Providence Rock and Roll Half Marathon

Obviously been a while since I've updated anything, and mostly that has been due to working A LOT, and hence not training much at all - for anything. I geared it up for a bit there, preparing for the Rev 3 Half IM to take place in a week, but after working way too many hours, and being unable to find the time or energy to train properly, I backed out and have decided to try another time.
I did complete the Providence R&R Half at the beginning of August, and took the opportunity to also turn it into a mini-vacation in Boston for a few days. It was pretty humid when we arrived on the Saturday before the race, and by Sunday morning the rain had started. We were already pretty drenched before the race even started, so it was no big deal when it decided to rain - sometimes downpour - during the ENTIRE 13.1 miles. Unfortunate for me, I remembered to Body Glide my thighs, but not the insides of my arms, so by the end of the race I had two spots that had been rubbed raw and hurt like heck! For not training much (other than some long bike rides over the summer), I finished in a respectable time of 2:39:13.
A few weeekends later, I was watching the Louisville Ironman in my hometown and it really got me bummed that I pulled out of Rev 3. I just don't know if I want to try to push myself to that limit (both physically, AND mentally) after minimal training. Speaking of which.....
Chicago is in 4 weeks, and although I've tried to get Alicia to meet me out a few weekend mornings to run, nothing has panned out. I have good intentions by telling myself that I'm going to run anyway, even without a partner, but longer distances are hard to complete alone. The wienie part of me starts telling myself that I'm too tired, I'm too hot, I can't go on, and that 3 miles should be plenty for today - there's always next weekend. So, I've just sent her a text asking that we meet this weekend for a 10 miler, and then add on 4 miles to each additional weekend building up to Chicago. I know it's not ideal training, but it's certainly better than nothing - and the last thing I want is a repeat of Memphis.
But for now, no more races scheduled until then. Was toying with doing either a sprint or olympic tri this weekend, but after paying some bills I don't really have the extra cash, so I'm gonna wait to hear back from Alicia and hope for the best. Worse case scenario - I go out on my own and muddle through the best I can. Until next time...

Buckheads Border Challenge Olympic Tri

Well, another tri down, another Sunday spent relaxing after a hot shower and glowing over my finish. The tri started on the banks of the Ohio River on the Kentucky side, and took us to the Indiana side where we finished the full .9 miles. It was a somewhat tough course, as I had a hard time keeping track of the direction I was going, and spent lots of time near the end trying to keep away from the bank where lots of rocks, logs and weeds loomed. Almost as tough as the swim, though, was trying to walk my way out of the water in knee-deep mud for 50-feet or so. I looked at my watch upon getting out, and saw that it took me 47 minutes to finish - about 8 minutes slower than Knoxville, and 5 minutes faster than Taylorsville, both of which took place last year.

I hopped on the bike after spraying myself wish some SPF, donning my helment and sunglasses, and slipping on my shoes. I believe I was in transition for approximately 2 1/2 minutes, then pedaled away. This was a two-loop out-and-back course which was nearly completely flat! I don't mind courses set up this way, as it gives me a chance to see what's coming the next time around so I know what to expect. Plus, I like to break the race up a little bit, and thinking, "Okay, just three (or two, or one) more of what I just did and I'm done." It was hard to tell who was on their first or second loop, so I wasn't sure exactly how far behind I was. (I say "far behind" b/c I'm pretty sure I was one of the last people out of the water). When I got to the last turnaround I noticed approximately 4-5 bikes behind me, so I felt assured that I wasn't the LAST person on the course.

Finishing up the bike course (in approximately 1:36), I traded my helmet for a hat, sprayed more SPF, and put on some socks and shoes before heading out on jello-like legs. I walked a large part of the first mile, and was concerned that I may have to walk all of it. At this point, the water I consumed on the bike was catching up with me, and I had to pee like a race horse! I asked a few volunteers if there were any porta-pots ahead, and was more than a little discouraged to hear that there weren't any, but instead there was a nice lot of woods near the turn around point. Jeez buddy, thanks a lot. That doesn't quite help a female wearing a one-piece trisuit. Needless to say, I got to the half-way point just fine, turned around, and just couldn't hold it any longer. I commenced to squatting behind a large piece of concrete and let it rip - through my trisuit. I had heard of triathletes "going" in their gear before, mostly during half and full Ironman competitions, and always thought that was more than a little gross. However, with more than 3 miles left to go, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. Luckily, there was a water stop ahead and I was able to douse my contaminated suit with water to keep from any additional stinkiness.

