ALRIGHT ALREADY ! Paul and Benson are a little antsy to hear all about the race report ;-)...can't a girl lie around all day after the race not feeling like moving and then walk around all of today like an old lady feeling exhausted without having to turn around and write? OK...maybe not...so I need a little encouragement to get the report out. So thanks guys for reminding me.
Short version: Race went well, mentally it 'flew by'...it was my slowest 1/2 so far, but I've only run 3 so really who cares. And as a friend put it...I really was 'training for a dissertation' not a 1/2 marathon while I was training for this race. The main point of my training was to mitigate the stress eating weight gain of dissertation writing and it did its job. I only gained 5-7 lbs during dissertation writing which I have since lost due to being sick after getting back from Asia and returning to normal eating. So...final result: 2:25ish including a 3:19 minute "must pee" break...so without the break 2:22ish. Overall...reasonably happy with everything.
Long version:So I realize I have been bemoaning this race for awhile. My thoughts have been focused on "not enough training" "not caring enough" "focus is elsewhere (dissertation/moving/traveling to Asia)" "Am I even going to finish on my training???"...I realize i have sorta gone ON and ON about it. But anyway...it went pretty well despite my huge worries of training.
I was staying with a friend up in long beach so I didn't have too far to go race morning. Got up early enough to sorta eat some food, I usually eat two Luna bars, a banana and drink some gatorade. Unfortunately I started to feel a bit ill. I felt a bit on the queasy side and did choke down one luna bar a banana and some gatorade, so I probably only had 350-400 calories on board. Unfortunately, my queasy stomach got the better of me at the race and I ended up actually throwing up part of my breakfast. Sorry if that grosses you out...it grossed me out too. Since I hadn't lost all my breakfast I really wasn't too worried about the situation...the whole thing was weird because it wasn't about nerves. I just felt a little yucky.
I had enough time to use the porta-potties, and warm up around the parking lot, but not too much time where you end up just wandering around trying to stay warm. So...we got ready, and go...the first mile I was flagging a little. I felt flat, but just tried to take my mind off of it. The race was a little warmer and more humid than I was expecting as it had rained a lot on Saturday. By mile 3 I realized I was starting to be uncomfortably warm and would take two cups at the water stops, drink one and pour one down my back. It wasn't super duper hot...but hot enough that if you didn't realize it was warm and do something early you could have overheated.
As the race began and I got into a grove...the time just started to click by and I realized the miles just flew by. UNFORTUANTELY right after the gun went off I realized I had to pee...again. I was mad because I thought I had timed the pre race porta-potty correctly...but I was wrong. I did have to stop between miles 5 and 6.
Mentally it was a 'speedy' race...the miles flew by and didn't take much mental effort. I had planned to run-walk the whole thing but hadn't figured out quite how to do the whole run-walk issue as I get a little too competitive with myself for my own good ...but I also didn't want to DNF if I could help it, injure myself so I was in PT for 6 months or get to the last 3 miles, completely blow up and want to crawl home and then not be able to walk for a week afterwards... so I wasn't quite sure what to do up until a few days before the race. I took a suggestion from Joe of walking the water stops and running the rest and seeing how it went and trying to control the 'damage' as I went. In the end I was able to run the whole thing and only walk the water stops. I only had two miles where I really was wishing for the next water stop so I could walk...miles 7 and 8...but I stuck to the water stop walking plan and that was the only time walked. My other part of the plan was for the first 5 miles to keep my hr between 150-155, miles 5-10...push it to 158-162ish...and the last 5K push it in as I could.
