Adjusted Reality

Tag: 70point3 Page 4 of 5

It will not always be this way.

On October 6, 2016

So, I wrote this whole weekly wrap up thing and I just nuked it because if it bores ME, then I can’t imagine anyone else would be interested.

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So, instead, a double rainbow. #whatdoesitmean

I think I’d rather talk about how I’m getting nervous for the race coming up. With 3.5 weeks left to go, the calendar is at that uncomfortable spot where I’m fatigued from training, but it’s starting to close enough to get real. How is it less than a month away? How the heck am I ever going to feel rested again? Can we get this over with so I can go back to base training for a little while? Can I have a few more weeks to work on my cycling and running speed? When am I going to get excited for this thing instead of nervous and just kind of tired of it? Argh.

I’ve been thinking about how I will thrive there and races when I’ve felt the most successful. I cave under TOO much pressure. When I place a huge importance on a time goal, and the day pees in my sandbox, sometime I just say “fuck it” instead of just rolling with the punches and still getting close. If I don’t put ENOUGH pressure on myself, when things get hard and it stops being fun, I’ll let off the steam instead of digging in because… whatever. It’s just another race. It’s that special combination of realistic and achievable but also challenging goals (and, ya know, meeting them) and magical unicorn pixie dust that really makes me zing on race day!

Looking over my past races, I’ve had days that I felt meh, even ANGRY about that ended up with some of my best age group placement or times. But they’re not the ones I remember as my best races as of late. Kerrville 2014 – I missed my overall time goal by 2 minutes but I stayed strong through the whole thing and didn’t give up and felt joy a lot of the time. The Woodlands where I ran every step of the marathon, even if it wasn’t my fastest race. Some of the shorter races where I found the edge and stayed there and held it together chanting three words over and over.

oct6-2

X-wing and Death Star are ready. Am I? Errr… I’ll get back to you on that one.

The half ironman usually goes like this for me… I generally have a good swim, a good to great bike (unless I crash), and then sputter and die on the run, except for that once where I didn’t completely (2014). Here’s where I’m at right now:

The swim – I probably won’t have my fastest ever, but I shouldn’t be that far off as long as it’s wetsuit legal. I know how to set myself up for a good day by not killing myself. I’m going to do that.
The bike – here’s a source of my anxiety. I’m not good at riding the new bike, but so far, that’s still translating to PRs in the sprints (about 1 mph) and the olympic (.5 mph, with rain). This course is harder (more climbing, chipseal, etc). So, I think one thing I need to do is just ride my best and let go of any expectations. If it rains and I spend 75% of my time out of aero, I won’t berate myself. If my legs feel off and I can’t manage 17 mph, I won’t sit there and cuss. I know the *feeling* of the pacing I need to ride and whatever that translates to on the garmin and the power meter will suffice.
The run – here’s the other source of unease. I really, really, really want to nail this run. I probably have no excuse. There’s very little elevation change and it’s very unlikely to be hot. My run fitness is coming around and I ran low 10’s off the bike in a race in similar conditions and felt like I had a little more in me. I really think this could finally be the race where I finally nail the run, if I don’t get in the way of myself.

Scared of failing, scared of succeeding. This is my damn head right now.

It’s been an interesting training cycle. Because I haven’t done the same thing over and over, I haven’t seen the same metered weekly progress. It’s fits and spurts. It’s a little more mystical than doing the same long ride every two weeks on the same bike and watching the pace improve. Some rides are at 13 mph. Some rides are at 15 mph. Some are at 18 mph. Sometimes the 15 mph rides are WAYYYY harder than then 18 mph ones. Some days I run 12 minute miles, some days I run 9 minute miles. I don’t exactly know what to expect will come out on race day and that’s… both scary and exciting!

oct6-3

Some days it’s all smiles. Some days it’s mental gymnastics to take every next step.

I feel like training has been more flexible this time around, which has been great. I am *just* now this week feeling the crush of fatigue and responsibility, like it’s stopped being so fun anymore. Looking back, I maintained a training load of between 8-11 hours the last two months solid and this week won’t be any different unless a leg falls off somewhere between now and Saturday afternoon. That feeling of it being a little much is fine. It’s time to taper. Just one more long workout and we’re there.

Does this mean I’ve pushed a week too long? We’ll find out. I’m embracing the fluidity – besides the two key workouts – a 14 mile long run (done – every soggy, sore, and mentally tough step), and a long brick this weekend, the rest of it is optional. I bailed on a ride already this week in favor of rest (I read and slept for TWELVE HOURS) and split a run to make sure I wasn’t tearing myself up the day after (felt great and did all the miles, probably thanks to the above). At this point, I’m nearing the end of training actually building endurance, and anything that doesn’t keep the legs fresh and/or doesn’t build my confidence for race day goes in the trash.

As for the fuel, a few weeks ago, I gave up on maintaining a deficit and giving in to eating my appetite. Oddly enough, the weight loss I saw stop has slowly started crawling again (I think I’ve lost 1 lb on average over 2-3 weeks). This is still that weird “wow, I look so bloated I don’t look cute in clothes but I still weigh less” loss that you get when you’re deep in season, but (healthy) loss is loss is loss. I figured I was done for on the scale when I stopped really caring about the deficit, but the body sometimes knows better than some equation, I suppose.

oct6-4

Hello, lover. This ramen (Spicy Miso Pork, from Jinya) is one of my current food crushes. And it lives around the corner from work…

I’m ~~really really~~ (ok, fine) sort of trying to continue to track, simply because I think this would be great data for the push to IM. It’s just… not my world right now to be all judgey about it so it’s hard to remember. If I’m hungry, I’m going to eat a thing, no matter what Sparkpeople says. I know 1200 calories per day is too cold. 2700 calories per day is too hot (at least at half ironman training levels, ~10 hours per week). Still working on finding the porridge that’s JUST RIGHT.

One of those things I need to remember – it will not always be this way. It’s hard to keep sight of that once you’re so deep in the extremes. When you’re injured, it’s hard to envision a time when all the parts will work again. When you’re dieting in offseason, it’s hard to remember that someday it will be required eating to shove 3-4k calories in your face in a day. When you start your training program, it boggles the mind to think that you’ll be racing for 6+ hours, when an hour run seems exhausting (but you’re excited to get there).

Then two months pass and the pendulum swings the other way. When you’re riding for multiple hours the umpteenth weekend in a row, you can’t remember a time when 45 minutes on the bike was enough, thank you very much. When you’re deep in fatigue from training, you think you’ll never be rested or sleep enough again (but you know you will if you’re not an idiot). When you’re racing, you will not be in pain forever. The finish line has beer and chips and medals and most importantly, sitting. Get to the beer and chips and sitting and how about a smile in the meantime that you’re able to be out here doing this crazy shit today, huh?

I need a little specificity…

By Quix

On September 15, 2016

In Uncategorized

Probably for no one’s interest but my own sanity, it’s time for me to check in a bit more specifically on how the first half of 70.3 training has gone, since, holy crap, we’re more than halfway there!

