Two Races, One Recap

I’ll start with my most recent race, the Heart of Ghent 10K….

After countless 5ks, half marathons and even a full marathon, I must admit, I’ve never done a 10K (that’s 6.2 miles to my non-runner friends). My plan was to get a feel for the distance since I plan to move up to the Olympic distance triathlon (.9 mile swim/40K bike/10k run) in the near future. I decided to use the race as a hard workout – train through the week/not kill myself during the actual race aka not push so hard that I collapse upon crossing the finish line and swear off racing for life. I thought 7-minute miles were reasonable and if I felt good at the half way point I would pick it up from there.

At the sound of the horn we were off, all 636 runners. The top men sprinted off into the distance and a couple of women ran a few steps ahead of me. I decided not to zero in on them like I typically do because my goal wasn’t to race, I had a specific plan I wanted to follow. As we quickly approached the first mile marker I glanced at my watch: 6 min 40 sec mile! Noooooo! That was not the plan. Too fast!! I began to panic and even dropped a few F-bombs.

 

I decided to back off of the pace a little, but I must admit I was feeling good, really good. I went through mile 2 in 6:51. Better, but still faster than I had planned. Ok so at this point I’m thinking “I’m either in much better shape than I thought or I’m royally screwed and the pain will start setting in soon, I’ll want to stop mid-race, sit on the sidewalk and sulk, and vow to never race again. Miles 3 and 4 came and went, each around 6:40, still feeling good. From what I remember, the race started to stretch out around the fourth mile marker and that’s when I realized I was the first female. Thoughts: cool, keep going, only 2.2 miles left. The last two miles came and went and there it was, the finish line. Time: 42:22, Place: 1^st Female/361 Women.

 Although my time wasn’t super fast, I’m proud of this win. I did it on tired legs (trained all week, including a 10-miler two days before the race), I hit pretty much even splits, the course was a little long (my gps watch has it at 6.37 miles), and even though it was a flat course there were a ton of turns (see map below). My conclusion: I’m getting fitter, faster, and more confident thanks to my triathlon training, consistent weight training, extra rest (going to bed before 10 pm), and all the delicious healthy meals I’ve been cooking lately.

 

Patriots Sprint…my second triathlon

I had a pretty lofty goal for my second Tri. I wanted to break 1 hour and 20 minutes and hopefully come in the top ten. From last year’s results, I thought this was a possibility. Little did I know how competitive this race was going to be: last year’s winning time – 1:16:06 and 6 women under 1 hour and 20 minutes, this year’s winning time – 1:05:47 plus 46 women under 1 hour and 20 minutes.

The day before the race I decided to make the drive up to Williamsburg to collect my packet and check out the course. While I heard it was a relatively easy course, the distance between the swim and transition/bike made me nervous. It was easily a quarter mile, probably longer.

 

Other than that, the bike course was flat with a few small rolling hills, the run was an easy out and back, pancake flat course, and the swim was in the James River (no waves, just the current to deal with).

Race Day:

Swim – this did not go well. The swim course was a 750 meter rectangular course. Simple but I STRUGGLED. I had a lot of difficulty spotting the buoys. The first half of the swim was pretty much me taking a few strokes and then stopping, treading water and looking for the buoy to confirm I was on course. You would think it would be easy enough to follow the other swimmers, but that’s really not how it is in open water swimming. It’s very chaotic. With so many bodies all around you, it’s inevitable that you get kicked and punched at least once. Plus you have to deal with a current – you may think you’re heading straight but the current pushes you away or too far in so that you’re not swimming in a straight line. By the time I got out of the water, I was in 112^th place (female division) and felt slightly defeated. But the great thing about the triathlon is that you still have two more events to make up ground and my best event was yet to come.

On to the bike – this was my first time riding a road bike in a race and boy does it make a hell of a difference. I did the 12.5 mile course in 43 minutes (versus the 44 minutes I did in the 10-mile ride of my last triathlon). Still not the fastest ride but I made up quite a bit of ground on the other women.

