These next two weeks are going to be odd with Christmas and New Years and the kid off from school and us off from work so I told myself to make sure to get the runs in and try as best I can to do the rest...
Monday: I had a 3 mile recovery run with strides after, but decided to skip it since I was still recovering from a cold and it was 23 degrees in the morning, the only time I had to run and I just felt too crappy to get out of bed.
Tuesday: Feeling better today but decided to do an easier track workout today to keep recovering from my cold. Did 1.5 mile warmup followed by a 3 mile run alternating 400's fast/recovery ( 2:10 / 2:20 ). Ran with Cindy and Frank and this way of doing 3 miles on the track was better than the way I did it last time as the change in pace broke up the monotony, but since I had company that probably had something to do with it as well.
Wednesday: Today I had swim/kick with fins in the morning and mtn bike at lunch. Did my swim and more kicking than normal and felt really good, but had to skip the bike as the park was closed and had to do some last minute shopping
Thursday: day off
Friday: Today was the long run day as Saturday is a travel day. This is a recovery week so I only had 10 miles, but they were to be done at ~9:30 pace. Met Erin and Rob at Lake Benson and ran towards downtown Garner and did a loop back. This one was tough. We started off around 10:30 pace for the first mile, but then gradually sped up until we were doing 9:30's. The course was sidewalks and roads and rolling all the way. At mile 7 we were at 9:37 ave pace for the whole run so we were right on pace, but even though the next two miles were flat, I couldn't get the pace any lower so at mile 9 we were at 9:35 and I decided to slow down and do a cool down back to the car. Ended up with 9:37 ave pace for 9.61 miles
Sat: day off, but I did play some sand volley ball for 1.5 hours
Sun: had a 6 mile easy, run, it wasn't easy, I was tired from travel and staying up really late for me. Did 6.1 miles in 1:02:43 for about a 10:20 pace.
Next week is going to be tough again, but then hopefully will be back to the normal routine.
weekly mileage: 22
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
National Marathon week 8
Week 8 was a struggle, really only Tuesday went well, but I managed to get through it and am looking forward to no work for two weeks and having a recovery week during Christmas.
Monday: Recovery Run 4 miles: Did 4.3 on the flattest course available which really isn't flat but does have a nice middle section that is flat. legs felt really heavy and tired at the beginning, finally started feeling good around mile 2.5 just in time for the hilly section back to work.
Tuesday: Track Day, This was a great day for me, did a 1.5 mile warmup, then
2000 at 9 min pace, 6 x 800's starting at 4:20 and getting faster by 5 seconds rep. then a 1 mile cool down, beat all my goal times and felt good doing it. big confidence builder.
Wednesday: was supposed to do core class and 20 mile easy bike, wasn't able to do either as we were driving up to Virginia for dinner with Lilyan's grandpa. So it was leave at 3, drive 3 hours, eat dinner and open presents, drive 3 hours home, this after getting up at 5 to get my work hours in. At least she got a wii out of it.
Thursday: I had a 6-7 mile steady run on the schedule, but instead did a 1 mile warmup, 3 mile tempo at 9:15 pace, 2 mile cool down. This was tough and did more walking than I would like, but I needed to save my legs for saturday's 15 miles and was tired from yesterday.
Friday: This was an off day, but since wednesday got screwed up, I did an easy 35 min swim. It felt great swimming but still mentally tired.
Saturday: Woke up with a head cold, felt really tired and congested, but had to meet Erin and Rob for 15 miles. Luckily the weather this week was in the 50's and dry. We did a route that started at starbucks, ran 2.5 hilly miles to a greenway, then did a 5 mile out and back on the flat greenway. taking walk breaks every mile to drink or eat. I felt tired and drained the whole time but the fueling strategy kept me going and I made it through, the first half was at 10:25 pace, the second at 11:15 to ave 10:50 for the whole route.
Sunday: still feeling the headcold, but wanted to get the legs and shoulders loosened up so did an easy 30 min 1 mile swim.
Looking forward to next week's reduced mileage, but more travel at the end of the week.