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My outdoor riding game is almost as on fleek as my selfie game as the kids probably no longer say.

First of all, as I’ve mentioned before, the comparison game is SO HARD to avoid. Each year with a 70.3 has been unique but has always centered on the Kerrville Half being my A race.

In 2012, I trained so hard to make sure I could do the distance, and arrived at the end of the summer in burnout (though I finished, and learned a lot along the way).
2013, I overcame injury earlier in the year to conquer the first on minimal training and on the second, PR (and probably indirectly saved myself from some burnout by being benched for 6 weeks).
2014, I took a mid-summer offseason, and banking on previous endurance, did a short and steep 8 week climb to the race, which resulted in another awesome PR.
Since that worked out so well, in 2015, I did the same thing, and ended up having the universe and my uterus conspire against me and barely salvaged not-a-personal-worst on a mildly broken bike and body.

After the spectacular 2015 fail, I didn’t want revenge. I wanted this year to be different.

First of all, I have given myself about double the runway (16 weeks instead of 8). This has allowed me to ramp up more gradually. Frankly, I spent about half this cycle with the plan of “doin’ stuff for about 7-10 hours a week”, but that fluidity built me a good endurance base without all the burnout that is associated with having to run 6 miles at 7am on a Tuesday at x pace because the plan said so. I’m now at the half of the cycle where I need to train specifically for about two months and I’m ready for it.
Also, I’ve chosen a different race, Austin IM 70.3, 5 weeks later. The record high is 90, and the record low is 30, so it’s a grab bag of what we’ll actually get, but it’s MUCH more likely to be cooler.
Speaking of different race… different course! I can hope for a PR/to hit certain numbers/etc, but a different course means it’s not a direct measuring stick of I MUST PR EVERY LEG OR I’M A FAILURE. The bike is a little harder with ~500 more feet of elevation gain, more steep hills vs gradual hills. The run should be a little easier with 100-ish feet TOTAL elevation change, a 3 loop course that gives you a dose of AC each time, and it’s also highly likely to be a cooler day, which give me a bonus of as much as a minute per mile with similar effort than feels like 90-100.
The other huge plus is the race starts 15 mins away from my house, so I get to sleep in my own bed, can do a warmup swim in my own pool/lake the day before, and eat familiar food. The drawback is the day before, I have to establish STRICT boundaries about no chores, no other humans around, just relaxing, because a whole day off on the weekend? That never happens, and it will be so tempting to do all the things.

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And I get to ride bikes here! Total perk!

So, we’re 7 weeks (ok, 6 weeks, 5 days, but whatevs). How am I doing?

Overall headspace: turning a corner just this week. I had some freakouts last week that I’m not training enough, I’m going to be woefully unprepared, etc. Then I started looking at what I’ve done and how much time I have left, and I started to feel wayyyy better. I need some specificity in my life, as I said above, but the foundation and basic structures of this house are pretty well built, actually. The next four weeks about filling out the major features, and then the last three are about painting the walls, putting up light fixtures, etc.

Strengths right now:

Strength. I’m pretty solid right now in terms of core and body strength (thx u weights). I don’t feel like I’m pushing the boundaries of what my body is capable of and enduring tons of minor aches and pains.
Swim endurance. Thanks to the swim challenge, I’ve done at least the half iron distance (1.4 to 2.8 miles) 4 times in open water this summer, and haven’t felt too much worse for wear after them. My regular swims of 1500m just feel like happy fun water time with very little fatigue after.
Bike endurance. I still can improve here, but I’ve done two outdoor rides already (63, 53) that are longer than my longest last cycle (50). I have done four 3+ hour rides, and I have a few more planned before shutting it down.
Bike handling. Obviously a work in progress as well, but I was able to ride with a group of non-n00bs yesterday and not feel completely like a square peg in a round hole. I ride my bike outside at least 3 times a week now and I don’t suck at it nearly as much.
Accidental run endurance. I had this as a weakness two days ago when I started writing this post, but then I went out and ran 10 miles (almost double my previous long run) with 2 race pace miles at the end like it was no big deal. Endurance is endurance is endurance, I guess. I’ll take it.
Weather acclimation. I may bitch about it, but I’m handling the summer temps like a champ. I was super excited about today’s run which wasn’t even in the 90s!

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I’m sure this me doesn’t completely agree on the acclimation part. I don’t have to like the heat, I just have to get through (and I did).

Weaknesses right now:

Overall speed. I found a glimmer of hope in my relay race, but then figured out I was 13 sec/mile slower than last year (8:48 vs 9:09 pace), so there’s that. I have been sacrificing any real speedwork to log enough hours to build endurance.
Brick work. I usually do a lot of these, but tallying up my training, I’ve done only done 10 bricks in the last 4 months (counting races), and nothing longer than 4 miles (and mostly 1-2). I used to push about 2 per week, and that might be overkill, because I tend to run really well off the bike in practice, but maybe that’s because I practiced it so often, hmmm? Either way, I should be doing more than one every other week.
Ease on the TT bike. I’ve solidly PR’d my last 2 bike legs, so something is going at least sorta right, but it’s hard for me to stay in aero. On the trainer, it’s a comfort issue. My crotch is simply not used to being smashed that way for that long yet in tri shorts, and I have to wiggle around to find the upper body position that’s correct and doesn’t make my arms and shoulders sore. On the road, I’m just not confident in the position with traffic on the road. Every car that passes, every turn, everytime something makes me jump… I am up out of aero. Luckily, during races I’m less of a weenie.

So, how am I going to bridge the gap in the coming weeks?

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This is the goal. This is always the goal.

Last half September focuses:

Eeking out more bike endurance. I’d like a 50 mile ride to be NBD by October 1. It’s totally doable right now but still kind of a BD.
A long ride approaching race distance on the TT bikes outside. Planned for this weekend.
Ramping up the run miles. I don’t plan on doing ANYTHING with intensity, save racing the Kerrville Olympic on Sept 25, but I need to be running: a) double digits every other week and b) running more often/more miles.
Weights are now in maintenance mode. I will not be increasing reps or weights at this point. 1x week at the gym lifting, 1x week with bodyweights and bands at the most.
Swim, continue with the status quo. Twice a week, about a mile per session, open water when I can.

First half of October:

Longer run bricks. I need to run some 10ks off the bike to feel better about running a half on race day. I’m planning on a long simulation day, where I ride the actual 70.3 course and follow it up with a 10k run, as the last workout before taper time.
Bike intensity. After I’m clear of the 3+ hour rides (which will start to ramp down at this point) and the fatigue fades, I want to at least CONTINUE with harder rides, if not up the ante to prepare my legs for those hills.
Continue with the run mile increase. I plan to top out around a modest 25 mile peak week a few weeks out (and most should be about 15-20), so my legs should be in decent shape just in time.
This is where weights can start falling off if they need to. I won’t be happy about skipping them entirely, but a quick 15-20 min band/core session 1-2x week will do.
Swimming as above.

