Trust Your Run

7/10 – 7/16: What a week….

It kicked off with an Olympic distance race (Rev 3 Williamsburg) on Sunday.  It was my first race back after Ironman 70.3 Eagleman and it definitely felt like a rust buster. I wasn’t super thrilled with the results. I think I could have placed higher (11^th female amateur). I definitely left too much in the tank on the run at the end. My exact words to my coach were: “I didn't want to ‘hurt’. Which is weird for me. Usually I just grit and throw it all out there. But today, I just didn't want to suffer.” I was having one of those days… when you are thinking “just finish the race.”

On Wednesday I got the opportunity to participate in a Marathon Q&A at my favorite running store, Point 2 Running Company. They are offering a marathon training program this summer and kicked it off with a free Q&A session with a few of us locals – Ryan Carroll (local elite runner and coach), Alan McCollum (has run a marathon on almost every continent), Kevin Harrison (USATF level 1 Certified Coach), and myself (2x marathon winner…yes, it is weird typing that, saying it, and even weirder hearing it… is “weirder” a word?) J

Discovering your passion is fun. Working towards a goal and seeing improvements along the way is even better. But I think what I love most are the people it’s brought into my life and the opportunities I’ve been given. Sometimes I find myself scratching my head thinking how the heck did I end up here?? #grateful #thankful

When I have to speak in front of a group of people I always get EXTREMELY nervous. Like ‘I need a shot of vodka if you really want me to stand up in front of this room’ nervous. But once the questions start flowing that ‘ahhhh get me out of here, don’t look at me’ feeling tends to go away pretty fast, thank goodness! Even though I was the one up there answering questions I actually found it pretty informative listening to the other guys responses as well as the runners in the “audience”. We were asked so many great questions that I found myself thinking about them after, googling, and asking some of my athlete friends the very same questions. I may have been at the front of the room but I’m still curious and learning as well!

Saturday…another race

Technically I did 2 races in one week. I’m not a huge fan of the sprint distance – it’s VERY fast, all out, painful, heart rate spiking, lactic acid inducing…. but I love the Tidewater Sprint Triathlon in Hampton, VA. It was the first triathlon I ever did back in July 2013 and I've been hooked ever since. I also like to do certain races year after year because it's a great way to track your progress - same distance, same course, same time of year.....

RESULTS	2013	2015	2016
Swim	11:53	9:29	8:54
Bike	44:17	35:19	33:24
Run	21:48	19:37	19:09
Time	1:21:04	1:06:35	1:04:04
Place	44th	14th	4th

Heading into this race my goal was to place in the top 10, improve my swim and bike times from last year, and hopefully run around the same 5K time as 2015.

Getting up at 5 am sucks but this makes it worth it.
A few minutes before the start.

Game Plan: My Coach gave me the green light to go all out. No holding back. Pedal to the medal. Start to finish.

There were two waves for the women (about 75 women in each wave). I was in the first. I tried to position myself smack dead in the front of the pack. The horn blew and we were off. I tried to get out hard but I couldn't keep up with the lead group of women and quickly got dropped. Somehow I found myself at the front of the chase pack. Honestly, I can't sight for $&#!....thank goodness it was a short swim! I ended up coming out of the water in 9th place (12th fastest female swim). I wasn’t thrilled with my swim. Yes, it was a +30 second improvement from last year’s race. But I couldn't match the speed of the other ladies...perhaps because I'm training for the half ironman distance? I don't know. But I was slightly disappointed. On a positive note, last year my swim was ranked 56th #progress.

On to the bike....

Okay, so it’s now time to stop beating yourself up about your biking. No one who is competitive on the bike has ever achieved their speed/power easily or quickly. It takes time and it takes work, which I am sure you are willing to do. BUT, you have to stop feeding yourself these negative messages and begin to focus on the things you do well on the bike. Focus on the gains you make on the bike, no matter how small. Every time you give yourself a negative message (which by the way is reflecting only your own perception of your ability), it’s like you are jamming on the brakes or pulling the rug from under your feet. ~My Coach

Before I even got on the bike, I made the executive decision...no negative thoughts, stay focused, don't compare yourself to the other women, or focus on how fast they are riding, or how many of them are passing. Do what you can and then make it up on the run....