Mile Break down:
mile time avg HR
1 11:30 153
2 11:50 154
3 11:48 153
4 11:16 154
5...missed the sign...then I had to stop to pee and lost 3:19 of time (so subtract that from my final time)
So...mile 5+ was 16:51 hr156
rest of mile 6 was 5:47 156 (2 mile 22:22, 11:11mpm)
7 10:24 161
8 11:09 158
9 10:54 160
10 10:28 163
11 10:07 167
12 9:33 173
13.1 10:26 176
Total time including the break: 2:25
Without the potty-break included was: 2:22 which looking at my results, it appears that if you subtract the break I still was running 10:xx min/miles on avg....which is great. Nicely negatively split the race, pushed my HR relatively well. (although you can see in mile 7 and 8 where I was losing focus :-) but nicely gained my focus back)
My thoughts...maybe I could have gone a little faster...maybe not. But I learned a TON from this race. I am stronger than I acknowledge sometimes. I also realized how AWESOME last year's sub two hour result was when I was at the 10 mile mark and saw 2 hrs...and realized I still had a 5K to go. I realized how strong I can be with focused training(when I thought of my previous year's sub 2 hour race)...and I still had room for improvement last year.The main goal of this race was to aid in my dissertation writing as a way to mitigate the stress eating...so the training did achieve that end. I still finished the race and no seizing of the hamstrings. I realized how running also has a cumulative effect...if I had run my first 1/2 mary, 3 years ago on the training that I had this last time around, i would have probably been a puddle in the middle of the road around mile 7. I ran that one in 2:13:02, yes...almost 10 mins slower this year, but it still proved what I could "pull it off" with only minimal training.
Overall...i was happy with it. I was happy with how 'fast' it went by mentally...that really took me aback. Learned a lot and had a great day overall.
Showing posts with label race report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race report. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
And...another tri
WoooHooo...i got a SECOND tri in for the season. Wow...i may still be a triathlete :-) A rather late in the game decision on my part (as in wedensday), but i decided that since I had finished a sprint two weeks ago and have gotten my running times up to at least an hour these days...I knew i wouldn't be scraped off the pavement at the end of the day, so I was in.
But what is a race without a little drama for me? I am not certain if I am capable of NOT having drama the day before a race. Last tri...it was a double flat tire issue...Hartford in the fall...it was drama in general. I have come to accept that bad pre-race issues can yield good race day karma...at least that is what I tell myself. That's how it rolls sometimes...This time the drama involved climbing through a window and falling in/on the window ledge and BRUISING the crap out of my legs is part of my pre-race drama, oh and being locked out...HEY, that's how it goes, right? At least I have some fun looking injuries on my legs. Yeish.
So fortunately this race was MUCH closer than two weeks ago, there fore it did not necessitate a 4am wake up and amazingly I get into bed so early that I almost get 7 hours of sleep. What is going on with me? Stranger things have happened, but lately things are a bit odd. Although I am greeted this morning with an UNHAPPY stomach that makes me start to question this whole endeavor (as I can barely get 200 calories in without feeling like i'm going to retch) I attempt to convince myself on the way to the race that I can eat more...um...notsomuch. Anyway, by the time I get to the race site, I'm feeling a little better.
Find my way to the race and apparently this one is advertised as a 'diamond in the rough' as it is it's first year. If they had said nothing about it being it's first year, one would never have known. It was tightly organized, the transition area was awesomely set up. Tons of room. It was great.
I get set up and saw JB the smaller and JB the taller who are doing the Oly and D who is also doing the sprint and meet up with them prior to the race chat a bit. We discover in the pre-race meeting that the OLY bike is now the same distance as the sprint. They 'claim' that both are 15 miles...but it didn't seem so much like that. JB the smaller thinks it was 13.5...me...uh...well...i think I finally realized my bike wasn't zeroed out until about mile 1...so i have no idea. But I can tell you one thing...the fact that I have NOT been biking, much less riding hills... showed.
The swim was fine, 0.5 mile, although at one point I realized I was having trouble breathing and reasoned that I could either take bigger breathes or slow down that might help. Got my breathing under control. Time 17:02...about the same as the last sprint two weeks ago.
The bike, it was an out and back course. The out...up, up, up...the back...a lot of down...but still amazingly some uphill too. Sadly due to the lack of time in the saddle and the fact I haven't been climbing much, my avg speed came in around 15.1mph. Meeh...not great, but whatever. I enjoyed it.