Second half of October:

Bike and run endurance is in the bank by this time. I need to use my best judgement to shed fatigue and keep form. The best things I can do for myself are workouts that keep my sharp and that increase my confidence, which is usually shorter speed workouts (but not *too* many – I’ve done that and spent all my cash before race day).
Swim – since I’ll be backing off on the bike and the run, I’ll push this a little. More open water race pace swims.
Weights – cut out entirely 2 weeks before the race.
Taper –
- 25% reduction 3 weeks out (about 9 hours). Pretty much a normal week with a shorter long ride and long run.
- 50% or more week 2 (6 hours). This will really be my rest week. If I’m feeling fatigue or burnout here, things will be cut to be shorter, less intense, or eliminated entirely. There are two key workouts on the plan totaling 3 hours. If that’s all I do, that’s fine.
- Race week – something every day (save 2 days out) to keep myself sharp. I generally don’t perform great IMMEDIATELY after a rest week, I need the training to pick up a little first. I should have energy, enthusiasm, and feel like each session is way too short. If not, the scissors come out again, because rest is priority.

june19-2

Attacking specific training for the next month and a half like…

Going through all this has helped me lay out a specific plan for the next 7 weeks. Some of the stuff coming up in the next few weeks is a little intimidating, but exciting. I’m genuinely excited to see what happens when I toe the line October 30th, and I haven’t been able to REALLY say that with enthusiasm in quite a while. And that makes me more excited!

Kerrville Race Report

By Quix

On September 30, 2015

In Uncategorized

Hoooboy. Let’s get started, this is a long one.

Earlier race week, I got really sick, and then got better. Bullet #1, dodged. I actually had great sleep all week. I ate according to plan and had two days of really great carb loading (400+ carbs, sticking really well to my other macros) and felt really rested and fueled and was ready to go by the time I tucked into bed around 8pm Saturday night.

Ugliest race shirt ever. The logo is pretty cool, but the gold v-neck and the maroon stripes on the sides with white text that don’t actually match anything means this one is probably going right into storage…

I went to bed and drifted off to sleep around 10-ish and slept fairly fitfully and then… **TMI warning incoming** that lovely and wonderful time of the month came knocking like a drunken asshole at my door at 2am race morning, waking me up with killer cramps. This particular 24 hours of each month is the one where I normally cancel or heavily modify my workout plans and sit on couch in a red meat, chocolate, and pain-killer stupor.

Racing really hard for 6-7 hours in the heat is generally OFF the plan those days. But, hey, sometimes when you roll the dice, it comes up craps. I don’t love racing on painkillers, so, I tried to suffer a bit and go back to sleep. After being awake for 45 minutes in the fetal position, I said FUCK THAT NOISE and took 2 aleve. That dulled the pain a bit, but after I slept a bit more, woke up, and ate breakfast, I took 1 more (my normal dose for cramps) because I still had twinges and said que sera sera. The race was not happening without it.

It definitely impacted my ability to FEEL anything before the race. Even with a full dose of purple stuff, I did all the things you do before a race in a stupor and I practically fell asleep in line to get in the water instead of bouncing around like I normally do and I totally ended up in the back of my age group because I didn’t pay attention, but all of a sudden it was 3, 2, 1, splash, and whether I was ready or not, the race had started for me.

This obviously wasn’t where we swam, but I LOVED our hotel pool!

Swim:

It was quickly apparent that my top 2 gears were missing, but I just tried to roll with it. The current this year ran perpendicular to the shore, which made it COMPLETELY not useful because most of the course was parallel so it was just this annoying side chop that kept pushing you off course.

My watch kept telling me paces that seemed pretty great so I didn’t worry about it, but I could definitely tell the effort wasn’t there. I knew I was in trouble when I thought I hit the halfway point at 18 and was excited… then kept swimming and realized I was closer to the actual halfway point at 21. My heart kind of sank and I just kept trying to plug away at it, but I knew I wasn’t going to have a stellar time. I was cursing my lack of open water training in the summer, and the fact that I haven’t done more than 2000m but ONCE this year, but in retrospect, I think it was more the conditions of the day.

When I got out and saw 44, I was like… what in the actual FUCK? I mean, I didn’t have a lot of gas but 2:17/100m pace is like paddle pace for me. That’s 4 minutes slower than last year. However, my watch did show 1.35 miles and while I went a little off course, I don’t think I went 250m off. 😛 Other folks said their swim experiences jived the same way so at least I felt better about it after the fact, but still, I was disappointed.

Also, I had to pee the whole frickin’ time and just couldn’t. I am a master at the wetsuit pee. That annoyed me.

I usually love the swim at Kerrville and instead was just cranky about it going into T1. It was a crappy start to a long day.

Swim Time: 44:06, 2:17/100m, 7/13 AG

T1:

While I didn’t hit my sub-3 goal, I did actually hustle in and out of this quicker than last year. Not being super winded from the swim helped, I think. I saw Zliten at his rack and told him I had a terrible swim and I’d see him out on the bike course (he took off about 1-2 mins before me).

T1 Time: 3:56, 8/13 AG

Bike:

I tried to get my annoyed attitude in check and figured if I had a great bike, I could easily make up some minutes from the swim. I got out and going, and within the first half hour took down a gatorade and a caffeinated gel. I was trying to knock out this crap headspace with rocket fuel.

At first, it worked. My bike pace was pretty good, I passed Zliten on the bike and kept things pretty steady on the first lap. Things started turning around. I’m sure a lot of things happened in that 1:30+change it took for me to ride those 29 miles, but I don’t remember much of it, but I do remember feeling like my day was turning around.

Then, on the second lap, my cramps decided to make it known that they were NOT enjoying the idea of 56 miles of bumpy riding (ok, maybe only 40 of the 56 are bumpy, but still). To someone who’s never had the privilege of menstrual cramps, let me put it this way: imagine you had a stomach ache – and you had to kick your stomach constantly for 3 hours. I made up songs about my uterus hating Kerrville and sang them out loud. I asked the universe to please, please make it stop.

And then, it nearly did. Right before mile 50 is a steep hill. I passed someone right before the hill, and then halfway up, they tried to pass me back. They swerved out to the right and then when a car came through, they swerved again… RIGHT INTO ME. I lost my balance but tried to reach out for them to steady myself on instinct, and then we both kind of fell down on top of each other.

FUCK. It was the lowest of the low speed collisions, and I thought nothing of it at the time, but my handlebars are torn up, I have some painful bruises and some baby road rash, but you don’t notice any of that on race day adrenaline. You just know that you and a bunch of other people that almost ran over you are walking up a steep fucking hill and wasting fucking time because fuckery. Fuck. Can I swear a few more times? I know I did on Sunday!

Day after. It actually looks a little worse now, the bruises took about 2-3 days to really come out. Every time I accidentally kneel on something it’s a world of pain.

