racing this weekend: Christina is running the Ocean City Half for fun and despite all of this fun (and she will smile & laugh from mile 1 through mile 13.1), will totally put up an awesome finish time! Regina is doing the Bassman Half Iron in my home state of NJ. It has a very odd run course and should make for interesting post-race commentary. Our tri mentor, Roy, is competing in the Halfmax Championships tomorrow. He is currently a bit freaked out about all of the very "fit looking" athletes walking around. We had to remind him that he is one of those athletes.

And finally, a shout out to my 'bestie' for giving me the best leg massage ever! I learned that if you want a great massage, you need to be massaged by another athlete. We know what we like! I also discovered that I have gravel in my feet and hamstrings. Time to be a bit more proactive about shoveling.

Autumn? Where?

2010-09-26T07:19:00.005-04:00

OBLIGATORY WEATHER COMPLAINT

Florida obviously did not get the memo that Autumn began last Tuesday. We continue to melt.

I've dealt with the summer heat very well this year. I've really taken it, "like a man" (said in my best Rocky voice). In fact, I think I only made one "cry baby" post this summer which is a major accomplishment considering the fact that the entire Eastern half of the US had record setting heat.

That being said, I'm over it. I'm tired of our low being 76F with 90% humidity. Do you have any idea what kind of heat index that translates to at 5AM? Let alone what it looks like at 11AM when it's time for me to finish a 50 mile bike ride and then run 4 miles? Yeah... so very over it.

TRAINING UPDATE

On a positive note (because that's what this blog is about)...

I have made huge strides with my running this summer. Despite the heat, I only took to the treadmill for one run and I was able to increase my mileage to a number I feel I can successfully build upon (hopefully without injury) for marathon prep.

My rewards for doing this:

1. Mental toughness. I am kick-butt and have learned that even as a "super sweater" I can run in 95F heat. The hotter it is, the slower I am, but it's all good!

2. Tough legs. When I was doing 10 and 11 milers as part of my half-marathon prep in 2009, I used to whine about how much my quads hurt. These days 10 or 11 milers aren't really all that long anymore and they sure as heck don't produce mincemeat quads.

3. Faster legs. Even in the torturous heat, I've watched my pace slowly, but steadily improve. I began focusing on my running in early June and my average pace across the board has dropped about 45-50 seconds per mile since then. This amazes me. Especially in this heat. I've learned that run training is just like bike training. If you want to run faster & longer, you've got to go out there and just run. You've got to put in the mileage. There is no substitute.

4. Gained a new best friend. My foam roller. I've been diligent with foam rolling every day, twice a day. With my gradual increase in mileage and a marathon lurking on the horizon, I knew that injury prevention was going to be paramount.

ON THE AGENDA

This upcoming week is an exciting one! It looks like it's going to be race central the next two weekends! There is Kona, of course, and a few of my friends will be partaking in some exciting local races up North. I'll be racing too. It will be my first 10k race since 2008 and a big honkin' PR is going to drop! Oh yes! I'm ready, my legs are ready, my race-prep runs have indicated that a huge PR is attainable... now all I have to do is PACE! More on this in a later post this week.

One year ago today, I was competing in my very first half-ironman. While I was walking Koby this morning, I thought a lot about Augusta. I thought about how differently I would approach the event now-- from pacing to my general attitude. I sure have grown a lot since then.

My first Century is in the books!

2010-09-13T12:06:00.010-04:00

The three amigos at the end of our first century ride

It's already been established that, running aside, I'm not a huge fan of long training sessions or races. I don't care to spend more than 3 hours at a pop on the bike. I get bored to tears during swim sets over 3000 yards. I am probably one of the few triathletes out there who really has no interest at the moment in doing an Ironman... and I really couldn't care all that much about the half iron distance either. That being said, I participate in long rides and long-course tri because my husband and my friends enjoy them. I like to be with them, so there you have it.

Would I have ever planned to complete my first 100 mile bike ride in the middle of a very hot Florida summer? Not a chance! This is where the term "impromptu" comes in. If I had months to think about doing this ride in the middle of September, I probably would have backed out of it. Being that I had less than a week to think about it and that my best friend was counting on me to do it, I was trapped (in a good way).

This coming Thursday, my bestie is having her much needed hip surgery. She is an absolute fantastic cyclist and unlike myself, could probably live on the bike. She's not only naturally gifted at cycling, but truly enjoys it as well. The perfect combination. We both had the goal of completing a century this year and with her surgery coming up and the rest of my year pretty much devoted to marathon training, we decided last week that is was 'now or never'. So we planned a route, complete with pit stops, invited a few extra friends to join us and declared war on September 12th!

PRE-RIDE FEELINGS

My sleep has been pretty rotten for the past few weeks and unlike other parts of the country, it is still extremely hot here. We reached a high of 93F yesterday (true temp; I have no idea what heat index was) and yes, we were still out on the road when the high hit. So lack of sleep + heat + general fatigue from a race that didn't go so well and a long run that did, had me a bit worried. Still, the century was ON! I knew that my fitness would be there, but I also knew that heat/fatigue aside, that this ride was going to be 100% about nutrition and pacing. If I could get those two correct, I would be golden. If I screwed up one or both, there would be hell to pay.

