I'm happy to report that I placed second in my age group this past weekend in the Saratoga Lions Duathlon. Boy, is it good to race on the East Coast! :-)
Results:
5k Run 24:56, avg HR 173, pace 8:02 min mile
T1 1:10
20 mi Bike 1:15:06, avg HR 156
T2 1:24
5k Run 25:32, avg HR 173, pace: 8:13 min mile
I participated in this race just for fun. The transition area is around the corner from our house in Saratoga. It was fun to be able to sign up for the race last minute and be in good enough shape to compete and place in it. I've never really placed for races before this year and I owe a lot of that to racing on the East Coast versus in Boulder where most of the people in my age group are borderline pro athletes.
Overall, I'm pumped that my run pace was an 8 min mile. That is about a minute better per mile than my race pace last year at the Bolder Boulder. And, I'm glad that my second 5k pace was very close to the first.
Things have been great lately. Training has felt so good, my fitness is improving, and I'm happy.
A few weeks ago I found myself in an interesting spot. I had about a month and a half or so of hard training under my belt. The problem was, I was exhausted. It was a Monday and I found myself falling asleep on the train on the way into work. My head bobbed with exhaustion and my appetite was insatiable. I was nearly crying on the way home because I was so tired and hungry. I was feeling guilty for eating so much when my office mate had probably a quarter of what I had all day long. After placing a phone call to a friend, I was re-assured that I didn't have to feel guilty about eating so much. With that, I went home and ate a real meal and was in bed by 8. The next day, I took the day off and went to bed again at 8. It was so early that it was still light out when I went to bed! Two days later, I arose from the dead as stiff as a board. I was so sluggish but I forced myself to go for a run with Zion. The run was absolutely pathetic. Zion was looking back at me like - when are you gonna start to run? Another day passed, and I felt a little more normal, and by the third day I had some energy back.
The next week I met with my Ironman mentor and I shared with him how I was feeling - tired, hungry, afraid to take a day off. He assured me that I needed to take it easy. His advice was - take a week off and if you're feeling like you're hungry all the time, then eat more protein and fat. That week and the following week I took it much easier on the workouts. I was doing one a days rather than two and three workouts. Now, about three weeks later, I feel amazing.
I don't feel like I can report any consistent volumes since I'm not following my set workout plan yet. But, I am consistently swimming twice a week for 50 min to an hour; I've been running a lot lately because I had to travel with work and it was about all I could do, and I've been biking probably two or three times a week for about 30-50 miles. I also do two core strength workouts in the gym per week.
Amazingly, I'm only a month away from starting my build training. The sound of that is super scary. It means a lot more discipline and a ticking clock until the race. I am however feeling on track for the program. I'm wondering if I should try to squeeze in a 70.3 before the race - mostly because I have so much energy to burn that it might be fun and a good way to test my race day nutrition.
Otherwise, I'm feeling amazing. I can see muscles in my body, my fat percentage is definitely less, and my disposition equals happy. I can't even begin to contemplate the difference in how I feel now versus how I felt 6 months ago. Working out consistently, a healthy diet, and a healed heart....that's where I'm at and I couldn't be happier.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Sterling Classic
After reading my friend Rich's race report from the Sterling Classic road race, I now have the courage to write mine. Rich is a strong cyclist who I ride with in the mornings and he's always leading the pack up the hills. So, it was comforting to read that he absolutely hated the race too.
The morning started at 6am when I got woken up by my alarm clock and the sound of rain crashing against the pavement. I thought, ugh, are they really going to have this race in the rain?
I show up at the race hoping that not all of the women would show but I soon realized that only the beefiest and toughest girls showed up. This didn't help my ego.
I struggled with what to wear since it was off an on raining and mid 40 degrees. I settled on capri length pants, a shirt, arm warmers, gloves, and my light neon jacket. The race started with a neutral start - basically rolling at 10-15 mph until the start line which was on top of a steep hill. The girls saw that hill and they were on top of it with lightening speed and I had already been dropped. I watched them ride away and I was alone.
The rain was picking up and I was getting really frustrated that I didn't have clear sunglasses. My dark glasses were all I had and it was as if they were fogging up on the inside of the lenses. I wiped them, licked them, and shook them but nothing would un-fog them. All the while rain and dirt was hurtling into my eyes and I was getting so pissed that I considered thowing the sunglasses into the woods. It was the combination of getting dropped in a second, getting sprayed in the face with rain and dirt, and generally being on edge from riding in the pouring rain that made me want to quit right there.
I turned the corner for the second half of the loop and found that it was on an off-ramp to a highway. I'm a safety freak and this really pissed me off. We were in the middle of farm-land Massachusetts and they couldn't find a better option than having us ride on the off-ramp to a highway? I was so irritated at this point but kept peddling through the "finish line" to start on my next loop. People were there cheering me up the hill and my mood lighted enough to keep going.
On my second loop I had to to talk myself down. I said to myself - you're doing this for the experience, it's crappy weather but you didn't expect to win nor come anywhere close, you knew that these girls would be much faster, you usually get beat by a lot in a triathlon on the bike so why would it be any different here. All you have to do is ride for an hour and it's over. You can handle it.
