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