Coming around the corner to make my way back across the Second Street Bridge and towards the finish line, a volunteer asked if I had passsed anyone. "No, I think I'm the last one," I replied. This statement doesn't bother me much, since I also finished dead-last in the Taylorsville Olympic Tri this time last year. Hey, at least I'm out here doing it, right? The only thing that concerned me at this point was that I had heard that they close the race down at the four hour point. I wasn't sure at what point they started timing this four hours, but I didn't want to take any chances. I walked the up-hill of the bridge, and ran as much of the decent into Indiana as possible. For the remainder of the half-mile or so, I ran/walked until I saw the "Finish" sign up ahead. Surely I can run to the finish line, right? All of these people still standing around, waiting for the last person to cross - I can't let the public down! I pulled it out of me and ran the last .3 miles or so until coming to a stop after crossing under the Finish sign, and that lovely medal was hung around my neck.

All in all, it was a pretty good race. I can now say I swam across the river from Kentucky to Indiana - not many people can. The bike courses flat surface was a nice break from the hills I'm so used to in these races, and even the run was mostly flat which helped keep me sane. Oddly enough, even though it took me 3:55 to finish, it didn't seem that long. The bike seemed to fly by, and even the run wasn't so brutal.

A few things that I would change about this race - make sure there are places to use the potty along the course - this would be my #1 complaint. If I had to go #2, it would have been bad news bears. Also, they advertised that there would be clocks along the course, and there were not. I don't mind this so much b/c I wear a watch, which is what I always go by since it's accurate to MY personal time. But beyond clocks, mile markers would have been nice. Thirdly, they also advertised that there would be a Kids Fun Zone with inflatables and whatnot to keep kids busy during the race. There was nothing that resembled this at all. Again, if you're going to advertise something, make sure you have it. And lastly, and probably the most important for some people (those who compete to win or look forward to winning some prize money, or just want their finishing time set in stone), I heard that the timing for the race was not working (either correctly or at all), so there are no official finishing times, meaning no awards for those who really work hard to kick ass at these races. I understand that accidents happen, but for some people their finishing time is a really big deal!

For an inaugural race though, I thought it was mostly excellent, and I give it one-and-a-half thumbs up! And, for me personally, I now know what to work on over the next few months as I prepare for the HalfRev in Ohio in September. Definitey looking forward to it!

Tri Training Resumes, and first Duathlon Completed

It's been a week since my first-ever duathlon, and I'm starting to really get into the groove of tri-training again. I have my first Olympic of the year (third overall) in approximately one month, and the half-ironman in exactly 3 months from today. Although I haven't swam much, I have been getting out on the bike a lot more, and trying to keep up with running. The running is harder with Kentucky's humid, summer heat, but I'm doing the best I can with 3-4 milers a few times a week.

The duathlon was put on by Oldham Co. Parks and Recreation and was a 3k run/10 mile bike/3k run. I told Alicia afterwards that I felt this duathlon was harder than a tri since we were on our feet running, then cycling, then running again. The course was the same that I've done twice before through the Oldham Co. Tri, and the hills weren't any easier this time around. I felt fairly decent throughout, although we walked a lot of the last 3k. It was a fairly small race with only 50 or so participants, which was only proved by my getting runner-up in my age group at an unofficial 1:33:34 finishing time. I believe only a handful of participants came in after Alicia and I crossed the finish line.

I'll probably do a duathlon again, although my focus right now is on the Oly tri swim that will take me from the banks of Kentucky to the banks of Indiana. A little scared about that one, but I figured if it was that unsafe they wouldn't have gotten the go-ahead to schedule the event. My legs are definitely feeling stronger this year - I can go up one particular hill at 8mph rather than the 6mph I was struggling with last year. ;) I think I just need to invest in some softer, thicker, more comfortable bike shorts so my toosh doesn't hurt nearly so bad. Butt (pun intended), I guess that's the price we triathletes pay for the sport we love!