So, I kept riding. As I passed through the finish line for the second time I had the urge to tell everyone how cold I was. I wondered to myself how much colder I could possibly get on my last loop. The answer is, pretty damn cold.
My feet were numb, my body was cold, I was absolutely soaking wet.
By the time I finished the race there were only two people at the finish line. They were like - what happened? I said - well - I got dropped on the first hill and rode the whole damn thing by myself and now I'm absolutely freezing. How do I get back to my car?
They gave me crappy directions and I rode down some long winding hill to get back. The "get to the finish line" movement was now gone and all of the remaining heat from my body was escaping. Not knowing where I was, I reached for the GPS on my phone for directions. I could hardly take off my gloves to activate the phone. My hands were shaking and I was standing in the middle of some nowhere street in the pouring rain. I nearly broke down right there. I knew that I was all I had to get myself out of this situation and that this is how people get hypothermia and into serious trouble.
Again, I had to talk to myself - you can do it, it's only 5 more miles to get back to the car. Just peddle and concentrate.
After repeating the GPS directions event a couple of times I finally figured out how to get back to the car. As I rode back, I saw Rich's group starting their race. I got closer to my car and the skies opened up and it started gushing rain. It wasn't even like standing in a shower but more like riding through a swimming pool.
Somehow I got my bike and my body into the car. I was shaking so hard and my body was so cold that I could hardly get my soaked clothes off my body.
The words - this experience ranks up there with the all time dumbest things I have ever done - kept ringing in my head.
I shivering in my car for the next 25 minutes and blasted the heat for the entire ride home. It sucked. The only good news is that now I know I can ride in the rain. The end.
The morning started at 6am when I got woken up by my alarm clock and the sound of rain crashing against the pavement. I thought, ugh, are they really going to have this race in the rain?
I show up at the race hoping that not all of the women would show but I soon realized that only the beefiest and toughest girls showed up. This didn't help my ego.
I struggled with what to wear since it was off an on raining and mid 40 degrees. I settled on capri length pants, a shirt, arm warmers, gloves, and my light neon jacket. The race started with a neutral start - basically rolling at 10-15 mph until the start line which was on top of a steep hill. The girls saw that hill and they were on top of it with lightening speed and I had already been dropped. I watched them ride away and I was alone.
The rain was picking up and I was getting really frustrated that I didn't have clear sunglasses. My dark glasses were all I had and it was as if they were fogging up on the inside of the lenses. I wiped them, licked them, and shook them but nothing would un-fog them. All the while rain and dirt was hurtling into my eyes and I was getting so pissed that I considered thowing the sunglasses into the woods. It was the combination of getting dropped in a second, getting sprayed in the face with rain and dirt, and generally being on edge from riding in the pouring rain that made me want to quit right there.
I turned the corner for the second half of the loop and found that it was on an off-ramp to a highway. I'm a safety freak and this really pissed me off. We were in the middle of farm-land Massachusetts and they couldn't find a better option than having us ride on the off-ramp to a highway? I was so irritated at this point but kept peddling through the "finish line" to start on my next loop. People were there cheering me up the hill and my mood lighted enough to keep going.
On my second loop I had to to talk myself down. I said to myself - you're doing this for the experience, it's crappy weather but you didn't expect to win nor come anywhere close, you knew that these girls would be much faster, you usually get beat by a lot in a triathlon on the bike so why would it be any different here. All you have to do is ride for an hour and it's over. You can handle it.
So, I kept riding. As I passed through the finish line for the second time I had the urge to tell everyone how cold I was. I wondered to myself how much colder I could possibly get on my last loop. The answer is, pretty damn cold.
My feet were numb, my body was cold, I was absolutely soaking wet.
By the time I finished the race there were only two people at the finish line. They were like - what happened? I said - well - I got dropped on the first hill and rode the whole damn thing by myself and now I'm absolutely freezing. How do I get back to my car?
They gave me crappy directions and I rode down some long winding hill to get back. The "get to the finish line" movement was now gone and all of the remaining heat from my body was escaping. Not knowing where I was, I reached for the GPS on my phone for directions. I could hardly take off my gloves to activate the phone. My hands were shaking and I was standing in the middle of some nowhere street in the pouring rain. I nearly broke down right there. I knew that I was all I had to get myself out of this situation and that this is how people get hypothermia and into serious trouble.
Again, I had to talk to myself - you can do it, it's only 5 more miles to get back to the car. Just peddle and concentrate.
After repeating the GPS directions event a couple of times I finally figured out how to get back to the car. As I rode back, I saw Rich's group starting their race. I got closer to my car and the skies opened up and it started gushing rain. It wasn't even like standing in a shower but more like riding through a swimming pool.
Somehow I got my bike and my body into the car. I was shaking so hard and my body was so cold that I could hardly get my soaked clothes off my body.
The words - this experience ranks up there with the all time dumbest things I have ever done - kept ringing in my head.
I shivering in my car for the next 25 minutes and blasted the heat for the entire ride home. It sucked. The only good news is that now I know I can ride in the rain. The end.
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