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| 2017 is here |
It’s only been two months, but it feels like forever since I last
updated my blog. My last race ended on a sour note (http://why-i-run.blogspot.com/2016/11/vrf-half-marathon-1st-female-12806.html)
so I’m happy to start the year off with a PR / Win / New Course Record ß I’ll get to this
later.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions but I do make a list of ambitious
goals at the end of every year. Some I think are very achievable and others…
well…a girl can dream. But no matter how farfetched they are, I always write
them down because YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN UNTIL YOU TRY. So here are a
few of mine…
Qualify
for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships
How do I get there? That’s the other goal on my list…
Ironman
70.3 Eagleman
I was hesitant to do this race again after last year’s experience. It
was my first time racing the 70.3 mile distance (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike,
half marathon run) – which in and of itself is a challenge – but the HEAT. Oh
my goodness. It was unreal. This race is known for its humidity, high temps, no
shade, all asphalt course. So it’s not like I didn’t have any forewarning. But,
honestly, it was worse than I expected. Why do it again? 1) I’ve done it before
– no surprises, 2) it’s within driving distance, 3) my family is coming to
cheer me on, 4) it’s flat, 5) it’s flat, and finally 6) it’s flat!
Eagleman happens to be a qualifier race for the World Championships. To
keep it simple – I need to place in the top 3 in my age group. Looking at past
results, I’ll need to throw down around a 5 hour 5 minute half ironman time
(Eagleman is VERY competitive). Considering I placed 16th in my age
group in this race last year and crossed the finish line in 5 hours and 30
minutes I have a long road ahead of me. But I’ll hold on to the belief that
it’s possible all the way to the finish line.
Sub-5
Hour Half Ironman
This one is a bit of a stretch. I consider any half iron time with a 4
in front of it ‘an elite time for a woman’. I’d compare it to a sub-3 hour
marathon. My current PR is 5 hours and 19 minutes which I did at the Outer
Banks Half Ironman in September (my second try at the distance). The fact that
I was able to shave 11 minutes off my PR in the span of 3 months gives me a lot
of confidence – plus my coach is amazing and I trust whatever plan she throws
my way. My biggest confidence booster, believe it or not, is the bike. There
are still so many areas of improvement to be made on the bike.
One
City Marathon
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| Recent interview I did with the city of Newport News: https://www.nnva.gov/Blog.aspx?IID=691 |
I’m scratching my head (and smirking) as I write this…I’ll be doing the
One City Marathon AGAIN on March 12th!! My one and only goal for
this race is to break the 3-hour mark. Just me against the clock. I have so
much to say about this upcoming race but I’ll save that for another blog post.
I will say this though.. my training is going incredibly smooth, I already feel
like I’m in PR shape, I still have 8 weeks to go, and I get to represent my sponsors Flat-Out Events and Point 2 Running Company...always an honor. Speaking of which...
My first race of the year:
Menchville 5K (January 14th)
After the VRF Half Marathon in November I was tired, needed a little
break and my Coach thought it would be best to forgo racing and focus on
building a base. With the holidays and traveling, I look back and think this
was for the best!
Some time off for fun! Dominican Republic with one of my
partners in crime. Celebrating my birthday and an early Christmas!
I'm back to training. This time with a short term focus on a strong marathon in March. Coach has had me cut back on swimming (from 3 days a week to 2 – one hard work out,
one easy recovery swim). I also cut back on the bike (from 5 days a week to 4 –
only one hard work out, the rest are easy spins). And she upped my run
mileage gradually from 30 to ~55. While my endurance is great from training for
a 5+ hour race, my speed was lacking so I've been doing a speed session once a week *ugh* *painful*...but it's good for me :-) And boy oh boy has it made a difference....
I didn’t necessarily go into Saturday's race thinking I was going
to PR but I did figure I could run around the same time I did last year at this race – an 18:32. My plan was to go out in 5:55 through the first mile and not fade too badly by mile 2 (which I tend to struggle with). My coach changed the plan: "Go through the first mile in 6 minutes. That extra 5 seconds can make a big difference in how high your heart rate spikes in that first mile. If you take it a tiny bit
easier in that first mile, you will be able to build in the second (5:53 or
better).."
She was right! I went out in 6:03 and for the first time I felt REALLY strong during the second mile. I went through mile 2 in 5:51. And then came the last mile. The parachute opened/I was carrying a piano/the pavement became sand. The last mile felt like absolute hell SMH. I honestly thought I ran a 6:30. I was shocked to see the time when my watched beeped (5:59). And then it was a sprint to the finish. As the clock clicked closer to 18:20 I was trying my best to stay in the teens....
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| Great way to start off the year! |
Exciting things on the horizon….
This weekend I will be attending the Triathlon Business International Annual Conference in Dallas, TX. I'm excited and honored to be a panelist for the “Expanding
diversity in triathlon (Latino, African American and women)” session. I'm really passionate about this topic. I find it fascinating/disappointing that African Americans only represent 0.5% of participants in the sport. I can't believe it's 2017 and we've never had a pro female African American triathlete! In fact, there has only been one pro African American triathlete and that title belongs to Max Fennell (Meet the first...).
I'm looking forward to being a panelist and sharing ideas on how I think we can grow the sport among African American women in particular. You can read more about the panel discussion HERE
Next Race:
Game Day 10K on Super Bowl
Sunday (6.2 mile run, tailgating, food, beer, wine)…registration is still open! You know you want to do it: http://gameday10k.com/
Oh and last but not least. I can't make an official announcement YET. But I'm really excited about something in the works....stay tuned: http://thirtys7ven.com/
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