Once I crested the hill, I got onto my bike and started to clip in and… um… something didn’t feel right. I just kind of sat there and stared at my bike until this angel of a gentleman came by and asked what was wrong and I was just like “my bike isn’t working right” and he unclipped and I was like “no, no, don’t stop your race for me” to which he said “it’s not like I’m winning this thing, let me help”. He helped me figure out what was wrong and held my bike up while I clipped in and it went forward, so I thanked him profusely and got on my way.

We went down the hill and then… about 5-6 more miles mostly uphill were left on the course. And my bike wasn’t getting above 11mph. Fuck. At first I thought I was just slow, but I had a bunch of people pass me and ask me if my bike was ok, and I said “it’ll get me to T2”. So, yeah, let’s add a fucked up back brake that rubbed the entire time to the list of casualties. After the race, Zliten showed me how I could have potentially fixed it temporarily, but it would have disabled my back brake, which seems a little dicey.

After about 30 minutes of straight mashing and seeing my average pace drop from above 18 mph to 17 to 16.4 by the end of that torturous 6 miles, I was flattened. I almost in tears and just never wanted to ride my bike ever again. And it’s not as if my cramps had gone anywhere. Not in the slightest. Salt, meet wound.

I was thinking that the universe was punishing me for asking for a reprieve and having a bad attitude during the race, and that I was a weak triathlete and sucked and it was really funny that I thought I could sub-6 ever and I was over it. Insult to injury – I caught a glimpse of the run course during this time and it was a long section without shade, and it was getting HOT. I had serious thoughts about turning in my chip when I got to T2, and going to drink beer and float in the river instead of running that half marathon.

I FINALLY rolled into T2 and was so happy to be rid of the torture device that evilbike had become that morning.

Bike Time: 3:24:47, 16.4 mph, 11/13 AG 🙁

T2:

I walked my bike in. I had lost all give a shit. I racked my bike, dumped my run bag, and found my purple gatorade and took most of it down in about 3 seconds. In my haze while thinking about how to drop the race, I took off my bike gear and found myself with my run gear on. I figured that at the very least I should start the run and see if I got my legs under me and I should tell Zliten I was ok, and well, you just kind of run after biking if you’re a triathlete. It’s what we do. So, after the longest T2 ever (it was DECIDEDLY NOT HOT LAVA, I could have easily been out in under 2 minutes if I hustled), I got out onto the run course.

T2 Time: 3:41, 8/13 AG

Run:

Let’s just say that running with cramps is probably as uncomfortable as riding, just in different ways. I got out on the course and ran the first mile the best I could, but it was obvious the run I wanted was NOT coming out of my body that day. I ducked into a porta potty right before mile 1 and peed (fiiiiinally) and had thoughts of just sitting there and taking a break and seeing if the pain would go away. Then, I realized I was in a stanky ass porta potty and got myself out of there.

I found my herbal muscle relaxers in my handheld and took them, figuring they’d help me out even if I dropped at some point, and then the first mile split at like 14 minutes.

I broke.

I started walking, saying fuck it, I didn’t care anymore. I was over it. I mostly wanted to tell Zliten I was alright so he wouldn’t worry, and I figured it would be the punishment I deserved to make myself walk 13 miles in the stupid hot 90 degree sun and I didn’t deserve to drink beer and float if I was this crappy of a triathlete. Hormones + bad race + behind on my gels = huge mental downward spiral. I am not a crier but I probably shed a few tears in the first 2 miles behind my sunglasses and might have had a full on meltdown if so many people weren’t looking at me on the out and back course. I saw Zliten and told him what happened and that I didn’t know if I was going to finish the race and he gave me a big hug and I felt a little better.

Then, all of a sudden around mile 3, the 303s kicked in, the massive amount of gatorade I’d drank made me feel a lot better, and I started running more than walking. I had lost any hopes at a even a PR on the last 6 miles of the bike and the first 3 miles of the run, but I could salvage things and have a better rest of my day.

I decided to take all the pressure off and stop trying for a specific time, but to just get to the finish as fast as I could without killing myself, running when I could and walk when I physically or mentally needed a break. Just like last year, my run was in the 9s and 10s, it felt good to run that speed, I just needed to intersperse it with powerwalking in that heat and in the condition I was in (cramps + actually a little in pain from the bike crash, though I didn’t piece that fact together until way later).

I had a gel. I started smiling and talking to people. I let the kiddies at the aide stations fill my bottle even though it took longer. I actually started to enjoy the run course and have some mad respect that on a different day, I could have a huge run here since it’s pretty gentle rolling… slight terrain changes? I wouldn’t even say hills. Totally runnable. Just not after the day I already had on Sunday.

I caught Zliten halfway through the second lap, and we took a little walk break together, but we were on different speed plans that day (it would have absolutely broken me to run 12-13 minute miles and he couldn’t keep up with 10s when I was running) so we said adieu and I ran up ahead.

I watched my 2013 time tick by, and I watched 7 hours also tick by, but at that point, I was just happy I didn’t quit (and… let’s not tell him, but also happy that I beat Zliten even though I wish he had a better day too) and ran it into the finish. Good thing too – to move up a place I needed about 30 minutes, but I beat the lady in 10th by about 30 seconds. That’s something.

Run Time: 2:53:10, 9/13 AG, 13:13 min/mile. Whatever. For a split of about 50% run and 50% powerwalking, I’m at peace with this.

When I started the run I didn’t even feel like I wanted a medal for this race but I actually wore the fucker for two days. I earned that one by sticking it out and not quitting on a really tough day.

Total Time: 7:09:42, 9/13 AG

Parting thoughts:

I’ve had a great 2015 tri season before this race, and eventually you have to have one spectacular explosion, I guess, but I do regret that it was my biggest race of the year in which I don’t have another crack at the distance for… probably at least another year.

If I wasn’t rolling right into marathon training, I would consider signing up for the same distance at the end of next month (Austin 70.3) and trying to roll my fitness into a better performance, but I think I’d rather just stick to the plan and let this one go.

Both Zliten and I are really thinking long and hard about how to proceed from here. We had been talking about doing an Ironman in early 2017, but we’re really reconsidering that after this race.

I love the long course training. I’m a workhorse. I was kind of looking forward to the ramp up and riding my bike for 5 hours and long runs more often and more training hours, but it’s the racing part that frustrates me. I just feel like I fall apart in these long 4+ hour races and I’m sick of it.

I can be solid in sprints and olympics and the 5k to half marathon distances on down for running. I wouldn’t say I’m awesome at them, but I’m a lot LESS BAD. Sometimes, even age group competitive – I’m not often taking home medals, but I’m regularly finishing top 1/3 or 1/4 and I’m starting to think about incremental improvements over the next year or two that I might actually be able to start racing for at least third more often in the smaller races.

But I’ve always wanted to climb the mountain. Especially if it made me fall down the first time.

As a kid singing, all I wanted out of life was to be a soprano with the high lilting voice and all the cool solo parts. I would always audition for those roles even though I had a deep (and pretty decent) alto type voice. Maybe if I would have stopped forcing it and went with what I was actually good at, I might be able to have done something with it. I just have this stupid desire to climb the mountains if the mountains are there, even if maybe I don’t have the right equipment.