Weekly mileage: 25
Monday: Recovery Run 4 miles: Did 4.3 on the flattest course available which really isn't flat but does have a nice middle section that is flat. legs felt really heavy and tired at the beginning, finally started feeling good around mile 2.5 just in time for the hilly section back to work.
Tuesday: Track Day, This was a great day for me, did a 1.5 mile warmup, then
2000 at 9 min pace, 6 x 800's starting at 4:20 and getting faster by 5 seconds rep. then a 1 mile cool down, beat all my goal times and felt good doing it. big confidence builder.
Wednesday: was supposed to do core class and 20 mile easy bike, wasn't able to do either as we were driving up to Virginia for dinner with Lilyan's grandpa. So it was leave at 3, drive 3 hours, eat dinner and open presents, drive 3 hours home, this after getting up at 5 to get my work hours in. At least she got a wii out of it.
Thursday: I had a 6-7 mile steady run on the schedule, but instead did a 1 mile warmup, 3 mile tempo at 9:15 pace, 2 mile cool down. This was tough and did more walking than I would like, but I needed to save my legs for saturday's 15 miles and was tired from yesterday.
Friday: This was an off day, but since wednesday got screwed up, I did an easy 35 min swim. It felt great swimming but still mentally tired.
Saturday: Woke up with a head cold, felt really tired and congested, but had to meet Erin and Rob for 15 miles. Luckily the weather this week was in the 50's and dry. We did a route that started at starbucks, ran 2.5 hilly miles to a greenway, then did a 5 mile out and back on the flat greenway. taking walk breaks every mile to drink or eat. I felt tired and drained the whole time but the fueling strategy kept me going and I made it through, the first half was at 10:25 pace, the second at 11:15 to ave 10:50 for the whole route.
Sunday: still feeling the headcold, but wanted to get the legs and shoulders loosened up so did an easy 30 min 1 mile swim.
Looking forward to next week's reduced mileage, but more travel at the end of the week.
Weekly mileage: 25
Sunday, December 14, 2008
National Marathon Week 7
Week 7 looked like this
M - Recovery Run ( 5 miles easy )
T - Track ( 1.5 warmup, 3 miles @ 9, 2 miles @ 8:45, 1 mile @ 8:15 - 8:30, .5 cool)
W - Mountain bike morning, back to core class lunch
T - Negative Run ( 6 miles last 2 @ 9:30 pace )
F - Off
S - 13 miles on flat roads
S - Cross train
Monday: started off ok, I had a race on Saturday but still felt fairly good today, did 4.7 miles in 49 mins for 10:30 pace.
Tuesday: was great, it was a long track day, but I was looking forward to it since I saw it on my schedule. 3 miles ( 12 laps ) on the track is not that exicting so I was happy to have my coach run part of it with me as part of her cool down. Hit my paces right on or a little better, so very happy.
Wednesday: nothing went right, raining so trails closed, rfc staff had holiday lunch, so no back to the core and my last ditch plan to spin at home just wasn't appealing enough so I skipped it. No work out today but the rest was needed after Tuesday.
Thursday: Should have run in the morning, but was still feeling lazy. The rain stopped at 10 and I thought I could get an hour in before it came back so I headed out. Made to mile 4.5 before I got hit by a downpour. With only 15 minutes to go I figured I would just suck it up and get wet, but then the lightning started so I took the short cut back to work and ended up with 5.5 miles instead of the 6.2 planned and my pace at the end while faster was not quite the 9:30 on the schedule
Saturday: Was supposed to be flat, but my running partners had to stay close to home so we did loops around my extremely hilly neighborhood. Did 13 miles at 10:30 pace with walk breaks on the miles. It was cold, but little wind and the sun felt really good.
Sunday: Did a quick easy swim to loosen the legs and get the blood flowing. Quads are hurting, but not too bad.
31 miles this week, haven't done that many in a long time...
