Training/Race Reports for April and May

Obviously, I have had a horrible time keeping up with this blog for the past month-and-a-half. April was a bad month as far as weather is concerned. During the Papa John’s 10-miler it was 30 degrees and snowing the whole race. Despite the cold weather, I had a great time and my mentor, Jeff, kept me company and finishing strong with 4:1 intervals the whole way.

The KDF mini (my 35th half-marathon) came next just three weeks later, and we saw some beautiful temps in the mid-sixties throughout the day. I felt like I had put in some good training runs leading up to the race, and gave a solid performance, coming in at around 2:26. I know this time is considered slow for a lot of folks, but with my PR days long behind me, I’m happy to get ‘er done in under 2:30 for a race of this distance.

Ironman 70.3 training officially started last week, and I’m off to a stellar start so far. My first swim consisted of 1500 meters at a 3:00/1000m pace. VERY SLLLOWWW – but…. at least I know that I can get in a distance such as this on my first time out all season. Now I just have to keep it going for the next 2.5 months in order to finish Ohio within the cut-off time. My last 70.3 (and 70.3 attempt before a DNF on the bike) resulted in about a 55-minute 1.2 miler, so if I can pull that off this year then I’ll be okay with that time. What’s the saying? Nobody wins a race with the swim?? Not that I’m winning any races regardless, but… you get the point.

Throo The Zoo 5k was just this past Saturday, with an additional 5 miles tacked on afterwards on what had to have been one of the hottest runs I’ve ever completed. Despite starting at 8 a.m., the race was warm from the start and only got hotter for the additional hour after the finish. Given the heat and mild humidity, I was able to pull out a 12 min/mile pace – something that I’m almost embarrassed to admit but, considering I had just ran a 5k race and had a 35-mile bike the next day, I was accepting of since I wasn’t planning to push myself too hard. During the first week of official training my goal was to simply get in the time/miles – and that I did.

What really solidified some confidence for me this first week of training was my bike the following day. I had only done two days of biking leading up to it (15 and 25 miles, respectively), and planned on a 35-miler with my training partner, Ericka. Cycling from my condo, I put in about 4.5 miles before reaching the Big 4 Bridge where we met up for an additional 12.5 out-and-back on a long, straight path with very few obstacles such as turns or stop-signs to slow us down. It wasn’t until the last 3 miles or so that we saw some minor hills.

I am historically horrible at keeping my nutrition up on the bike – I cannot seem to force myself to eat, and have a hard time remembering to drink if I’m not feeling the heat, so I can bonk pretty quickly and out of nowhere if I’m not careful. Because I know this about myself I made an effort during this ride to be more aware of my intake. I had a banana prior to the ride, and then sipped on 24 ounces of Infinit throughout the journey. I did have an additional water bottle that I also took in, but that bottle was still mostly full when I arrived back home. At the turn-around point I took in a GU just for good measure. I was so in awe with how good I felt as we headed back home, however, I also know that feeling good at the half-way point doesn’t always mean I’ll be feeling as great near the end, so I didn’t want to take it for granted. Luckily, I did feel about as good as I could have hoped to feel on a 35-mile route, and even managed to keep an even pace up the last hill about a mile or so from the condo.

I had mentioned to a few people this year that I may be retiring from triathlon after Ohio in July. With my new goal starting last year of hiking the Appalachian Trail, as well as wanting to focus on strength training and continued long runs, I wasn’t (am not) sure I want to take away from those things to put towards the time and effort that triathlons require. I may feel differently after my Olympic race in June, followed by my “A” race in Ohio, but right now I’m feeling so good during my training that I don’t know if it’s something I’ll ever truly give up. Spoken like a newbie during just the first week though, right? Ask me again in 3 weeks and I might be ready to throw in the towel. Regardless of what I end up doing overall, I’m enjoying it for what it is right now, and am committed to putting in a real effort to finish my second 70.3.

Now that we have the race/training report out of the way, I will need to spend some time gathering data for my Give it Up challenge for the month of April. I wasn’t nearly as diligent in that area this past month as I should have been, but I’ve had a lot going on. No excuses, though. I also need to write about my second section hike of the Appalachian Trail, from which I just returned less than 2 weeks ago. Even with all of the difficulty of that goal, I still plan to finish the entire duration one slow, small section at a time. Details of that trip are to follow soon.