If I suck at it, it’s just something I need to bang my head against until I’m good, right? In my 20s, I sought to get out of a job title I actually liked a lot because it was too easy. I was actually really good at it at the get go. I instead took the harder one that I frankly sucked at and it felt uncomfortable and took me MANY years, but I’m finally good at it. Really good. And I grew in ways I wouldn’t if I hadn’t gone this route.

But… maybe that’s not the answer to everything. It sucks to suck at things. You have to have passion to suck at something for years. When you suck a little bit less each year, it’s at least comforting you’re making progress. But this year, I sucked more at 70.3 than I did the last two years. Sure – there were mitigating circumstances. I’m almost not even talking about the total time. I’m talking about the INCREDIBLE meltdown and bad attitude I had all over the course. I thought I was over that as an athlete. I guess not. I didn’t give up, but I was really close.

Maybe I’m the bee – at it’s weight and body shape it has NO CHANCE of flying via the laws of physics. All the laws of time and space forbid it to get off the ground. But, as they swarmed me as I rolled my stupid broken bike ridiculously sticky with splashy gatorade out of transition, (oh, right, another thing on the bike – I forgot my aero bottle sponge so my liquid went everywhere with every bump…) I was reminded they fly somehow even though they’re not supposed to.

EDIT: ok fine, after research, that’s not totally true. But I like the analogy. So, shut up, science. 😛

Then again, maybe I’m just the freaky kid in a bee costume jumping and buzzing around. That’s probably more likely. 🙂

I’m less than 3 days out of racing and still feeling incredibly raw. I pegged myself as annoyingly fine the day after the race. I was barely sore. Then, over the next 48 hours I found bruises and scrapes and my brain still feels like it’s wrapped in cotton and my legs still groan at stairs. A bit less so after 3 sleeps, but I’m still getting emotional thinking about this stuff.

It may have not been every inch I had in my body, but seven hours of mental gymnastics, raging emotions, and mood swings, not to mention the actual physical toll of running, biking, and swimming in the hot sun for 7 hours, takes a lot out of you. Post race evening, I thought I might go for a shakeout run the next day – ha! It’s clear that physically I can use a break, but probably more so mentally. After a disappointing race, it’s SO difficult not to just start training hard the next day (well, if I fucked this up, I just need to train more), but that is a recipe for disaster.

Either way, you don’t make big decisions in this condition. You eat the gawddamn half lb hamburger and fried pickles you’ve been craving for 3 weeks but they’re too much fat, and you wiggle around the house with your post race inflammation on display while you drink some beers and sit on your ass for a few days.

I’ve got my my course set for about the next 6-9 months, and I’ll start out on that path mid-October and see if it’s the one I should continue to follow. I’m excited to set out on a run build after this little break and maybe see about two more cracks at long distance racing to see if there’s any joy to be found there this year. At the very least, the simplicity of shoes on, out the door, sounds awesome. I’m looking forward to seeing what the fall holds for me.

This is how it ends…

By Quix

On October 23, 2014

In Uncategorized

I spent the last post forward focused, but I would be a little remiss if I didn’t comment a little about wrapping up tri season. I often go back to key points and re-read posts for what was in my brain at the time, so even if it’s not of interest to anyone else, here we go.

Overall:

Looking back: I’m really happy with 2014 and triathlons. It got off to a rough start with some mismanaged expectations and a bit of burnout, but my last 3 of the year have nothing but warm fuzzies attached to them. Kerrville 70.3 is really my yardstick each year and taking 23 minutes off my time (under tougher conditions), and more importantly, achieving a lot of process goals during the race showed that I really have upped my game this year.

Going beyond: The goal is to really focus on the longer stuff. I’ve got two marathons and THREE 70.3s planned next year, with a nice long offseason in the middle of the summer like this year. I plan to keep up with both process goals and time goals, so even if conditions force my performance off the rails, I can continue to hold to something.

Swim:

2014:

Getting access to that sweet pool and lake has helped my swim IMMENSELY. Swimming brings me 100% joy in my current situation and no frustration at the conditions. Check with me when I’m tuning up for my early races on how I feel about an outdoor (sheltered/heated) pool, but it was all smiles in August and September.

Also, pushing the pace more often helped, especially in open water. Obtaining the Garmin 910 that does both pool and lake swim tracking gave me metrics, and made me really aware of how I tend to space out mid-swim in open water, and slow down A LOT unless I’m super focused.

Onward + 2015:

Before December, my only goal is to make my swim miles not be a complete goose egg each month (so far so good for October). I give up gains in swimming during marathon season and that’s fine, because I always comes back stronger. It’s ok. While early in the year I’m going to need to do an easy build because I’ll be out of swim shape, it comes back swiftly and I hope to graduate quickly to sets and speedwork and see if I can crack that elusive 2:00/100m in a race next year.

I do think it will be a lot of “more of the same” from my last training block. I swam more, I swam more intensely, and unless I found myself out of a job or in a position to have more time to train overall, I discovered some pretty good gains in concentrating on:

1. Having a focus in swim sets. Once my base is up, I should have two options in the water: a) recovery or b) hurting myself. Sometimes I had to bail on a hard set because the week caught up with me, but the only way to swim hard in races is to swim hard in practice.

2. Making sure I stay mentally focused. I conquered my race space outs in Kerrville, but it was by really overworking myself the first few 100 meters, and I’m not sure that’s the greatest strategy in the world. More open water sets with race pace loops in the middle and having a mantra to come back to if I find I’m wandering (just repeating focus every stroke is simple but it helps) is key.

I’d like to try for at least 1-2 swim heavy weeks before my first triathlon next year. I really find the breakthroughs when I can swim A LOT, but being that it’s 40 minutes out of my 6 hours and 30, and it’s generally my highest ranked sport compared to my age group, it’s really hard to devote a LOT of time to it.

Bike:

2014:

This cycle is where I started to put on my big girl cycle shorts and realized that I needed to approach my bike training differently.

1. One long ride outside every other week. On hills. In traffic. In the heat. Suffering through the first one was rough, but the second wasn’t so bad and the third was downright pleasant. I’d love to be the kind of cyclist who rides outside all the time but let’s be real. I don’t have a great route to commute that doesn’t involve a bunch of stop and go to get 3-4 miles to work. It’s not useful training. I have a decent 10 mile loop near my house, but even that involves close to 10 stoplights. What is necessary is to get out and ride for a few hours on hills in the weather (cold/hot/whatever).

2. Endurance cycling class. I credit so much of my 7 minute bike PR this cycle on my Tuesday dates with wattage_cottage. 6:15 on a Tuesday is not the most convenient time to make a class, but I was there most every week because it was worth it. In a class setting, having someone tell you to do long painful intervals and having everyone around you suffering is the bomb. Trying to put yourself through those at home on the trainer is harder.