M - Recovery Run ( 5 miles easy )
T - Track ( 1.5 warmup, 3 miles @ 9, 2 miles @ 8:45, 1 mile @ 8:15 - 8:30, .5 cool)
W - Mountain bike morning, back to core class lunch
T - Negative Run ( 6 miles last 2 @ 9:30 pace )
F - Off
S - 13 miles on flat roads
S - Cross train
Monday: started off ok, I had a race on Saturday but still felt fairly good today, did 4.7 miles in 49 mins for 10:30 pace.
Tuesday: was great, it was a long track day, but I was looking forward to it since I saw it on my schedule. 3 miles ( 12 laps ) on the track is not that exicting so I was happy to have my coach run part of it with me as part of her cool down. Hit my paces right on or a little better, so very happy.
Wednesday: nothing went right, raining so trails closed, rfc staff had holiday lunch, so no back to the core and my last ditch plan to spin at home just wasn't appealing enough so I skipped it. No work out today but the rest was needed after Tuesday.
Thursday: Should have run in the morning, but was still feeling lazy. The rain stopped at 10 and I thought I could get an hour in before it came back so I headed out. Made to mile 4.5 before I got hit by a downpour. With only 15 minutes to go I figured I would just suck it up and get wet, but then the lightning started so I took the short cut back to work and ended up with 5.5 miles instead of the 6.2 planned and my pace at the end while faster was not quite the 9:30 on the schedule
Saturday: Was supposed to be flat, but my running partners had to stay close to home so we did loops around my extremely hilly neighborhood. Did 13 miles at 10:30 pace with walk breaks on the miles. It was cold, but little wind and the sun felt really good.
Sunday: Did a quick easy swim to loosen the legs and get the blood flowing. Quads are hurting, but not too bad.
31 miles this week, haven't done that many in a long time...
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Run at the Rock
Last race of the year. This was a 7 mile trail run. I haven't been having the best of luck with trails lately, so I wasn't expecting much in speed and I didn't disappoint.
The day started off ok, went to starbucks to meet Tim to make the hour drive to the race site. It was cold, but the truck was warm. Got there with plenty of time to get our race bags minus the normal t-shirts, and do a short warm up. They were playing 80's rock music like Van Halen and Ozzy. The race started off with a canon shot, Tim told me I should put this in my report so he would remember it.
It was in the 30's, I was wearing thin gloves, long sleeve under shirt, running tights, an old sweatshirt and a thin headband. I thought I was going to be ok since I started off really cold, but soon found out I was over dressed. The headband came off at mile 1, and the gloves at mile 2. Then I was still hot the rest of the way. Mile 1 was ok, we started on roads, the eased into a dirt trail until we came to a stop at the bridge to the single track. Waited about a minute, then started the trails. Mile 2 was ok as well, people were passing me left and right, but it didn't bother me as I was more concerned with not twisting my ankle or falling on the rocks. Mile 3 sucked as my legs were hurting and the hills were tough. I think I was at an 11:11 pace at mile 2, but by the time we got to mile 3 my ave dropped to 12. When we came out of the first set of trails I started feeling better and my speed started picking up. When got to the final section, I was just starting to feel good, and was getting the hang of the ups and downs over roots and rocks. I picked up a good pace setter and followed her the rest of the way in. There was one more big hill before the end which came at mile 6.6 on my watch, not that I wanted to go another .4, I was ready to get back in the truck and warm up.
It was a fun course, easier than the trails I trained on, so I enjoyed it more than I expected and saw a bunch of people I knew so it was fun. I do like trail running, but I also hate it because I suck so badly at it...
The day started off ok, went to starbucks to meet Tim to make the hour drive to the race site. It was cold, but the truck was warm. Got there with plenty of time to get our race bags minus the normal t-shirts, and do a short warm up. They were playing 80's rock music like Van Halen and Ozzy. The race started off with a canon shot, Tim told me I should put this in my report so he would remember it.