The run...came and went. There were no mile markers, just the turn around for the sprint's 3.1 miles...so I clicked my watch at the turn around 14:26, I thought I wanted to negatively split the run, but I think I lost track of my brain on the run too. Second split came in slower, 14:32.
Total time by my watch 1:43:xx...although I forgot to hit stop after I crossed the finish line so that may account also for the non-negative split on the second half.
Overall, enjoyable day spent with friends and meeting a few new faces too. Glad I was talked into the whole fiasco even after I convinced myself that there was a 10% grade on a hill...(notsomuch...but hey, it would have made a great story right?...nah...good stories are over rated)...
So at least I get to sport some insane bruises...too bad they are from my window sill and not from something more 'exciting' like a tri. But i wouldn't be me...if it had happened anyway else.
But what is a race without a little drama for me? I am not certain if I am capable of NOT having drama the day before a race. Last tri...it was a double flat tire issue...Hartford in the fall...it was drama in general. I have come to accept that bad pre-race issues can yield good race day karma...at least that is what I tell myself. That's how it rolls sometimes...This time the drama involved climbing through a window and falling in/on the window ledge and BRUISING the crap out of my legs is part of my pre-race drama, oh and being locked out...HEY, that's how it goes, right? At least I have some fun looking injuries on my legs. Yeish.
So fortunately this race was MUCH closer than two weeks ago, there fore it did not necessitate a 4am wake up and amazingly I get into bed so early that I almost get 7 hours of sleep. What is going on with me? Stranger things have happened, but lately things are a bit odd. Although I am greeted this morning with an UNHAPPY stomach that makes me start to question this whole endeavor (as I can barely get 200 calories in without feeling like i'm going to retch) I attempt to convince myself on the way to the race that I can eat more...um...notsomuch. Anyway, by the time I get to the race site, I'm feeling a little better.
Find my way to the race and apparently this one is advertised as a 'diamond in the rough' as it is it's first year. If they had said nothing about it being it's first year, one would never have known. It was tightly organized, the transition area was awesomely set up. Tons of room. It was great.
I get set up and saw JB the smaller and JB the taller who are doing the Oly and D who is also doing the sprint and meet up with them prior to the race chat a bit. We discover in the pre-race meeting that the OLY bike is now the same distance as the sprint. They 'claim' that both are 15 miles...but it didn't seem so much like that. JB the smaller thinks it was 13.5...me...uh...well...i think I finally realized my bike wasn't zeroed out until about mile 1...so i have no idea. But I can tell you one thing...the fact that I have NOT been biking, much less riding hills... showed.
The swim was fine, 0.5 mile, although at one point I realized I was having trouble breathing and reasoned that I could either take bigger breathes or slow down that might help. Got my breathing under control. Time 17:02...about the same as the last sprint two weeks ago.
The bike, it was an out and back course. The out...up, up, up...the back...a lot of down...but still amazingly some uphill too. Sadly due to the lack of time in the saddle and the fact I haven't been climbing much, my avg speed came in around 15.1mph. Meeh...not great, but whatever. I enjoyed it.
The run...came and went. There were no mile markers, just the turn around for the sprint's 3.1 miles...so I clicked my watch at the turn around 14:26, I thought I wanted to negatively split the run, but I think I lost track of my brain on the run too. Second split came in slower, 14:32.
Total time by my watch 1:43:xx...although I forgot to hit stop after I crossed the finish line so that may account also for the non-negative split on the second half.
Overall, enjoyable day spent with friends and meeting a few new faces too. Glad I was talked into the whole fiasco even after I convinced myself that there was a 10% grade on a hill...(notsomuch...but hey, it would have made a great story right?...nah...good stories are over rated)...
So at least I get to sport some insane bruises...too bad they are from my window sill and not from something more 'exciting' like a tri. But i wouldn't be me...if it had happened anyway else.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
What *was* I thinking?