3. Trainer is for recovery or hurting myself. While it’s not second nature yet to go fast on the trainer, I’ve found by monitoring my cadence and HR, and with the help of videos, I can push myself into working instead of staying in the lollygagging zone. I took at least 1 hour/week as a recovery spin, but the rest of the week was dedicated to bike work after I got a decent base.

4. Focused on kicking my ass with hard work over mindless hours. Every ride had a purpose. I was a little worried going in – my long outdoor rides were 51, 39, 35, 34 and I pulled a 66 miler on the trainer. However, I had a lot of 1-2.5 hour rides with lots of intensity, and honestly? I’ve never felt so fresh off a bike as when I rode that 56 miles in Kerrville. Win.

5. In the same vein, I also like the way I handled brick runs. Base building in August – I never ran more than 1-2 miles off bikes. In September, almost every bike had at least a baby brick run off it. I replaced the long brick slog (easy 56 bike/easy 10+ run) with an intense brick (1.5 hour bike shred/1 hour race pace run) and did that twice. I think it worked out better to simulate race day with easier recovery.

Onward + 2015:

Cycling will take a backseat to running for the rest of 2014 to ramp myself up to marathon shape, but I plan to cycle on the trainer or in a class at least once a week to make sure I don’t forget how. It always takes a little ramp up after slacking on cycling for months, but I’ve got the time to get back to being a fit cyclist before any racing.

2015 will be shaped around this cycle – more of the same. I enjoyed the cycle of weekend 1: long outdoor bike (with usually a very short run off), weekend 2: long run (with more cycling during the week for balance). My long runs will be a little longer since I’ll be maintaining marathon form for a while, but I think the execution will be the same.

I loved cycling in G-town and it was convenient with visiting my parents, and it was generally hillier and windier than any of the courses I’m targeting next year so it’s a good workshop for me to continue using.

I’ll handle the bricks the same way. Very few at the beginning, work in baby bricks to test the waters in the middle, and then once I’m past marathon #2 and recovered, it will be brickie brick brick all day!

I have a few new goals to push beyond this though…

1. I keep saying it, but maybe THIS will be the year I get brave enough to mount and dismount with my cycle shoes on the bike.

2. This also may be the year I decide on getting some new WHEELS. It’s not a complete faux pas to have wheels that cost more than your bike, is it? Also, maybe tying #1 to #2 might be a motivating factor (learn to mount and dismount like a big girl, get big girl wheels…)

3. There are so many group rides in Austin, I’d like to figure out how to work that into my life. I’m sure it would be nothing but good for me, but it’s just so much *easier* to ride inside or solo (with Zliten) and not have to conform to set days and times. However, it’s hard to make legit excuses when we just found one that starts from a bike shop just a few miles away weekly. Maybe make a goal of one a month?

Run:

2014:

This was the year of making friends with the run leg of a triathlon again. While Kerrville’s unseasonably hot conditions made me wilt a little more than expected, I was able to meet the goal of finally conquering the run leg during a half ironman in a time I wouldn’t mutter under my breath for a standalone 13 mile run. 2:30 is an easy, but respectable jog for a half marathon for me, and I beat that, even starting at noon, in the mid 80s, in full sun, after a tiny little matter of 4 hours of biking and swimming.

For my running, number one factor in improving was just simply doing more of it, and maintaining just a wee bitty little base over offseason to maintain fitness instead of starting the second half of the year from zero. Secondary factors of awesomeness were lots of brick runs and really knowing how to work through that, and making sure to keep on with some speedwork each week to remind the legs how to turn over, even if it was just a few miles.

Honestly, I made most of my large gains during fall 2013-spring 2014, and I knew the summer would just be a matter of maintaining this, because summer running in Austin sucks. You get better when it’s not eleventy billion degrees outside and all you want to do is run. Running a BIT in that weather is necessary, but I also made liberal use of the treadmill when needed so I didn’t completely dread and slog through every run mile like 2013.

Where I upped my game this year, I think, is the ability to run OFF THE BIKE. I had a 2:08 half marathon PR that I got close to but have yet to crack, but my PR off the bike was 2:42. That’s a huge difference in pace. While 2:29 is still a good 2 mins per mile different, that’s a 2:08 in perfect temps on a flat course vs a 2:29 about 40+ degrees hotter and wayyyy hillier.

I did that, I believe, in 3 ways:

1. More volume overall. I’m not a high volume runner in the slightest, but I tried to keep my run training around an average of 20 miles a week, higher on run focused weeks. Huge improvement over last year.

2. Lots of little brick runs off the bike. Really, the difference is most notable at first when you’re legs are literally changing gears, the rest of the run, you really just feel like you’re kind of having an off day at a standalone race.

3. Practicing race pace off hard cycling efforts. Running off an easy bike? I just feel warmed up. Easy jog off a bike? Once the weird legs go away, it’s a nice cooldown. It’s helpful in overall training volume, but what prepared me for racing better was smashing my legs for an hour on the bike and then trying to run 10 minute miles after.

Onward + 2015:

I finally feel like I’m back to where I was as a runner about 5 years ago, before I started triathlon. Now, I’m ready to move beyond.

Periods of high volume with a dash of speedwork, I fully believe, is the recipe for run improvements (with adequate rest – I can’t do that week after week year round). I had planned on continuing with some higher volume run weeks after the 2013 marathon, but it’s really hard to fit that in while trying to even maintain a base of swimming and cycling and strength, and without a marathon goal, I’m just not motivated to run that much. So, I think I crested 25-30 as my max weekly mileage (and 15-20 on a more average week so far this year and oddly enough), the speed gains slowed. Shocker.

This year, I’m signed up for a marathon at the end of November AND another at the end of February. I’ve never dedicated more than 8 weeks to marathon training, and I’ve never run more than one marathon a year. I love the distance, I actually love the training, but I’ve always rested and did shorter stuff after.

I plan to do my normal abbreviated cycle for Space Coast in November, take a few weeks to recover and maintain a small base, and then alternate weeks of being a triathlete and being a marathoner until March, and then do an abbreviated cycle like I did for Kerrville for my 70.3 opener for the year.

First Draft of 2015 Race Plan:

Space Coast Marathon – Nov 30 (signed up)

3M Half Marathon – Jan 25 (good crack at a PR, good marathon tuneup race)

The Woodlands Marathon – Feb 28 (signed up)

Rosedale Ride (62 mile bike ride) – March 21 (nice supported long ride and a good cause)

Austin 10/20 (10 mile run) – Mar 29 (signed up)

Galveston 70.3 – April 26

Probably some shorter stuff for fun and games here, definitely Pflugerville, possibly gatorbait, who knows. Whether I continue training with any level of seriousness or just fart around and show up to have fun will depend on my level of motivation post Galveston.