It was in the 30's, I was wearing thin gloves, long sleeve under shirt, running tights, an old sweatshirt and a thin headband. I thought I was going to be ok since I started off really cold, but soon found out I was over dressed. The headband came off at mile 1, and the gloves at mile 2. Then I was still hot the rest of the way. Mile 1 was ok, we started on roads, the eased into a dirt trail until we came to a stop at the bridge to the single track. Waited about a minute, then started the trails. Mile 2 was ok as well, people were passing me left and right, but it didn't bother me as I was more concerned with not twisting my ankle or falling on the rocks. Mile 3 sucked as my legs were hurting and the hills were tough. I think I was at an 11:11 pace at mile 2, but by the time we got to mile 3 my ave dropped to 12. When we came out of the first set of trails I started feeling better and my speed started picking up. When got to the final section, I was just starting to feel good, and was getting the hang of the ups and downs over roots and rocks. I picked up a good pace setter and followed her the rest of the way in. There was one more big hill before the end which came at mile 6.6 on my watch, not that I wanted to go another .4, I was ready to get back in the truck and warm up.
It was a fun course, easier than the trails I trained on, so I enjoyed it more than I expected and saw a bunch of people I knew so it was fun. I do like trail running, but I also hate it because I suck so badly at it...
Sunday, November 30, 2008
inside out sports turkey trot 8k
When I left the house this morning it was cold, but the forecast called for temps in the 40's at the start. I was a bit tentative about this race, as my tuesday run felt really tough and I had rolled my ankle on Saturday at mile 1 of an 11 mile run so it wasn't feeling all that great. This race for me is all about just getting out and exercising so I can eat more so there is little to no pressure.
Showed up at the race, got my chip and stuff then headed across the street to wait for warmup time. The 1 mile fun run started so I waited a couple mins after that, then followed the course for my warmup, then did a couple strides after. I had a fleece sweat shirt, long warmup pants, and gloves. After the warmup, I was starting to sweat, so I shed the warmups and fleece and just had shorts, long sleeve top, gloves, and my new running bee hat. Did a little stretching and it was time for the start.
mile 1:
Started near the front and the first mile went by fairly quick at 8:34 pace. I was shooting for a 8:45 pace so I felt good about my start. Average hr was 156 and just about all in Zone 4
mile 2:
This is the 2nd hardest mile on the course, so I wanted to try to maintain a 9 min mile pace. I did a 8:50 with an average hr of 165, mostly zone four with 1/3 in zone 5, so the effort was picking up.
mile 3:
This mile was the really the only mile to cruise in. It is rolling with no big climbs, so I wanted to do an 8:45. I managed an 8:41 with an ave hr of 168. times in zone 4 and 5 flip flopped on this one, with 1/3 in 4, and 2/3 in 5.
mile 4:
This mile is the easiest and really wanted to do a fast mile here to take advantage of the long downhill and put some time in the bank for the last and hardest mile. Did an 8:21 with ave hr of 168, so picked up the pace but kept same effort as mile 3 with about half zone 4 and half zone 5. At this point I was on target to break my goal time of 44 fairly easy, so it gave me some inspiration to really keep pushing up the long hill at the start of mile 5.
mile 5:
The hardest mile on the course, and even though it's listed as an 8k, my watch had it as 5:02 miles. Picked up the effort and tried to keep my pace under 9 for the first half of this mile. It was all uphill with a couple steep sections. People were dying out and walking alot here. I was passing a bunch of people that had started too fast and were paying for it on this hill. I really started hurting at the top of the hill and hit my max hr for the race of 176. I just kept hearing my coach's voice in my head saying it's ok to hurt and that kept me going. I recovered on the short downhill before the next climb then was able to push up the last hill before the short downhill finish. 8:51 - ave hr 171 - all but 1 min in zone 5.
totals
5:02 miles / 43:18 / 8:37 ave pace / ave hr 166 / max hr 176
Felt really good about this race, and beat my nephew's time from last year by 1 second. woo hoo!