Back-to-Back races complete!

I'm two days post completing a half marathon and full marathon back-to-back this past weekend. Alicia and I first signed up for the Cincinnati Flying Pig full-marathon earlier in the year, and later, when we learned the Derby Mini Marathon route was changed, and that it would be completely flat, we talked ourselves into completing both races...... in the same weekend!

Alicia's foot had been giving her some trouble during our training runs, as had my knees, so we were both a little concerned about the mileage. The first race was the Derby Mini on Saturday. After many weeks of rain, we were happy to see that the morning sun was shining through, and it was going to be a great day for a race. I felt WONDERFUL to start off, but could tell that Alicia either wasn't feeling it, or was having some trouble elsewhere. She had been struggling with a chest cold earlier in the week, and it hadn't quite let up. About 2.5 miles in, we had to walk longer than we normally would because her foot had started hurting. This concerned us both with 11 miles left to go, not to mention the marathon the next day. We ended up walking a lot more than we originally intended, but this turned out to be a good thing because it really forced us to take it easy and save something for Sunday's race. I was feeling so good though, and would have probably PR'd if I'd gone all out, that it was hard to hold back. Needless to say, we crossed the finish line at 2:48, which was a really decent time considering how much we walked, and was surprising to me especially, since this was the same finishing time I had during the half marathon in Miami - where I only walked the scheduled walk-breaks we normally take.

After the race we stuck around town long enough to get showers, grab some food, and then headed to Cincinnati. Unfortunately, there was some lovely construction going on and what should have been an hour and a half long drive turned into over a three hour trip. We picked up our gear from the expo, checked into the hotel, and went to Carrabba's for some Italian food. We wanted to take it as easy as possible for the next morning's race, so we went back to the hotel right after dinner, each took an Epsom salt bath, and were in bed with the lights out at 8:30 p.m. I slept horribly, as I normally do the night before a big race, and 4:00 a.m. came pretty early Sunday morning.

We made our way to the parking lot and had plenty of time to relax and finish our pre-race meals before heading to the porta-pot and the start line. The weather for this race wasn't nearly as cooperative as the day before, and it was a breezy, slightly-chilly, and rainy morning. The worst was over within the first few miles of the race however, and the breeze and cool air were a Godsend for the remainder of the race.

I felt pretty decent for most of the race, and nothing from the day before hampered my physical abilities along the way for the first 20 miles or so. Alicia and I started with the normal 4:1 intervals, but decided early on that we wanted to take this race easy as well, as finishing was our only goal. The mental part didn't really start to hit until about mile 18 or so. Even then, it wasn't too terribly bad. Alicia and I still had our senses of humor, and were still talking and cracking jokes along the way - even after I had to re-bandage some gnarly blisters about 16 miles in. It wasn't until the 20 mile mark that I really had to take it "one mile at a time." Thinking of the six additional miles we had to go was way too daunting for me, and Alicia and I were starting to argue about really stupid things - "This is an incline, Alicia! We're going uphill!" "No we're not, you don't know what you're talking about, it's downhill!" My feet were REALLY starting to hurt at this point. Luckily, my knees and Alicia's foot had held out, but the 39+ total miles we would spend upright were getting to us both. We both had blisters, and the continuous pounding of the pavement was making for some pretty sore dogs. Still, we kept at it, and I focused solely on making it to the next mile ahead.

Soon, we had one more mile to go and were so happy to crest the last hill and see the finish line in the distance. Alicia, wanting to get it over with, moved ahead of me. My body felt shot at this point, however, and knowing that I would at least finish was enough for me, so I kept my slow pace through the end. My unofficial finishing time was 6:25 - approximately 5 minutes faster than my Memphis Marathon-From-Hell race from December.