"What was I thinking?" Coursed through my brain at 4AM Sat morning when the alarm went off. After the discovery of a flat tire as I was loading my bike on the bike rack on Friday night and two tire changes later ( worthy of pit crew status of course...OK...totally lying on that one.) due to one of my spares ALSO having a hole in it, I got to bed rather late on Friday. Sat morning's rudely early start got me doubting this whole triathlon thing in general. Really...'what was i thinking??'
OK i will admit it...this thought generally goes through my head at least once on race day. But generally it is reserved for the time right after I have gotten off my bike and I am attempting to run on Jell-o legs and I just feel the burn of the previous discipline course through my quads. So I figured, hey...let's get that comment out of the way early on...and early it was.
And yet another confession if you are already unaware of ...i am not a morning person. I want to be a morning person. But I am not one. Even if I had more than 4.5 hour of sleep on Friday night...hey even if I got 8 hours of sleep on Friday night, Sat's 4am wake up call would have still left me in a delirious stupor. It has to do with the time of day...not the amount of sleep I get.
It was my friend PH's first tri...and our friend KB wanted to come along and cheer us on. While having a cheering section is ALWAYS great...i couldn't help thinking "you want to get up at WHAT time to come WITH us...and stand around and cheer"? Obviously...an awesome friend. Anyway, PH showed at my house at 4:30...we loaded the gear and got on the road. The weather was PERFECT. High of 80...70 at the start, sunny...lovely...wonderful basically.
I've been so busy these days with trying to get done, that i haven't had time to contemplate the whole racing...training...ect. I knew that my endurance base was pathetic. I knew I wasn't super trained for the race...but I think the enthusiasm that PH had for the race was a lot to encourage me to give it a go and just enjoy. Since my training has been less than steller, i had no expectations...and that was really what I needed right now in my life. Trying to finish up before I move has held enough expectations...and recently I think what I needed was something that I enjoyed and could share with others to help put life in general into into perspective a little.
Anyway...we get to the race, set up...get geared up. No issues really. PH is in the first wave...i'm in the 4th or 5th. A lot of standing around and waiting. I realize i'm hungry at this point. It's been almost 4 hours since I ate. Although...maybe those are butterflies and not hunger pangs...:-)
Finally it's my swim start...and we are off. During the swim I make a conscious decision to just be in the race...fully...what ever I am doing. I tend to always think about "what's next" in a race...and hey let's be honest...how often do we just be in whatever activity we are doing in life. So I decided to be fully aware of the day...and just enjoy. Breathe, stroke, breathe, stroke. And finally...i saw the beach. It was actually a really good swim for me as far as my rhythm and sighting and not dropping my hips when I sighted...total time 17:00 for 1/2 a mile . The swim confirmed my LOVE of my new swim goggles.
T1 I managed not to hang out in too long...less than 2 mins. Nice.
The bike was a very undulating course...never really a time without a hill. It was an alright course...some areas a bit rough...I was please to see a final avg speed on my computer of 16.6mph. That's about where I finished up last season in my avg speeds...so to see that in a race that I haven't been in the saddle all that much for...is great...encourages me for when I have more time to devote to training.
T2...quick again.
The run.."i thought there were more aid stations" went through my head half way through mile 1 since there was one supposed to be at the 0.5 mile mark. Oh well..i'll live. The first half was up hill. My watch said...9:20 for the first mile, 10:30 for the second mile...and then 7:45 for the next mile and 4 something for the final .2 miles...looking at those time...mile markers MUST have been misplaced. Granted the 7:45 was on a down hill...but, honestly...no...my effort was not a sub 8mpm...fun to entertain, but more likely a misplaced mile marker. Over all pace from my final time looks like it was 9:40 something...
Final time 1:40: something.
I was pleased. I had no expectations except to have fun...and I did...sure it was definitely not my potential...but neither has my training these days. I wanted my friend PH to have lots of fun...and he did. His comment afterwards was "that was AWESOME"... that was the best part. My friend KB had a great time cheering.
The best part was just to savor the day...savor each discipline as it passed...I got to share a part of my life with good friends that many in my don't get to...and then to watch them find so much joy in it...filled me with joy.