Showed up at the race, got my chip and stuff then headed across the street to wait for warmup time. The 1 mile fun run started so I waited a couple mins after that, then followed the course for my warmup, then did a couple strides after. I had a fleece sweat shirt, long warmup pants, and gloves. After the warmup, I was starting to sweat, so I shed the warmups and fleece and just had shorts, long sleeve top, gloves, and my new running bee hat. Did a little stretching and it was time for the start.
mile 1:
Started near the front and the first mile went by fairly quick at 8:34 pace. I was shooting for a 8:45 pace so I felt good about my start. Average hr was 156 and just about all in Zone 4
mile 2:
This is the 2nd hardest mile on the course, so I wanted to try to maintain a 9 min mile pace. I did a 8:50 with an average hr of 165, mostly zone four with 1/3 in zone 5, so the effort was picking up.
mile 3:
This mile was the really the only mile to cruise in. It is rolling with no big climbs, so I wanted to do an 8:45. I managed an 8:41 with an ave hr of 168. times in zone 4 and 5 flip flopped on this one, with 1/3 in 4, and 2/3 in 5.
mile 4:
This mile is the easiest and really wanted to do a fast mile here to take advantage of the long downhill and put some time in the bank for the last and hardest mile. Did an 8:21 with ave hr of 168, so picked up the pace but kept same effort as mile 3 with about half zone 4 and half zone 5. At this point I was on target to break my goal time of 44 fairly easy, so it gave me some inspiration to really keep pushing up the long hill at the start of mile 5.
mile 5:
The hardest mile on the course, and even though it's listed as an 8k, my watch had it as 5:02 miles. Picked up the effort and tried to keep my pace under 9 for the first half of this mile. It was all uphill with a couple steep sections. People were dying out and walking alot here. I was passing a bunch of people that had started too fast and were paying for it on this hill. I really started hurting at the top of the hill and hit my max hr for the race of 176. I just kept hearing my coach's voice in my head saying it's ok to hurt and that kept me going. I recovered on the short downhill before the next climb then was able to push up the last hill before the short downhill finish. 8:51 - ave hr 171 - all but 1 min in zone 5.
totals
5:02 miles / 43:18 / 8:37 ave pace / ave hr 166 / max hr 176
Felt really good about this race, and beat my nephew's time from last year by 1 second. woo hoo!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
National Marathon
I've signed up for the National Marathon in DC
http://www.nationalmarathon.com/home.asp
last year there were about 1400 marathon finishers and 2600 1/2 marathon finishers, so much smaller than the marine corps but you still get to see all the sites of DC.
here is a link to the marathonguide page where you can read comments from past runners.
http://www.marathonguide.com/races/racedetails.cfm?MIDD=2453090321
and this is my long run schedule which started last weekend
Saturday, November 1, 2008 9
Saturday, November 8, 2008 7
Saturday, November 15, 2008 10
Saturday, November 22, 2008 11
Saturday, November 29, 2008 12
Saturday, December 6, 2008 9 Run at the Rock
Saturday, December 13, 2008 13
Saturday, December 20, 2008 15
Saturday, December 27, 2008 10
Saturday, January 3, 2009 15
Saturday, January 10, 2009 16
Saturday, January 17, 2009 12
Saturday, January 24, 2009 18
Saturday, January 31, 2009 20
Saturday, February 7, 2009 13
Saturday, February 14, 2009 20
Saturday, February 21, 2009 14 Coach Bubba's 20K
Saturday, February 28, 2009 22
Saturday, March 7, 2009 13
Saturday, March 14, 2009 8
Saturday, March 21, 2009 26.2 DC National Marathon
http://www.nationalmarathon.com/home.asp
last year there were about 1400 marathon finishers and 2600 1/2 marathon finishers, so much smaller than the marine corps but you still get to see all the sites of DC.
here is a link to the marathonguide page where you can read comments from past runners.
