Who Says You Get Slower As You Age?? Not I!

I can’t believe it is mid-November already. Time flies doesn’t it? Last weekend I ran in the Trenton Half Marathon and I can remember registering for this race back in September like it was yesterday.

Since my triathlon season is over for the year, I decided to focus on this race = train specifically for the 13.1 mile distance, taper and really go for a personal best time.  My goal was to run under 1 hr 33 mins and 57 secs (fastest time, which I ran back in 2011!). Ultimately I wanted to break the 1 hour and 33 minute mark which I thought was achievable given the 19:43 5K (and overall win) I ran two few weeks prior, in addition to the Crawlin Crab Half Marathon I did in early October (http://why-i-run.blogspot.com/2013/10/focus-breathe-believe.html). Oh and I was especially excited to spend the weekend with my parents!!

The morning of the race I had my ritual Kashi Go Lean cereal with soy milk, a bottle of water, and a can of Verve (Vemma).

I love my coffee but I prefer Verve (http://nilehenry.vemma.com) as my go-to energy source before races.

My brother turned me on to the Vemma products and I can honestly say that it is the only energy product that does not upset my stomach before, during, or after workouts and races. It contains natural caffeine = no jitters, no crash. Plus it's packed with vitamins, minerals, aloe and mangosteen. Check it out: http://nilehenry.vemma.com

Back to the race … After a chaotic morning… waiting for a shuttle to take us to the race, then deciding we’d drive instead.  We parked, I got out and realized that I had very limited time until the start of the race, freaked out, split from my parents for about 15 minutes to get a good warm up in. We met back up, waited on the endless port-o-potty line and headed over to the starting area (half marathon start time: 8 am; 10K start time 8:30 am).

Dad and I at the start of the race!

 

Me looking a little too happy to be running 13.1 miles.

The first mile caught me by surprise. I was under the assumption that it was going to be a flat course.…nope. Up and down the highway ramps we went. I had planned to go out conservatively, start out at 7:15 pace and gradually work my way down to 7:05/7:00-minute pace. Instead I went through miles (1) 7:08, (2) 6:56, and (3) 6:49 much faster than I planned… not on purpose. I didn’t even look at my watch (which by the way is a Garmin Forerunner. Present from my Dad. Best thing since sliced bread). I just ran by feel. And I’m glad I didn’t look because I probably would have freaked out (which happened a little later on in the race). Miles (4) 6:57 and (5) 6:47 came and went. By mile 6 I decided to glance at my watch and that’s when I realized how fast I was running (this is the freak out moment I was referring to) so I decided to back off and pray that my body wouldn’t give out on me. Miles (6) 7:08, (7) 7:12, (8) 7:11, and (9) 7:14.

We crossed the "Trenton Makes, World Takes" Bridge into Pennsylvania.

By mile 10 I felt surprisingly good so I decided to really go for it and race to the finish line…. miles (10) 6:50, (11) 6:47, (12) 6:39, and (13) 6:33. Official finish time: 1:31:10 (6 min, 57 sec average mile pace).

We finished in the Trenton Thunder Baseball Stadium. We circled the outfield, made our way to third base, and then crossed home plate/finish line.

Do I think I can run faster? Definitely! Looking back at miles 6 thru 9, I question whether I should have slowed down. I felt good. Perhaps if I stuck with the quicker pace I would have ran a faster time. But who knows. From personal experience I think it’s better to leave a little extra in the tank and finish strong versus blowing up with a few miles to go. It is also obvious that hills are my weakness. I think on a flatter course I can maintain a faster pace. And lastly I think I lost a few seconds during the last quarter-mile of the race – the half marathon and 10k finish at the same spot which meant there was quite a bit of ducking and weaving and a minor collision (I nearly knocked a women down L).

For the most part, I can honestly say I was cool, calm and collected, but of course there are always moments in a race where a few negative thoughts creep in. Mine are usually, “damn, another hill”, “where is the effing finish line”…very unlady like, I know, but I’m just being honest. On the flip side, this is when mental tricks really come in handy like repeating positive mantras (i.e. “you’re strong”, “believe in yourself”, etc), focusing on your form (relax the arms, slow deep breaths), and of course knowing that you aren’t really suffering in the grand scheme of things. I’m sure I don’t know the first thing about true suffering so I always try to keep that in mind and remember those who are truly battling with diseases, poverty, lost limbs, death, and so on.

A few months ago I made a promise to myself that I would find moments to stop and enjoy these types of events….soooo here are my top 5 most memorable moments from the race:

5)    Seeing the expression on my Father’s face as I applied mascara in the hotel room before the     race…. gotta look good for the camera.

How's my mascara??

4)    Security checking my Dad for bombs (and God only knows what else) and completely ignoring   his friend Brendan who could easily pass for a relative of the Boston Marathon Bomber (no joke). Racial profiling at races? I hope not!