 

My love, the run – I ran the 5K course in 21 minutes and 29 seconds and crossed the finish line in 1:22:07 (58^th Female/205 Women). Not the sub-1:20 I was looking for, but I’ll take it. Besides, every race is a learning experience. It exposes your strengths and weaknesses and acts as a barometer for fitness. From this race I was able to take away quite a few things. First, the swim might turn out to be my weakest link – I must put in more time at the pool, do more spotting drills, and find ways to practice open water swimming if I want to stay in the race. Second, I see pretty dramatic improvements in my bike time, the more time I spend on the bike. And lastly, doing brick workouts (specifically bike-to-run) really does help. Bike a few miles then get off and try to run. You’ll see what I’m talking about. It is WEIRD. Your legs don’t feel normal and it takes awhile to get in a rhythm. But the more you practice it the quicker your body adapts.

Next  up:

·         Oct 6^th, Crawlin Crab Half Marathon

·         Oct 19^th, 5K (TBD)
·         Nov 9^th, Trenton Half Marathon

Thanks for reading J

..and another one bites the dust

I am happy to report that I have successfully completed my second triathlon thanks to a consistent month of training, a new road bike (Trek Lexa C ‘13), and (drum roll please) a new sponsor (www.sugoi.com).

 

A few days after my first triathlon back in July I felt incredible and truly loved the experience so I signed up for the Patriots Sprint Triathlon (750m swim/20k bike/5k run) in Williamsburg. I figured if I could get a few ocean swims in, buy a good road bike – this was a must after my first race experience (please refer to my previous blog post) – and get some triathlon apparel, I might be able to “race” versus “participate/just finish”.

Lucky for me my Mom planned a family trip to Miami (oh and a happy birthday shout out to my Mom today ... yes, 9/11) which meant lots of open water swimming with my super talented swimmer brother, a few good brick workouts (swim ½ mile – run 3 miles), and some training advice from my Dad (who used to bike pretty consistently).

 

 

Now typically when I get home from vacationing with my family I’ve put on a few pounds, feel out of shape and quite honestly ...this picture sums it up pretty perfectly:

 

 

Not this time. When I got back from Miami I felt incredibly fit, my weight didn’t budge, and I felt surprisingly well rested.

Next on the agenda: find a road bike. If you are ever in the Hampton Roads, VA area and are looking for a great biking store, Bike Beat (http://bikebeatonline.com/) is the place to go. They have locations in Williamsburg, Yorktown, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. I told them my budget, that I was in need of a simple introductory road bike, and that I wanted to feel as comfortable as possible. They picked this beauty out for me, let me do a few test spins on the road and then literally spent about an hour and a half to two hours getting me fitted (they had to figure out my “leg situation”…apparently they are super long).

 

Of course eager, excited me couldn’t wait to get out on the road the very next day. And guess what happened? About 5 miles into my ride crash, boom, on the road, blood, embarrassed, bruised, but surprisingly my bike barely had a scratch on it. Oh right, because it landed ON TOP OF ME….literally! After picking up my bike and assessing the damage to my body, I was thankful that my injuries were only superficial. Unfortunately I started to tremble as I got back on my bike out of fear that I would fall again so I decided to call it a day.

A few things I’ve learned from my bike crash, 1) listen to your Father when he tells you to wear gloves (2 weeks later and my hands are still trying to heal, but I’m happy to report that I received a pair of gloves from my sponsor), 2) if you’re new to biking, practice in quiet neighborhoods that have wide flat roads and a speed limit around 25 or below (so glad I did this or it could have been much worse), and 3) get back on your bike the very next day (if you aren’t seriously injured of course). In some ways I’m grateful for my crash. It was a learning experience, but most of all it calmed me. Getting back on the road the next day gave me confidence. Reminds me of that quote I can’t seem to fully remember … something  dealing with perseverance. But I do like the Lombardi quote below!

 

My next post will be a race recap (with pictures!!)….more to come, stay tuned.