http://www.marathonguide.com/races/racedetails.cfm?MIDD=2453090321
and this is my long run schedule which started last weekend
Saturday, November 1, 2008 9
Saturday, November 8, 2008 7
Saturday, November 15, 2008 10
Saturday, November 22, 2008 11
Saturday, November 29, 2008 12
Saturday, December 6, 2008 9 Run at the Rock
Saturday, December 13, 2008 13
Saturday, December 20, 2008 15
Saturday, December 27, 2008 10
Saturday, January 3, 2009 15
Saturday, January 10, 2009 16
Saturday, January 17, 2009 12
Saturday, January 24, 2009 18
Saturday, January 31, 2009 20
Saturday, February 7, 2009 13
Saturday, February 14, 2009 20
Saturday, February 21, 2009 14 Coach Bubba's 20K
Saturday, February 28, 2009 22
Saturday, March 7, 2009 13
Saturday, March 14, 2009 8
Saturday, March 21, 2009 26.2 DC National Marathon
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Pinehurst Triathlon Race Report
First the results
swim 28:24
T1 3:15
bike 1:14:42
T2 1:33
Run 1:07:31
Total 2:55:22
Woke up at 4am so I could eat breakfast and finish packing up the car for the 5 am departure time. Arrived in pinehurst at 6:30. The race was to start at 8, and my wave goes at 8:18. The sun was not up yet, but with all the lights in the transition area you could see the fog/steam on the lake. Parked the car, packed everything up and realized I had brought my long run shoes and not my race shoes with the quick lases on them. Doh! Walked through the lot to the street for the 1/2 mile trek to transition from parking and went to get on my bike and found my chain was off. I love starting the day with grease all over my fingers... Arrived at transition with freezing fingers thinking I should have brought gloves.
Line #1 - Packet pickup - Many people did not have either or both of their required cards, Photo ID and USAT card, so this took a while and they were still signing people up since the race hadn't sold out.
Line #2 - Port a john - decided to go to this one before the number marking line since the line was already long and getting longer
Line #3 - body marking - whew, finally no more lines. Walking back to transition I find someones chip on the ground. So I scoop it up and bring it back, the guy at the chip tent says give it to the guy on the mic, the guy on the mic says give it to that guy over there and he will give it back to the chip buy. I chase that guy down and tell him the guy on the mic says to give it to you. OK 20 minutes later I here the guy on the mic say #624 we have your chip, duh...
I finish setting up my transition area and go for a quick warmup jog. I see a guy warming up ( jogging ) in his full wetsuit and flip flops, I think this is a little odd... Back to transition I put on my wetsuit and head down to the lake for a quick swim. The water temp 68 degrees, air temp 50 something. Water feels good, and it's cleaner than I remember. I could see the bottom at points. But, it is covered in Fog and it's not easy to see the first buoy and cannot see the turn buoy at all. My warmup jog took my along the lake so I kinda new where it was.
The Swim: Took off fast and found some feet to follow, as in the previous waves, people were going all of the place due to the fog so as soon as my draftee veered left, I let him go and kept going straight. I was following some trees and for the first two buoys I was right on, but then I lost the trees and was swimming blind. Ended up going to far left and when I saw the girl in the kayak I headed toward her, Since all the other kayaks had been right on the buoy I thought that's where I should go. Alas when I got there she was yelling "the turn is over there" over and over again, so I had to swim perpendicular about 15 yards to avoid cutting the turn. I noticed a bunch of people just keep going and not go back for the turn and I have to admit I thought about it, but if I ended up having a great race, it would be tainted and I didn't want that. After that first turn, it was much easier has the sun was not in our eyes and it was easier to see the buoys. Finished 4th in my division for the swim.
T1: A long uphill run combined with taking off my wetsuit led to this 3:15 transition, but I was closer to the fast people than the slow as the fastest time was 1:40, slowest 6:07. Ate a gel, put the other in my race suit, put on my socks, it was still cold, helmet, glasses, and headed out.
Bike: Turns out I didn't need those gloves as the sun was warming it up nicely. Started off easy, it was mostly uphill to start and my legs needed to warm back up. Wanted to average about 19 mph, and did 18.7 for the first 5 miles, then started to pick it up. Felt easier than previous years, but I've made some good strides on the bike this year and chalked it up to that. This a fairly hilly course, with the way out harder than coming back. I think there are 3 tough hills and a lot of rollers. Finish my aero bottle of gatorade by the water bottle hand off at mile 15 and refilled with water. I was at 19 mph ave now and still feeling really good, so focused on pushing on the downhills and staying steady going up. I only stood up once and that was for just a minute to get over a short steep section without losing speed. At mile 20 I took my second gel so it would kick in for the run. The wind must have been with us going back as my average picked up to 19.4 by the end. Good enough for 8th on the bike.