3)    Seeing the clock at the finish line and knowing that I dropped over 2 ½ minutes from my               personal best time.
2)    Hanging out with my Dad and Brendan (whose wife was running her first half marathon) in the bleachers after the race.
1)    And by far, the highlight of the day was seeing my Mom cross the 10K (6.2 miles) finish line         (twice the distance she has ever raced) with a huge smile on her face. It was exciting and I was proud J

I’m sure there are plenty of people out there wondering why on earth I would want to run 13.1 miles. In fact, I’ve been asked that question many times and I always have a hard time coming up with a direct answer. But there’s just something about being one in a sea of people (in this case, 3,000) with various goals (raise money for charity, lose weight, run faster, do something they’ve never done before). And the fact is, no matter where you finish, in front, somewhere in the middle or at the end of the pack, it is such an incredible feeling of accomplishment when you cross the finish line. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all smiles and laughter. Of course I have had plenty of races where I feel like crap and wonder why I’m out there torturing myself. But once it’s all said and done, I’m proud of myself for lacing up my shoes, toeing the line, and toughing it out. I guess we each get something different out of it and you’ll never know unless you try J

Next up on my race calendar:

·         Nov 23th: 5K (3.1 miles). Goal: Break 19 minutes and 30 seconds (current fastest time: 19:33).

·         Dec 8th: 8K (4.97 miles). Goal: break 33 minutes (current fastest time: 33:37).

·         Jan 19th: 5K

·         And….drumroll…maybe a winter marathon in February or March!

You only get one body. Treat it good and enjoy the holidays!

Focus, Breathe, Believe…

…I spotted those words on a spectator’s poster about 4 miles into the Crawlin Crab Half Marathon on Sunday and they stuck with me through the race.

Now if you know anything about me and my running, you know that the half marathon and I don’t get along. In fact, I swore off racing them after my last experience in March of this year at the Shamrock Half Marathon in which I ran a 1:37 after weeks of training. I left that race frustrated, defeated, miserable and sore. And unfortunately it was one in a string of 13.1-mile races that I’ve done over the past few years that ended on a sour note. Each for different reasons …going out too fast, not eating enough the day before, overtrained, poorly paced, not properly tapered, and so on. I finally had enough and decided to walk away from the distance and racing in general….

… then the triathlon came into my life J And now my focus has shifted from run, run, run to swim, bike, run. I love the variation and I love the newness (is this a word lol). Not that running has taken a backseat. It definitely hasn’t. I just look at it differently – it’s just one piece of the puzzle.

Back to the race…

My goal was to go out conservative (7 min 30 sec pace) and steadily work my way down to 7 min pace, with every 3 miles getting faster. I DID NOT want to start feeling ANY discomfort until after the 10-mile marker. I didn’t want there to ever be a point in the race where I considered walking, dropping out, slowing to a jog…none of it. I wanted to feel comfortable, trust my fitness level and hopefully finish around 1 hour and 35 minutes. Looking back, it’s a little funny that I was so confident I could hit that time considering how much I struggled just to run a 1:37 half marathon earlier in the year. But my recent triathlon training and win at the Heart of Ghent 10K let me know that I was in shape to comfortably run 7:15 pace. Oh and last but not least, I wanted to enjoy the race…take in the scenery, the crowd, and just be thankful to be out there doing what I love.

Race day… I got to the race about 40 minutes before the start time. Spotted a few friends, laughed, pretended like I wasn’t about to run 13.1 miles (lol), went for a light jog just to wake up the legs and then headed over to the start area. Lucky for me I ran into a friend who typically runs around the same pace as me. In fact, he was getting over an injury and planned to start off conservatively. Bingo! Stick with him the first few miles.

Typical countdown, gun start and we were off. The first mile at a large half marathon, and by large I mean more than 2,000 runners, is typically a little crazy. Not triathlon swim, kicked in the face/people swimming over you crazy. But crazy enough that you get jostled around a little..some bumping here and there since everyone is so tightly packed. Plus, trying to find a rhythm while staying clear of others isn’t that easy when there are a few people one step in front of you, behind you and on each side. But after the first mile the race usually begins to string out and it’s more manageable to establish your space.

First 5 miles went like this: 1) 7:26, 2) 7:05, 3) 7:05 (grabbed some Gatorade), 4) 7:16, 5) 6:55 (more Gatorade). I felt relaxed and focused but the sun was out in full affect and the temperature started rising. I think it ended up reaching 85 degrees during the race (85 in October…ridiculous). Keeping the weather in mind I decided to grab water at mile 7 and dumped the cup over my head in attempt to keep my body from overheating. I didn’t care that I looked like a wet rat, I just wanted to comfortably maintain my pace. Miles 6) 7:15 and 7) 7:06 were pretty steady. Then I heard a spectator yell “good job, top 10 woman”). Of course this sparked the little competitor in me so I began to look for ponytails in the distance. And there they were, two women down the road and they looked like they were slowing. Thoughts …. the heat is starting to get to people, if I can maintain my pace I should comfortably get under 1 hour and 35 minutes, and I might be able to pick off a woman or two.

Miles 8) 7:13 and 9) 7:14 went by pretty fast. I caught up to the two women I had spotted earlier and we ran together to mile 10. At this point, I was still feeling pretty strong and knew I would have to run a little faster if I wanted to place higher so I threw in a 7:04 mile and it worked. Unfortunately, my legs didn’t really like that. Who knew running 10 seconds faster would take so much out of you?