I lost quite a bit of time on the bike BUT *drumroll* I rode about 2 minutes faster than last year. I was ranked 54th on the bike last year, this time: 20th!!! Again #progress

The Run (5K: 19:09)...time to get down to business
About a half mile into the run...smiling...

Enjoy yourself tomorrow. Use that mental toughness and race hard, smile often!! ~Coach
Thank you Carl for the pics!!

I took off fast. I mean REALLY fast. My goal was to chase down as many women as possible. I went through the first mile, glanced at my watch, 6 minutes 13 seconds. !@#^&@(#*@#(^$$&@!! Oh noooooo! I am going to die. This is going to get ugly. Not that a 6:13 mile is insanely fast, but after swimming and biking...well, you get my point. Side note: my focus this season has been on the swim and bike. I can't remember the last time my run mileage was this low. I literally only do one hard run workout a week, the rest of the time it's short runs off the bike and easy recovery runs. I've had some concerns about getting slower and expressed my worries to my coach. I definitely don't want to lose my run fitness. Once the triathlon season is over at the end of September I'd like to do a couple half marathons, as well as a full marathon at the end of the year and hopefully PR over both distances. My coach is pretty matter-of-fact, in not so many words... "you won't lose it, it will be there, it is your strength, trust your fitness, trust your run." Back to the race...

I decided not to slow down. I committed to the pace. I was willing to hurt. I kept telling myself that it would be worth it once I crossed the finish line. By mile 2 I ran myself into 5th place, glanced at my watch. I couldn't believe it, I was actually getting faster. My second mile split was faster than the first...the power of the mind! With one mile to go I was hurting. But I just kept telling myself “you can do anything for a mile.” That’s my go to line…every workout, every race…when I’m dying, “you can do anything for one more mile. It’s just four laps around the track.” For me, it helps breaking things down into something quantifiable. That way it doesn’t seem so extreme. My last and final mile was my fastest (6:06). I ran the 5K in 19:09 and crossed the finish line in 3rd place.

The waiting game
Ok so one thing I don't like about triathlons is that you're never entirely sure what place you come in until all waves have gone. Remember, there were two waves of women. I was in the first, the second wave took off 4 minutes after. I checked the live results board. It initially showed me in third. A few minutes later I was bumped into 4th. A woman in the wave after us had a faster time. My initial reaction was one of disappointment. But when I looked at the big picture - I came in 44th in 2013, 14th in 2015, 4th in 2016 - I can't help but be proud of the progress I've made. I've put a lot of time and energy into this. I might not be knocking it out of the park or crushing my competition, but I see little improvements every week and I think those will eventually manifest into something much larger if I can just stick with it.

My next big race will be the Outer Banks Half Ironman on September 17th. I plan to do one or two more races between now and then, but my focus will be on my training and building more strength on the bike.

...because puppies are cute

Rev 3 Williamsburg

I’ll keep this (relatively) short since I have another race this Saturday….

Rev 3 Williamsburg

Olympic Distance (1500 meter swim, 27.2 mile bike, 10K run)

Sunday, July 10^th

I came. I saw. I didn’t conquer.

I was not looking forward to this race. Just being honest. I felt like I put all my energy – physically and mentally – into the Half Ironman I did last month (my coach calls this “post race blues”). I felt like I was losing my mojo and needed a pep talk just to make it to the starting line. I reached out to my friend Crystal the day before the race… she was a force to be reckoned with during her triathlon days by the way (Matthew Dale profiles Ironman 70.3 World Champion Crystal Pruitt). Oh and if you’re reading this, send positive vibes her way. She just had surgery!

“It is normal to go through a lull after a big race. Can’t be firing on all cylinders 365 days a year. That’s the ebb and flow of the ‘preparing, training, peaking, recovering, repeat cycle. I think you’ll enjoy it when you get in the racing atmosphere. You’ll get your race day endorphins back.” ~My forever positive friend, Crystal

She was right!