So...what was i thinking?? I was thinking it was going to be an awesome race shared with friends...and it was.
OK i will admit it...this thought generally goes through my head at least once on race day. But generally it is reserved for the time right after I have gotten off my bike and I am attempting to run on Jell-o legs and I just feel the burn of the previous discipline course through my quads. So I figured, hey...let's get that comment out of the way early on...and early it was.
And yet another confession if you are already unaware of ...i am not a morning person. I want to be a morning person. But I am not one. Even if I had more than 4.5 hour of sleep on Friday night...hey even if I got 8 hours of sleep on Friday night, Sat's 4am wake up call would have still left me in a delirious stupor. It has to do with the time of day...not the amount of sleep I get.
It was my friend PH's first tri...and our friend KB wanted to come along and cheer us on. While having a cheering section is ALWAYS great...i couldn't help thinking "you want to get up at WHAT time to come WITH us...and stand around and cheer"? Obviously...an awesome friend. Anyway, PH showed at my house at 4:30...we loaded the gear and got on the road. The weather was PERFECT. High of 80...70 at the start, sunny...lovely...wonderful basically.
I've been so busy these days with trying to get done, that i haven't had time to contemplate the whole racing...training...ect. I knew that my endurance base was pathetic. I knew I wasn't super trained for the race...but I think the enthusiasm that PH had for the race was a lot to encourage me to give it a go and just enjoy. Since my training has been less than steller, i had no expectations...and that was really what I needed right now in my life. Trying to finish up before I move has held enough expectations...and recently I think what I needed was something that I enjoyed and could share with others to help put life in general into into perspective a little.
Anyway...we get to the race, set up...get geared up. No issues really. PH is in the first wave...i'm in the 4th or 5th. A lot of standing around and waiting. I realize i'm hungry at this point. It's been almost 4 hours since I ate. Although...maybe those are butterflies and not hunger pangs...:-)
Finally it's my swim start...and we are off. During the swim I make a conscious decision to just be in the race...fully...what ever I am doing. I tend to always think about "what's next" in a race...and hey let's be honest...how often do we just be in whatever activity we are doing in life. So I decided to be fully aware of the day...and just enjoy. Breathe, stroke, breathe, stroke. And finally...i saw the beach. It was actually a really good swim for me as far as my rhythm and sighting and not dropping my hips when I sighted...total time 17:00 for 1/2 a mile . The swim confirmed my LOVE of my new swim goggles.
T1 I managed not to hang out in too long...less than 2 mins. Nice.
The bike was a very undulating course...never really a time without a hill. It was an alright course...some areas a bit rough...I was please to see a final avg speed on my computer of 16.6mph. That's about where I finished up last season in my avg speeds...so to see that in a race that I haven't been in the saddle all that much for...is great...encourages me for when I have more time to devote to training.
T2...quick again.
The run.."i thought there were more aid stations" went through my head half way through mile 1 since there was one supposed to be at the 0.5 mile mark. Oh well..i'll live. The first half was up hill. My watch said...9:20 for the first mile, 10:30 for the second mile...and then 7:45 for the next mile and 4 something for the final .2 miles...looking at those time...mile markers MUST have been misplaced. Granted the 7:45 was on a down hill...but, honestly...no...my effort was not a sub 8mpm...fun to entertain, but more likely a misplaced mile marker. Over all pace from my final time looks like it was 9:40 something...
Final time 1:40: something.
I was pleased. I had no expectations except to have fun...and I did...sure it was definitely not my potential...but neither has my training these days. I wanted my friend PH to have lots of fun...and he did. His comment afterwards was "that was AWESOME"... that was the best part. My friend KB had a great time cheering.
The best part was just to savor the day...savor each discipline as it passed...I got to share a part of my life with good friends that many in my don't get to...and then to watch them find so much joy in it...filled me with joy.
So...what was i thinking?? I was thinking it was going to be an awesome race shared with friends...and it was.
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