The last three miles were more or less a mental game – it ranged from “I’m tired, I kind of want to stop. It wouldn’t be so bad if I slowed down a little” to “shut up you idiot, you already ran 10 miles, you only have 3 left and you know you don’t feel that bad.” I got through miles 11) 7:15 and 12) 7:15 and then there was a demoralizing uphill finish (seriously who thought it was a good idea to stick a hill in at the last mile?!?). My last mile (6:58) ended up being one of my fastest and I crossed the finish line in 1 hour 34 minutes 19 seconds. I won my age group (25 – 29) and was the 6^th female out of 1,428 women. 

This might be the only time I have ever smiled after a half marathon.

Overall it was a good day. The race was very well organized, I ran into a few friends (literally), I surpassed my time goal, I felt great, and most importantly I really enjoyed myself out there.

 

I treated myself to a little gift which I put to good use that night J

 

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.

New Adventure

Shamefully, I haven't updated this blog in nearly a year. Athletically, I haven’t had much to add. No new PRs, no exciting races, and truth be told, I really haven’t raced much in the past 12 months. Injuries, distractions and life seem to have taken precedence. But then…I had this GENIUS idea about 2 weeks ago. I was stressed out, frustrated and dissecting my life. Naturally, I thought signing up for a triathlon was the best idea since sliced bread. Of course I briefly thought about the fact that I didn’t own a bike (and could barely ride one), haven’t swam laps in a pool in over a year, have never done an open water swim and the heat has made my runs rather miserable. But for some reason my idiotic plan seemed to add excitement to my life. It was a perfect distraction.

Fast forward…two weeks later…I can officially say that “I am a triathlete.” But let’s back up to the day before the race (yesterday). Just so you can get a full picture of what a triathlon entails in case you’re thinking of trying one…. which I suggest. If you have the option of picking up your race packet the day before the race, do it! It makes life easier. You get to check out the swim, bike and run course, the transition area, ask questions, and set up your racing number on your bike and helmet. The less you have to do the morning of the race the better.

Race Morning: Now typically I’m the type of athlete that shows up to a race 10 minutes before the gun is set to go off – I hate standing around anxiously waiting. While this might not be smart it works for me. But for this race, since it was my first triathlon, I thought it would be best to get there 45 mins to an hour early – good decision! Parking, unloading your bike and gear, setting up your spot in the transition area, getting your timing chip, having your body marked (with a sharpie that I still can’t wash off), and of course using the bathroom 500 times (nerves, water, looking at the water.. it happens) … these things end up taking at least 30 minutes.

The Countdown: 15 minutes before the race was set to go off, they closed off the transition area and had everyone migrate to the beach. At this point I was trying not to faint. The waves looked choppy – it was a little more windy than expected (they changed the swim course direction to help with the current) – and I looked ridiculous in my gear which consisted of a sports bra (yep, I swam in a sports bra) and sporty swimming briefs.

Meanwhile, the women I was standing near literally had on swim/bike outfits – I may need to invest in this. As my mind started drifting into a state of despair, the announcer read off instructions, played the national anthem, and then 10, 9, 8, 7, …. horn blew and we were off.

The Swim: holy cr*p. I knew it would be chaotic, but it was worse than I thought. I got punched, kicked in the head, took in a lot of water, even swam on top of some people! Oh and an ocean swim is NOTHING like a pool swim. You have to constantly look up to make sure you are heading in the right direction (near the buoys), not swimming into people, and once in awhile you may have to adjust your goggles if you’ve been slapped, kicked, you get the point.

Transition 1: Upon exiting the ocean – alive – I was tired, even a little disoriented ha! I followed the crowd, ran up the beach to the transition area, dipped my feet in the baby pool to get some of the sand off my feet, found my setup, took my goggles and swim cap off, drank some Gatorade, laced up my sneakers, threw on a running shirt, strapped on my helmet, grabbed my bike, and off I went.

The Bike: I suck. I’m awkward, uncoordinated, slow, and it didn’t help that I was riding a hybrid. All I heard during my bike ride was “ON YOUR LEFT” and then sounds of bikes whizzing by. Hell, even a guy running with his beagle on the adjacent sidewalk passed me. It was Demoralizing. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do. My bike was heavy, I wasn’t clipped in, and I’ve taken a few spills while training so my goal was “just stay on the bike, Sika.”

Transition 2: Praise the Lord. I might have even said that out loud. I parked my bike, drank some more Gatorade, and off I went to the run… I have never been so happy to run.

The Run: I’ll be honest, I felt the urge to scream “on your left” a few times, especially when I passed some of the “on your left” bikers – but I resisted J Worth mentioning, the run felt short even though it took longer than a solo 5K. I assume because you have already covered a lot of mileage and it’s the last stretch of the race. Who knows? But it flew by and my eyes lit up when I saw the finish line.

Finish: I wanted to sprint but my legs felt like jello at this point. It was the first time that I linked together a swim, bike and run and my body clearly knew that. After passing through the finish shoot I wanted to throw myself to the ground and dry heave, but instead I went straight to the snack area and ate some of the watermelon they graciously provided us.

Until next time…..