T2: Grab my jelly belly beans and finished off my water in the aero bottle, changed shoes, got some more shammy butter for the friction and headed out in 1:33.
Run: Run did not start out great, but I just kept going until I started feeling ok. The first hill my right ankle was killing me so I walked it until the pain went away. Mile one was a respectable 9:55, mile two started feeling better, but the ankle still throbbed every now and then but not as bad and only had to walk once on this one for a 9:45, mile three was great, I was getting into a rhythm of pushing up the hills and recovering down as most were short enough not to punish you. There were water stops every mile and I was drinking a cup at each one. Mile 3 9:20 and I felt the best on this one. Then at about mile 3.5 my right hamstring cramped up so bad I almost feel over. I veered to the right and screamed in pain. Finally I was able to stretch it out and walk a bit without pain, but every time I started to run it would come back. two and a half minutes later I could finally run again, but as soon as I came up on the mile 4 water stop, my left hamstring cramped up, not as bad as the right one did, but still enough to stop me from running. mile 4 - 13:00. I took some Heed sports drink instead of water this time since I figured I had nothing to lose, normally I don't try new things at races and I've never had Heed before. the next mile I walked/jogged/stretched, I knew after mile 4 that my breaking 1 hour on the run was over, but I still had the 2:56 time from two years ago to beat and I didn't want to give that up without a fight. got to mile 5 water stop and chugged some more Heed and started jogging again. mile 5 13:00, I was at 55 minutes with 13 minutes to go for a 2:56. I guess the Heed helped as I was able to jog all buy one of the hills on this mile and actually run the down hills. Finished up at a 10:00/mile pace and a 67 minute 10k, but 1 minute faster than two years ago on this course. It was 8 minutes slower than I thought I could do, but in some ways still a victory. This is tough run course, with mile 4 and 5 being the toughest. Not sure what caused the cramping, the cold I just got over, not drinking enough, although I think I did, or it just wasn't my day. I'll never know, maybe I'll come back next year and try again...
swim 28:24
T1 3:15
bike 1:14:42
T2 1:33
Run 1:07:31
Total 2:55:22
Woke up at 4am so I could eat breakfast and finish packing up the car for the 5 am departure time. Arrived in pinehurst at 6:30. The race was to start at 8, and my wave goes at 8:18. The sun was not up yet, but with all the lights in the transition area you could see the fog/steam on the lake. Parked the car, packed everything up and realized I had brought my long run shoes and not my race shoes with the quick lases on them. Doh! Walked through the lot to the street for the 1/2 mile trek to transition from parking and went to get on my bike and found my chain was off. I love starting the day with grease all over my fingers... Arrived at transition with freezing fingers thinking I should have brought gloves.
Line #1 - Packet pickup - Many people did not have either or both of their required cards, Photo ID and USAT card, so this took a while and they were still signing people up since the race hadn't sold out.
Line #2 - Port a john - decided to go to this one before the number marking line since the line was already long and getting longer
Line #3 - body marking - whew, finally no more lines. Walking back to transition I find someones chip on the ground. So I scoop it up and bring it back, the guy at the chip tent says give it to the guy on the mic, the guy on the mic says give it to that guy over there and he will give it back to the chip buy. I chase that guy down and tell him the guy on the mic says to give it to you. OK 20 minutes later I here the guy on the mic say #624 we have your chip, duh...
I finish setting up my transition area and go for a quick warmup jog. I see a guy warming up ( jogging ) in his full wetsuit and flip flops, I think this is a little odd... Back to transition I put on my wetsuit and head down to the lake for a quick swim. The water temp 68 degrees, air temp 50 something. Water feels good, and it's cleaner than I remember. I could see the bottom at points. But, it is covered in Fog and it's not easy to see the first buoy and cannot see the turn buoy at all. My warmup jog took my along the lake so I kinda new where it was.