SATURDAY

I got a whopping 4 hours of sleep on Friday night and woke up at 4AM on Saturday. I was utterly exhausted. I attempted a very short run and had to call it quits after only 2.5 miles. I felt like death. My husband arrived home from work to find me curled up in a bathtub full of bubbles. I was drained. He pulled me from the tub, closed all of the windows, hid the computer and remote control, brought my dog to my mother's house and then put me to bed. I slept from about 10AM to 2:30PM, waking only briefly in order to eat some pancakes that Scott brought me. Later that evening I had enough energy to attend our church's Blue Mass celebration, but I still had my reservations about Sunday's ride. Scott & my mom thought I was nuts for even considering to go through with it, but I was not about to surrender before I got a good night of rest.

SUNDAY- RIDE TIME!

Scott & I woke up at 5AM, had some bagels, loaded everything up and made our way to Sondra & Jeff's house. I felt 'good' and definitely much better than the day before. I figured that if 100 miles wasn't in the cards, maybe 50 miles would be.

We knew that we would have a few other friends riding part of the century with us, but we never expected the amount of people that turned out. Twelve of us left the starting point and we picked up a thirteenth rider along the way. This is actually a big turnout for our rather small cycling community.

7AM- Getting ready to roll

MILES 0-40

The sun broke the horizon at about 6:50AM and by 7AM we were off! We started out very slowly-- averaging slightly over 15mph-- talking, laughing. Great fun! A little after 8AM, we had our first blow out of the day. The sidewall of Simon's tire had failed (sounded like an air gun going off). Thankfully we weren't far from Roy's house... and thankfully, his family was awake!

I was able to pee twice during the first 40 miles, which is a good sign for me. I also felt fairly energetic, so I knew that my nutrition plan (basically the 'eat like a pig' approach) was working. Pacing was more than appropriate, as I don't believe that I ever left zone 1. Oh, but it was hot. So very hot. And I was well aware of the fact that we hadn't experienced the worst of heat yet.

20 miles down

MILES 40-55

We lost about half of our group between miles 40 and 55. A part of me was envious. I was just so hot and uncomfortable and my urge to urinate had vanished. I was taking in mad amounts of fluid from a Camelbak that I had refilled (and refilled), but over time my excessive sweat loss always exceeds my fluid intake. There is just no getting around that. It is a genetic curse and it will be, what it will be. I tried not to worry about it too much. I still had energy, I was coherent, I was sweating and I was able to eat/drink. It was time to push on.

Halfway there!

MILES 55 to 70

At mile 55, there were just four of us left: myself, Scott, Sondra and Roy. Roy, a rockstar local triathlete and the guy who Scott & I consider to be our triathlon mentor, is always a pleasure to ride with. He'll be competing in the USAT Halfmax National Championship in a few weeks and we're so excited for him. Roy upped our pace to between 18-19 mph and the extra push was welcome. I sort of got a high off of the fact that we were going to negative split the ride. I'm not sure I've ever negative split a long ride before.

70 miles and a bit of shade!

Sondra, Roy and Scott at the 70 mile mark

MILES 70-90

Roy went home at mile 70 (he still had a 5 mile run to do) and Scott, Sondra and I made our way back towards town. We continued to maintain the stronger pace that we were riding with Roy and celebrated when we hit the 80 mile mark. I hollered, "We are now entering unknown territory!" We made one final pit-stop shortly after we hit 80 miles. We enjoyed the pure taste of some cold water (tasted great after all of the sickingly sweet Gatorade) and dumped a good amount of it on our heads.

The heat of the day was now excruciating. The actual air temp was closing in on 93F (according to wunderground.com) and I thought about all of the athletes that raced Louisville a few weeks back. I empathized with them. I have no idea what the heat index would have put us at and I can't even contemplate how the heat radiating off of the road played into everything. All I know was that it was hot. Even the wind was hot. I wish I could describe what it feels like to have hot wind blowing at you. It's not refreshing. You almost wish it wasn't blowing at all. I'm fairly certain that I get what Kona feels like.

Only 10 more to go! Still smiling and about to enjoy a boost of pure adrenaline!

MILES 90-100

We reached the harbor at mile 90 and I took my final "progress" pic. Storm clouds were brewing off in the distance, so we needed to motor as quickly as we could. I started thinking about how terrible it would be to make it 95 miles only to have to call Jeff to pick us up because of a lightning storm.

Around mile 95, I got a second wind. It was a rush of pure adrenaline! Earlier in the ride I couldn't begin to even contemplate how anyone could ride all of these miles and then run a marathon... but at mile 95, I think I got a little taste of what it might be like. I still had energy. My legs were a bit tired, but the athlete in me was roaring! I hooted and 'hell yeahed' all the way to our finish point.

Happy as a pig in shit and most definitely not calorie depleted!