There is something about the ritual of the race – putting on the number, lining up, being timed – that brings out the best in us. ~Grete Waitz

Race Day

I got to the race site around 6:30 Sunday morning. Ran into a few friends. Had some laughs. The endorphins started kicking in – and like she said – I got my mojo back and was ready to roll. It’s kind of like going to the gym…you don’t want to go, you’re tired, not in the mood, but once you get there and do your workout you always feel like a million bucks after. It’s ALWAYS worth it ;-)

The Swim – 1500 Meters – 20:35

Yes, that was my time. 20 minutes and 35 seconds. No, the swim course wasn’t short. We raced in the Chickahominy River and we got to swim DOWN STREAM. Cha ching. It was awesome. Who doesn’t love swimming with a current. The only thing that could have been better is if I had an inner tube and a wine spritzer.

3, 2, 1 …the horn blew and us ladies were off. I’ve been sticking to the same plan my coach gave me at the beginning of the season – go out hard, get on fast feet, and swim with a pack. I’ve been doing really well with putting myself in a good position, not getting swam on top of, and protecting my space. And this time I managed not to get kicked in the face! The only issue I had with this course was spotting. I swear the buoys had a mind of their own. The current was causing them to drift. So I stopped sighting and trusted that the girls I was swimming with knew what they were doing. Just follow the feet.

Out the water and up the ramp....

Side note: before the start of the race, I was a little confused about the Olympic swim versus the Half. A funny gentleman said “well, just make sure you turn at the red buoy..if you see an orange buoy you f*cked up”. It’s the little things that make us laugh J

Swim Exit
Goggles off. Cap off. RUN.

The Bike – 27.2 Miles – 1:26:22

Ho hum hum. Can I skip this section? What can I say? I’m a sad case. Not only am I not competitive on a bike, I’m slow. It’s the same story over and over again. I’m tired of it. I don’t really want to talk about it. There’s not much to say. It’s a work in progress. I won’t give up. I’ll keep at it and hopefully something will click one day. Maybe I need more time on the saddle, or a better position on the bike, or I need to learn how to use the right muscles. For now, I’m just working with what I have. Just get from Point A to Point B then run FAST.

“At least you look like you know what you’re doing.” ~My Dad…thanks Dad

The Run – 10K (6.2 miles) – 41:08

This is the only part of the race that I look back at and feel like I didn’t give my all.

As you can see I was only 23 seconds away from placing 2^nd in my division. I think I could have made that time up on the run. Unfortunately I held back a little too much within the first 3 miles. By the time I spotted the two women ahead of me, I tried to kick with two miles to go and ran out of road (so to speak).

Mile 1: 6:54 (up and over a bridge)

Mile 2: 6:46

Mile 3: 6:47

Mile 4: 6:41

Mile 5: 6:33

Mile 6: 6:36 (up and over a bridge AGAIN then cross country style run on grass…so cruel)

By the time I got to the run I felt pretty fresh. The heat/humidity wasn’t nearly as bad as the previous days, and nowhere near what I experienced at Eagleman. No complaints there. Generally it takes me at least a mile to get my legs moving after being on the bike for so long. So I didn’t freak out when I saw how slow my first mile was. But miles 2 and 3…I have no excuse. Around mile 4 I started picking up the pace, spotted two women. Tried to run hard in mile 5 because I knew the bridge was coming up. I was closing the gap but I started the kick too late....

Time: 2:31:17

Place: 11^th Female Amateur

Division Place: 4^th

Next up…..Tidewater Triathlon in Hampton, VA. My favorite sprint triathlon. In fact, this was the very first triathlon I ever did…back in 2013.

2013 Results: 1 hour 21 minutes

Swim – 11:53, Bike – 44:17, Run – 21:48

44^th Place

2015 Results: 1 hour 6 minutes

Swim – 9:29, Bike – 35:19, Run – 19:37

14^th Place

2016 Results:

Let’s see how I do this weekend!