Crossing the finish line, I was so happy to have accomplished such a wonderful goal. And surprisingly enough, we met many people along the way who were also completing back-to-back races, many of them finishing two FULL marathons - I could not imagine. Two days later, I'm so glad that I did it. My knees are definitely more sore than they have ever been after a race, and my feet are itchy as they heal from all the blisters and asphault pounding, and I'm not quite ready to say that I'll ever do it again - but I am happy to be a part of that small percentage of people that have completed back-to-back long distance races. Next on the list - Buffalo Trails Olympic Tri in less than a month, and the beginning of Half Ironman training in less than one week!

Run The Bluegrass Half Marathon

Wow - what a night. The Kentucky Wildcats made it to the Final Four, and since Alicia and I had a race in Lexington this morning, we decided to head down yesterday afternoon to catch the action at one of the local restaurants. We firmly planted ourselves at a pizza joint at 4:30 p.m. and commenced to drinking and carbing up for our run. Alicia, bad influence that she is, talked me into three pitchers of beer and three shots of Jager-bomb. This is less-than-stellar pre-race nutrition, by the way. When the game ended at 11:30 or so - the Cats lost :( - Alicia and I headed back to the hotel to try and get a good 7 hours of shut-eye before the race.

Because my motivation has been horrible these past few weeks, and because I copped out on doing a 10-mile race along with a scheduled triathlon the day after, I was determined to run this half marathon - hangover or not! I slept horribly (almost always do after a night of that much drinking), and woke up trying to figure out if how bad I was going to feel running the race, was as bad as how I would feel if I - once again - threw in the towel (I also have to add here that many of Alicia's family and friends had bets on whether or not we would do the race after a night like they all knew we would have). Wanting to prove them all wrong, we promptly got out of bed and got dressed to drive to the start line.

It was a great day for a race. Sunny, about 40 degrees starting off (although feeling warmer), with a slight breeze. It took me about two miles or so into the race before I decided that I would not, after all, be tossing my cookies from the prior evenings events, and got into a good little groove. About 7 miles or so in I started to feel a little pain in my left knee. This had happened in previous races/runs as well, so I wasn't too terribly concerned, but it got worse as the race went on and the last few miles were little more than a scurried jog to the finish line.

Alicia had stayed with me until Mile 11, but her foot was bothering her, and she said it felt better to run at a faster pace, so she went ahead - which I didn't mind at all, of course. Coming down the finishers shoot, she cheered me on at the sidelines as I made my way to the finish line. I had an unofficial finishing time of 2:37, which is 11 minutes faster than my Miami time from two months ago. Can't complain about that - especially since, after all those drinks, I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to run the race!

Flying Pig is in a month, and the only thing I'm concerned about is the fact that Alicia and I have also signed up for the Derby Half Marathon to take place the day prior. We both promised to take it easy on that one, but it'll be hard to do. We completed an 18 mile training run two weeks ago, and survived. But because we ran on sidewalks rather than asphalt, my calves, knees and quads were killing me by mile 13. We plan a 20 miler next weekend and are going to look for a route that we can run on nothing but streets. I'm also gonna have to break out the ol' knee brace to see if that will help this pain. There's no way I could finish "The Pig" after the Derby half if I'm feeling this way.

Rodes City Run - NEW PR!!!

I went to the race yesterday fully expecting to merely mosey along and survive, since my training has been less than slacking lately (the 15 miles I was supposed to get in last weekend turned into 7 since the area around Red River Gorge is nothing but hills - and very steep inclines at that). I got the new Garmin Forerunner 405cx however, and was able to wear it for the first time during the race. I planned to run with 4:1 intervals, but apparently I didn't set the watch up correctly (damn you, technology!) and never got the reminder "beep" to take my walk break. Not that I really NEED a reminder, I mean, I've been doing it this long without one. So when I looked down at my watch and saw that I had ran longer than four minutes I thought to myself "Well, I'll just do 6:1 and see how that feels." So, six minutes came and went and, much like Forest Gump, "I kept running and running...."

Between miles one and two there is a slight hill that goes on for a while. Now, if you've read any of my prior blogs you know that I despise hills. No, really - despise. So, when I found myself setting small goals to try and get up it without stopping (Okay, I'm going to run to THAT sign there. Okay, now I'm going to run to THAT telephone pole), I was confident that I could run the whole stretch, and felt mighty proud of myself when I did.