Off season

Jack’s Generic Tri – Aug 1? (same as this year, just a fun re-entry into tri world again after spending the early summer at the water park)

Kerrville 70.3 – Sept 27? (my happy race)

Austin 70.3 – Oct 24? (I’ve never done my hometown 70.3 – for shame)

Space Coast… marathon? half? (we’ll do the race almost certainly, but it will depend on how we structure the goals between this and Austin 70.3 since I can only really train train for one or the other)

Fun stuff. I’m currently in that period of marathon training where my legs are just exhausted and I have no idea how I’m going to come out of this a better runner, but this is NOT my first rodeo and I know things will come around eventually.

Let’s keep this train-a-movin’!

Kerrville 70.3 – Conquered

By Quix

On October 2, 2014

In Uncategorized

So y’all knew how well training was going and how some major diet and training focus changes made me pretty confident going in.

Then, all the taper madness starts. My foot got broken and miraculously healed itself. Same with my shin. Also, I almost was coming down with something like every other day. I held my breath in meetings where people were sick. I forced myself to sleep so much that I couldn’t sleep some nights because I was full on sleep and also not exhausted from training so I freaked out about that. I love some parts of taper, but man, I can become such a basket case!

All seemed to go as planned though. The drive, the packet pickup, eating all the things (chicken, taters, salad), driving the bike course, the traipsing through the grocery store trying to figure out what we’d be in the mood for after the race, the eating more of all the things (sunbutter, more salad, tons of fruit, potato chips, cheese, smoked sausage), and then drifting off to bed.

I kind of slept fitfully, but the bed was comfy, and I was going over my race plan, and then zzzz….

….and then I hear “GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ROOM YOU MOTHERFUCKERS” and it sounded like my husband was running to our hotel room door. To which I blearily said “uurph…yeah? YEAH!” Funny story. Our room had actually been occupied by people who had packed all their stuff and took it with them, and when they got back at midnight and found their room rekeyed, they had the hotel desk person let them in. Due to a clerical error, they thought it was empty.

Apparently they were of some sort of religious following that they unplugged all the electronics (I had to plug in both the tv and alarm clock and thought that was weird). Also, apparently it was the first time that they had heard the word FUCK. Heh. While it was totally innocent, it definitely left us both a) completely awake with an alarm in 4 hours and b) shaky with adrenaline.

Let’s just say 4am did not see us bright eyed and bushy tailed, but wake up we did. I had a full scoop of purple stuff to myself (40 mg caffeine), one kind bar, and a coconut water. Coconut water kinda broke the “nothing new on race day” rule, but I’ve had it after workouts and I couldn’t stomach the second kind bar, and that was additional electrolytes and calories. It was a good choice. Coconut water is my friend. That will happen every race.

This is our fourth year at Kerrville and we refine the process each time. Two years ago, we discovered parking at T2 on the street for ease of loading up the gear at the end. This year, we decided next time we would drop one of us off at the shuttle area with all our stuff instead of lugging 2 heavy bags each half a mile.

These things become rote after a while. Set up the stuff. Potty. Talk to people. Pour the bottles. Walk around more. Have to potty again but the line is cuh-ray-zee, so I just found a tree and sat and “reflected on life” for a bit. Tug at the wetsuit for many minutes to make sure it’s in the right place. Stretch. Watch the pros. Walk around more. Sit down. Stand up. Cheer for people. Send my husband off. Stick the earplugs in. Focus. Go.

Swim:

It was a time trial start, and you cross the mat, tip toe down a really steep slippy ramp (they forbade anyone to run down it, and you really couldn’t), and then you dive in and start swimming.

I started swimming, and kept running into super slow people and passing them. I felt awful a few minutes in. I looked at my garmin and it said 1:40 something per mile which is not even a pace I understand, so I chilled the heck out and recovered a bit. I mean – not even on short sprints across the pool. Adrenaline + purple stuff + goals = swimming rocket fuel.

Going out hard made it so I breathed every other stroke instead of every 3 like normal. I’ve never been so out of breath during a swim. At first I freaked out a little bit. It’s a long day and I felt utterly SHELLED after like 300m. However, the great thing about a long day is you have time to fix that kind of thing, so I just focused on chilling the hell out and being long and strong.

Things settled. I kept focused, I kept pushing hard but not too hard, and felt like a rockstar in the water. I found the point of being in the zone, but not dazing and daydreaming. I passed the halfway point at 19:44 and may have let off the gas a little bit on the second half, or the current may have been a bit against me, but I kept peeking at the pace and it kept fluctuating between 1:51 and 1:55 which is like… not something I can usually do.

At the end, I burned a match or two to try and get in under 40 mins, and allllmost made it. My garmin recorded this swim long at 1.25 miles, so I think I actually dipped under 2:00/100m, which has been a huge goal of mine. Best swim pace at any triathlon yet, and I did it at my longest. I definitely can see some pacing improvements in the future, but I am very happy with this. I can swim hard. I own that possibility in my bag of tricks. That was the goal.

Swim time: 40:27 (2:06/100m). 6/13 AG

Do I wish I could have found 28 seconds on the swim? Sure. But I’m really happy with how I attacked this with focus. I figured out a lot of swim things right at the end of this training block, so I think next year is all about the sub-2 here.

T1:

Holy hell, burning matches right at the end of a swim makes for a bit of a rough T1. I got out and stumbled over to the wetsuit strippers and they took some time getting my suit over my garmin but quickly I was good to go. I tried to jog up that steep hill but it was more of a wog. I got to my bike and kind of stumbled around a bit, but eventually glasses, sock, shoe, sock, shoe, helmet, and clomp clomp clomp happened. It was super muddy so I took it slowly.

T1 time: 4:23. 10/13 AG.

I botched this, but I think I traded a minute here for a minute on the swim, so I don’t think I lost THAT much overall time. Next time, I just have to try and stay focused a little better knowing that I can recover on the bike.

Bike:

Got out, got going, and settled in. I was a little wasted from the swim, but I knew the majority of the first 10 miles was downhill, and I was more than recovered by then. At 30 mins it was time to eat but I still felt VERY buzzy from the purple stuff, so I changed my nutrition plan and did my pineapple non-caff gel and worked my way through gatorade #1 to be ready to empty at the bottle grab.

This bike ride is honestly boring to talk about, but in such such such a good way. I kept positive, did the work, and kept focused. I never sat behind someone just because, I passed passed passed even if I had to work a bit. I spent so much more time in aero than normal. I kept a nice cadence and never felt bad.

I did fail a bit at my nutrition plan. I should really think about this a little more. 1:15 ticked by on the only real long hill of the course, and then there’s a bunch of turns to get to loop 2, so I didn’t take my second gel until about 1:30 (caff salted watermelon… yum). I did stick with taking in a gatorade bottle per aide station, though on #3, I was going a little too fast and almost spun the volunteer around (I apologized behind me profusely) and splashed gatorade all over my glasses. Also, at some point, a bunch of biting ants found their way to my arm. Owwww.