In total we rode for 5:44:04 (not including a few brief pit stops). I have never, ever felt this good at the end of anything over 3 hours. Three hours after we finished, I announced that I was ready to go play some mini-golf. I was still riding the adrenaline high! I ate like a pig and from what I can figure, I took in about 1700 calories. This looks like a lot at first glance (actually it nearly makes me sick to see that number), but if you go by the 300 cals per hour theory (in very hot weather), it's pretty much spot on. I also drank the kitchen sink! I have no idea how many Camebaks I went through, but what I was aiming for was the urge to pee (which unfortunately, I never did again after mile 40).

Not only was completing this century an endurance milestone for me, but it was a much-needed confidence booster and a very educational experience. It was nice to know that my 6-hour fitness is there. I also learned a lot about pacing and how keeping things under control in the beginning will serve a person well in the end. Biggest lesson: nutrition. I can't believe how much I ate. It's unreal. However, I felt incredible! Incredible! That sort of feeling is a rarity for me and I want to feel it during a long-course event. Maybe if I felt it more often, I could learn to love long-course. I feel terrific today. My tookus is a bit sore in spots, but overall, I feel rested and ready to go. I even ran with my 5k training group this morning! The legs actually worked. Whadya know!?!

Big congrats to Scott & Sondra as well. You two are the best and I'm glad that we got to do this together. Thanks to all of the other folks who joined us earlier in the ride. You made the first half of the ride fly by and as we all know, a good portion of this game is mental.

ON THE AGENDA

Recovery week! Yay!

Paying it forward

2010-09-10T18:34:00.003-04:00

Training, racing, success, failure, health, lifestyle, friendships... there's so much that I love about participating in endurance sports. I'm a better person for having picked up running & triathlon and I can't imagine life without either of them.

That being said, there is nothing more gratifying than giving the gift of endurance sports to another person. I know that running, cycling, swimming, triathlon, etc... is not going to mesh with everyone. However, my feeling is that it doesn't hurt to spread the love around. If someone decides that they love it enough to stick with it, then fantastic! If not, maybe they'll be motivated enough to find something else that inspires them to step up to a healthier lifestyle.

One of the most gratifying experiences that I've had since I began all of this did not come in the form of a race PR or a distance milestone. It came from teaching my best friend how to swim. I do not consider myself to be a natural teacher. I tend to be a bit on the shy side when it comes to social/verbal interaction with others, but my love for endurance sports helped me to overcome this obstacle and allowed me to reach out to someone. In the process, I gained a wonderful friend (a major accomplishment for an introvert like myself) and felt a sense of personal satisfaction that rivaled only my graduation from Air Force Basic Training.

A few weeks ago my mother declared war on her body. She told me that she wanted learn how to run. I was so overjoyed that I nearly cried! I immediately envisioned her healthy & fit; the two of us doing local races & relays together. I told her that I would set her up with a program that would get her ready to run the 2010 Turkey Trot. I could have just provided her with a training plan, but I wanted to guide her every step of the way. So, I committed myself to coaching her through all of her runs. When she informed me that two of her neighbors would be joining us, fireworks went off! This was going to be great!

With the ladies before their very first run. L-R: Jackie, Linda and Joanne (mia madre)

Our first training run was awesome! I'm using the C25K (couch to 5k) plan as a guide, but intend to modify it along the way to suit their needs. The three of them did awesome and I saw a lot of smiles underneath the sweat and heavy breathing. I paced them through their intervals; making sure that they did not try to run too fast (like I did when I started out) and that they used the recovery period to actually recover. They all made it through the workout and were surprised at how quickly 30 minutes went by. Yes! Success!

Finished! All smiles!

The ladies completed a second run on Wednesday and a third this morning. I'm so proud of all of them! These women are coming directly off the couch! They are motivated and believe in themselves. My mom even tossed in two short bikes rides this week! I'm going to make a triathlete out of her someday! So, I am loving this new adventure. It brings a smile to my face when I think about how these beginning steps may permanently change the lives of these three women. I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

ON THE AGENDA
My bestie is finally having her much needed surgery next week. She's had to wait longer than anyone should have to wait for surgery and has missed an entire season of racing. I have no doubt that she's going to bounce back pretty quickly, so watch out 2011!

Of course, a proper "send off" is in order and we have decided to do an impromptu century ride this Sunday with our hubbies and 'hopefully' a few other friends. None of us have ever ridden longer than 80 miles at a pop, so if we make it, this is going to be one of those endurance milestones! I know that it's in all of us to complete the distance, it's just this dang Florida weather. While the North has cooled off very nicely (jealous), it's still HOT down here. Riding a century is difficult enough; but, doing it when the heat index is close to 100F is probably insane! We're going to give it a good 'go' though! Slow and steady! I plan on taking A LOT of pictures.

As a side note, my average pace for my LSD run yesterday (a 10 miler) was faster than my ridiculous 5k performance at last weekend's sprint tri-- which is oddly humorous & so very sad at the same time. Oh my. I've been tempted to find another sprint tri to do, just so I can prove to myself that I am capable of eating properly and pacing appropriately on the bike. Then I sit back and remember that I already proved this to myself at my race in July and that I need to just let last weekend go. We shall see.

I took this picture on a ride a few weeks ago. Beautiful!

We will never forget.