Having defeated this hill and feeling rather accomplished, I decided that a flat surface was no time to take a walk break, so I kept going. And when I came upon the first water stop, I willed my body to keep running forward (granted, I had my fuel belt with me since an additional 10 mile training run was planned for after the race - and I drank from that.) I was surprised at how good I felt, and that I was able to run this distance without the interval walk breaks - I haven't NOT done planned walk breaks during a run for about two years.

At 3.1 miles in I checked the Garmin and saw that I was 31:40 into the run. Shortly after this I saw a co-worker of mine who was standing on the side of the road cheering for her son who was also running the race. I ran by, saying a quick hello and giving her a high five, and continued on down the road. The excitement of having a personal "fan" there to keep me going must have been a little much for me though, because I could feel my heart rate increase and started to feel that I was overdoing it. I slowed my pace a bit, took some deeper breaths, and kept going. Shortly after I opened up the GU I had been carrying in my hand - I prefer to ingest hand-held GU since the heat from my hand warms it up and makes it more liquid-like and less thick - I got a little choked up and was forced to take a walk break, and another water break, for a minute. (Note to self: It's probably a good idea to WALK while eating during a race so that the Heimlich maneuver is not a part of your racing equation).

The break did me good, because when I started running again it was almost like starting with fresh legs (the reason I like the interval runs in the first place). I was going at a pretty good clip when ahead came another slight hill - which I am proud to say I ran up without incident. At some point I do remember having to take another one-minute break between 4-5 miles, but luckily this didn't hamper my overall race.

After passing the 5 mile marker it felt good to know I was in the home stretch. Mentally, I kept focusing on running one block at a time. I wanted to take a walk break so badly, but I had looked down at my watch and saw that I had between 11-12 minutes to run the last 1.2 miles for a PR. If I walked now, that might not happen and I would be kicking myself for having taken that break (I had been keeping a 10:30 minute pace, but didn't want to take any chances). I kept going and before I knew it, I had rounded the last corner to see the finish line a short distance ahead. I told myself that I was making good time, and wasn't going to look down at the watch to check my time - I would just do my best and hope for a PR. Someone apparently kept moving the finish line further and further away though, because I found myself running with no end in sight. When I was finally able to see the mats on the ground, I did look down at the Garmin and saw that I had almost one minute exactly to finish with a PR. I kicked it up a notch and sprinted that last little bit. I thought I was going to throw up. I felt that I had pushed myself during this race already, and to have to crank it up even more during these last yards was tough. I passed the finishing mat and hit "stop" on the watch. Unofficially I came in at just 3 second faster than my prior year PR (later, at home, I would find that I actually finished a full MINUTE and FOUR SECOND faster than my best time - I had remembered the time from 2010 incorrectly. Oops.)

So, a new year, a new race season and a new PR - not a bad way to start off 2011. The Papa Johns 10-miler is just a few weeks away, and if I crank up the training now, I'm pretty confident I can break my own record on that race as well. Not to get too confident in myself, but the last few years has shown that I'm getting stronger and faster in my races. Must be something in the water....

Case of the blahs...

Got a huge case of non-motivation mixed with some depression that isn't doing a thing for my training right now. Even missed the Anthem 5k - the first of a series of three races that I've done every year for the past 7 years. Had a recent break up after 3 1/2 years and I'm struggling at the moment. I know getting out there and being active would help, but I just can't find the motivation to do it. Funny - this is the exact same advice I give to my patient's on an almost daily basis, yet I can't make myself do it. Have a girls-weekend coming up though, and a 15 miler planned in that time period that I HAVE to get in so that I can survive the Flying Pig Marathon - I NEVER want a repeat of Memphis again! One thing that I do think will definitely help, is the new Garmin 405 that I have coming in the mail tomorrow. I always love trying out these new gadgets, and just having that watch alone will be enough to get me up and running in the next few days. I just hope the novelty sticks. I need whatever help I can to get myself up out of this chair, and out of the house.