The Swim: Took off fast and found some feet to follow, as in the previous waves, people were going all of the place due to the fog so as soon as my draftee veered left, I let him go and kept going straight. I was following some trees and for the first two buoys I was right on, but then I lost the trees and was swimming blind. Ended up going to far left and when I saw the girl in the kayak I headed toward her, Since all the other kayaks had been right on the buoy I thought that's where I should go. Alas when I got there she was yelling "the turn is over there" over and over again, so I had to swim perpendicular about 15 yards to avoid cutting the turn. I noticed a bunch of people just keep going and not go back for the turn and I have to admit I thought about it, but if I ended up having a great race, it would be tainted and I didn't want that. After that first turn, it was much easier has the sun was not in our eyes and it was easier to see the buoys. Finished 4th in my division for the swim.
T1: A long uphill run combined with taking off my wetsuit led to this 3:15 transition, but I was closer to the fast people than the slow as the fastest time was 1:40, slowest 6:07. Ate a gel, put the other in my race suit, put on my socks, it was still cold, helmet, glasses, and headed out.
Bike: Turns out I didn't need those gloves as the sun was warming it up nicely. Started off easy, it was mostly uphill to start and my legs needed to warm back up. Wanted to average about 19 mph, and did 18.7 for the first 5 miles, then started to pick it up. Felt easier than previous years, but I've made some good strides on the bike this year and chalked it up to that. This a fairly hilly course, with the way out harder than coming back. I think there are 3 tough hills and a lot of rollers. Finish my aero bottle of gatorade by the water bottle hand off at mile 15 and refilled with water. I was at 19 mph ave now and still feeling really good, so focused on pushing on the downhills and staying steady going up. I only stood up once and that was for just a minute to get over a short steep section without losing speed. At mile 20 I took my second gel so it would kick in for the run. The wind must have been with us going back as my average picked up to 19.4 by the end. Good enough for 8th on the bike.
T2: Grab my jelly belly beans and finished off my water in the aero bottle, changed shoes, got some more shammy butter for the friction and headed out in 1:33.
Run: Run did not start out great, but I just kept going until I started feeling ok. The first hill my right ankle was killing me so I walked it until the pain went away. Mile one was a respectable 9:55, mile two started feeling better, but the ankle still throbbed every now and then but not as bad and only had to walk once on this one for a 9:45, mile three was great, I was getting into a rhythm of pushing up the hills and recovering down as most were short enough not to punish you. There were water stops every mile and I was drinking a cup at each one. Mile 3 9:20 and I felt the best on this one. Then at about mile 3.5 my right hamstring cramped up so bad I almost feel over. I veered to the right and screamed in pain. Finally I was able to stretch it out and walk a bit without pain, but every time I started to run it would come back. two and a half minutes later I could finally run again, but as soon as I came up on the mile 4 water stop, my left hamstring cramped up, not as bad as the right one did, but still enough to stop me from running. mile 4 - 13:00. I took some Heed sports drink instead of water this time since I figured I had nothing to lose, normally I don't try new things at races and I've never had Heed before. the next mile I walked/jogged/stretched, I knew after mile 4 that my breaking 1 hour on the run was over, but I still had the 2:56 time from two years ago to beat and I didn't want to give that up without a fight. got to mile 5 water stop and chugged some more Heed and started jogging again. mile 5 13:00, I was at 55 minutes with 13 minutes to go for a 2:56. I guess the Heed helped as I was able to jog all buy one of the hills on this mile and actually run the down hills. Finished up at a 10:00/mile pace and a 67 minute 10k, but 1 minute faster than two years ago on this course. It was 8 minutes slower than I thought I could do, but in some ways still a victory. This is tough run course, with mile 4 and 5 being the toughest. Not sure what caused the cramping, the cold I just got over, not drinking enough, although I think I did, or it just wasn't my day. I'll never know, maybe I'll come back next year and try again...
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