I got in one more gel (non-caff, apple cinnamon), but at that point I felt really full up, so I decided to hold off on the 4th gel until really late in the bike or early in the run (SPOILER: didn’t at all), but I kept with the gatorade because I knew I needed the electrolytes, and gosh, it was ALREADY starting to get hot. I knew that was trouble brewing. However, the awesome part is that most half races I start feeling bleh around mile 40 (and sometimes even before), but this time I my legs didn’t start barking at me until, like 3 miles before the end. Totally fine.

The course was kind of a blur, to be honest. I really felt strong and confident the whole time, never hit a low, and it just… happened. In a great way. Felt topped off on calories but not too full. I did feel like I had to pee the entire time, but it was not my day to become a big girl triathlete and pee right off the bike, not for lack of trying. Oh well.

Bike Time: 3:15:30 (10/12 AG). 17.2 MPH

Um, yeah. I’ll take this. Earlier this year I was frustrated with my bike progress so I have been working it a lot this cycle, but I have been stressing volume and intensity, and not long rides, so I was worried. This paid off with a 7 min PR and feeling the best I ever have off the bike. So happy!

T2:

Since I couldn’t pee on the bike, I decided I was going to sit down and see what happened on the grass. I saw Zliten in T2 and said hi and talked and told him I was going to try and pee. Heh. I dumped out my shoes and sat down and put them on and nothing was happening, so I just got on with the getting out to run.

T2 Time: 2:38 (7/12)

This was wayyyy quicker than last year and I even sat down. Yay!

Run:

It. Was. Hot. And sunny. And NO wind. Not an optimal day. Zliten had beat me out of T2, but stopped at the porta potty for a sec, so we ended up starting lap 1 at the same time. That was actually awesome. He kept telling me to go if I wanted, but we were running about a 10-ish min/mile pace which was fine with me, and we were chatting, and it was a nice start to the run.

Then, we hit the hill around mile 1.5 and, oh my, there was no use running that. That sapped about 5-10 seconds per mile off my pace each time, but I don’t think I had enough matches to conquer that. The heat was sucking my will to live and I was working on survival. However, I found a slightly higher gear when I was running than Zliten had, so I pulled away around mile 2.

I was not happy with the heat, and it took me the first lap to be able to stomach a gel, but on the second lap, ate my frustrations with a salted watermelon one. That helped. I got a weird side stitch and ditched my handheld bottle around mile 5.5. I never gave up, but I did walk in measured doeses.

The heat was overwhelming, and when I hit hills, I needed a break. When I ran, I was able to keep a good 10 min mile pace, but I couldn’t maintain it. That. Heat. Also, no ice at aide stations. S’ up with that? I did make sure to grab about 1-2 cups and get them either in or on me of water and at least 1 gatorade (in me, not on me) each time I passed a station (5 times per lap of 3.2 miles). This made for some soggy feet but kept my core temp in check.

I just kept chipping chipping, chipping. I saw Zliten getting behind as I started lap 3 and he was still on lap 2, and I straight stopped and gave him a 5 second hug. Apparently it made him feel a lot better. Yay! Gel at 9 – rootbeer – non caff, and I think it made me able to keep living. I walked a little through aide stations but I really pushed as much as I could on the last lap since I was butting up against my B run time goal 2:30 and A overall race goal. I couldn’t quite do the math, but I knew it was close on both accounts.

Pretty sure I rolled into the finish looking like a drooly, sunburnt, limpy puppy, but I got a nice annoucement because I was wearing the race kit of one of the sponsors of the race (Couer) and finally it was all done.

Run Time: 2:29:38 (9/12) 11:25 min/mile

While I didn’t imagine it would be this much of a fight just to get in under 2:30, this was probably the second hottest half marathon I’ve ever run and the hottest took me over 3 hours. I never stopped fighting. Every time I had those kind of defeatist, givey uppy thoughts, I banished them.

I don’t regret walking when I did. I really think I roll better with the run walk when times get tough. I honestly doubt there was a lot of my run sections that were below 10-something pace. I don’t think I could have done that trying to run 100%.

Total time: 6:32:36 (9/12)

Yes, I missed my A goal by 2.5 minutes. However, I really did not anticipate the heat topping out in the mid-80s (and probably feels like a little hotter) and I am really quite happy with what I did with the day. Are there about 3 minutes I could have pulled out of the day? Probably. I didn’t fall down at the finish. I didn’t go directly to the med tent. However, this is a 23 minute PR from last year, and it was 10-15 degrees hotter and full sun.

I did hit top half total of my gender – 50/104. Soon, I’ll work on cracking top half of my age group, but for now – that’s a victory.

I really want to find a long course where the run plays to my strengths – temperate and flat. I have two in mind next year. However, I’m over the moon with this result. 30 seconds within my A goal on the swim and bike. 3.5 min and 7 min PRs respectively. And while slower than I’d like, finally a RESPECTABLE half marathon time that I’m not ashamed of. And a 13 minute PR there too. Getting better.

Apres Race:

I collected my water bottle and finisher shirt and immediately headed back out on the course. The last time Zliten had passed me on the course he asked me to run him in. I headed out a bit to a tree in the shade and cheered people on. After a bit, I saw him and jogged with him a bit to the finish, but I was very happy to send him in and just walk around the barricade.

Unlike normal, I didn’t have an appetite. Not in a feel sick way, but, like, I really fueled well. I did have a beer and a half, but didn’t eat chips or tacos or bars or anything like normal. Weird.

After chatting with people we knew about the finish, and walking around a bit, and doing the normal celebratory after race things, we packed up and went to the hotel.

Beer and chips and queso and watermelon and mac and cheese and delivery pizza and all the things that go with after race binging happened (trying to eat back 5000 calories is really hard), and then I found myself asleep for 10 hours solid, which is SO not normal for me post race. I usually sleep fitfully for a few hours because of soreness and caffeine, but this was BLISSFUL.

I was kind of afraid of how good I felt – after a big long A race, it’s really a downer if you feel totally ok, because that means you left a lot in the tank, but it’s manifested itself in different ways. Nothing’s super sore, but I got a little winded walking up a flight of stairs. I’m not falling asleep on the couch, but I did turn the water back on in the shower after I grabbed a towel and soaked it. I tried to sup paddle board, and fell off twice.

So, I’m taking the rest of the week. I might run, if I feel like it. I might just sit with a glass of wine all week. I do know that two days of crap food was quite enough, and the gross bloated feeling has shoved me back to eating clean-ish again real quick. So much inflamation. I’d cry at the scale if I didn’t know better.

Final word on apparel: I have never been so comfortable in a kit as I have in my Coeur top and visor. The top never rode up like EVERY other top has. And, they made me look goooood in race pictures (even with a bunch of tri junk in my trunk). I have decided that at the beginning of next season, I’m ordering a kit to spend Tri Season 2015 in.

For now, it is time to recover, and then rebuild. I have a marathon to smash at the end of November, and I’m so excited to dedicate the next two months to run love. After a glass or 6 more of vino this week.

Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

Tag: 70point3 Page 4 of 5

It will not always be this way.

I need a little specificity…

Kerrville Race Report

This is how it ends…

Kerrville 70.3 – Conquered

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