Musselman Sprint Race Report

What a beautiful, fun weekend and what a great way to earn a raspy voice for two days now.

I did the sprint race on Saturday and was mostly out there to enjoy myself. I had some goals, but spent more of my 2 hours of racing enjoying the scenery than worrying about my pacing. As a nice aside, I did meet my goals (sort of) and managed not to get sunburned.

On Sunday, I had a great time cheering and worked on trombone-ing with one of the Z-horns. I learned that I am still unable to ring a cowbell with my left hand and that if I give away my cowbell, I am likely to try to ring the Z-horn.

Now I'm looking forward to a repeat of this successful feeling at Luray



Race Details:

* Swim - the swim was beautiful. I've never been in open water with that kind of visibility. While it was probably warm enough to get by without a wetsuit, I'm glad I wore one. It's more fun to imagine being a seal if you're all neoprened up. (Goal: < 15 min, met the goal)

* Bike - went out a little hard and sort of felt like dying at the top of the first hill 3 miles in. It got much better from then, and I thought of Iwan who yelled "Use the big gear" frequently on this relatively flat course. Did anyone else see the big metal fish between miles 8 and 9? It would have helped to notice that the race was 16 miles, not 12 - 14 like I thought. The last two miles felt very long considering that I didn't know they were coming. (Goal: < 70 min, met the goal)

* Run - I still have to get better at bringing the resolve that I have at Weds track practice out to a race. I did run/walk intervals and was very disciplined in keeping the walks brief, but I would have loved to have been able to make the run intervals longer. I set my goal for this part thinking it was a 3.1 mile run, when actually it was 3.2, which is more than a minute difference at my running pace. (Goal: < 40 min, did not meet the goal, but did set a new best running pace at a triathlon, which would have been < 40 if it had only been a 5k)


Future Goals:
This year, it will be my third year doing the Luray Sprint (coming up in August) and I'm excited to see my progress on that course.
Swim - < 16 min non-wetsuit or < 14 min with wetsuit
Bike - < 80 min (stretch goal)
Run - < 40 min (stretch goal on those hills)

Recap of a busy spring

So, I'm sure you've all been dying to know how I made it through those busy weekends!

• Apr 17-18: First tri of the season on Sunday plus camping and playing in the lake on Saturday
  • Wow it was windy out there. I tried out the new tent and it worked quite nicely. Driving down to Lake Anna took longer than I'd expected, which meant I got to set up my tent in the dark. Also triathlon camping requires a lot of stuff!
  • The second night it was less windy, but way colder. My sleeping bag that is probably older than some of the triathletes was not really suited for whatever temperature it was, but a result of being so cold was that when the sun came up and it got into the 50's it felt great!

• Apr 23-25: Swim meet Friday night (new PR in the 1000yd free, guaranteed because that is a freakish event that I never swam in school). GW Parkway 5k on Sunday where I will hopefully improve from last year
  • Swim meet was fine. I'm already looking forward to trying it again next year because I've been working on a "lazier" stroke style
  • GW Parkway was a nice improvement from previous GW Parkway 5K's, and I felt a lot less dead at the end. It wasn't a 5K PR, but might have been if I'd allowed myself to suffer more. Before I really knew how long 3 miles felt, it was easier to try harder because "maybe it's almost over"

• Apr 29-May 3: In CA for reunion and visiting parents.
  • Reunion was wonderful. I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. Of course, it helped that Southern California was at its absolute best with beautiful clear skies and moderate temperatures.

• May 8-9: Second tri of the season, doing the swim portion for a relay on Saturday and having another weekend of camping and playing in the lake.
  • Another windy camping experience! This time I staked down the tent, and that worked well, less flapping noises waking me up.
  • I had a great time cheering during the Half-Iron race on Saturday.  A bunch of us piled in a car and drove around the bike course slowly blasting music, ringing cowbells and blowing horns.
  • My swim leg was freakishly fast. I bought a wetsuit when I realized how much I'd be paying in rental fees this year, but I think the course was short. Any day now, I might be able to stop buying new stuff for triathloning :)

• May 15-16: Nothing Scheduled!
  • Sunday was a pleasant 38 mile bike ride around Sugarloaf "mountain" in MD. I was looking through posts from last year and realizing how very far I've come. My long bike rides used to be around 20 miles, and now, I'm working on learning how to stay fueled and happy for 40 miles.
  • I got a "Bento Box" for my bike which lets me carry snacks and stuff more easily since I don't have a proper bike jersey with the pockets across the back. I'm planning to stock it up with Fig Newtons for a ride this weekend. mmm Fig Newtons.

• May 23: Poplar Springs 5K where I will hopefully improve from last year. Maybe it will not be too much slower than the GW Parkway 5k
  • Well, I did improve from this course last year, but there was much whining in my head. It was sort of drizzly and very humid and I ended up with some terrible chafing.
  • This course teaches me, every year, that hills are different than flats.

• May 30: Jim McDonnell 1 mile lake swim where I will improve from last year since I have actually been swimming regularly.
  • Missed the signup deadline by procrastinating, so I'm sort of free this weekend. I have some friends who are doing the swim though, so I might go for a long easy bike ride out to the lake to cheer -- which is sort of dumb since open water swimming is one of the least spectator-friendly events ever.

Last week I also went to see Gruesome Playground Injuries, which is being put on at Woolly Mammoth. It was amazing, and I'm excited to sign up for season tickets for next year.

Finally, farm deliveries start next Thursday. Time to dig up my kale recipes.

6 busy weekends

I was planning an outing with someone and realized that I've got a busy couple of weeks ahead of me.

• Apr 17-18: First tri of the season on Sunday plus camping and playing in the lake on Saturday
• Apr 23-25: Swim meet Friday night (new PR in the 1000yd free, guaranteed because that is a freakish event that I never swam in school). GW Parkway 5k on Sunday where I will hopefully improve from last year
• Apr 29-May 3: In CA for reunion and visiting parents.
• May 8-9: Second tri of the season, doing the swim portion for a relay on Saturday and having another weekend of camping and playing in the lake.
• May 15-16: Nothing Scheduled!
• May 23: Poplar Springs 5K where I will hopefully improve from last year. Maybe it will not be too much slower than the GW Parkway 5k
• May 30: Jim McDonnell 1 mile lake swim where I will improve from last year since I have actually been swimming regularly.

I just bought a tent from REI last weekend. I'd gone in their tempted by the aluminum Macbook of tents, but then there was a perfectly reasonable one at 1/3 the price, so reason prevailed. I'll be giving it quite a workout this summer.

Shamrock Half Marathon Race Report

Finishing my first half-marathon last Sunday was amazing. Last October, when I signed up, running 13 whole miles, all in a row, felt like such a stretch goal, I was actually scared to tell people what I was training for.

My longest training run to that point was 5 miles, which meant that I had a ways to go. I can't remember exactly what was keeping me from running, but when I look back at my calendar there are a lot more workouts crossed out then checked off through October and November, but the training was ramping up with or without me, so I jumped back in to it.

The training successes were awesome: I ran my first 10k (a new longest run) in December with the team, then had a PR at the 5K in January. I *enjoyed* a "double digit run" running 10 miles (in the snow) and I was ecstatic when my main running buddy and I completed the full 13 miles training run in February.

The tough training days were also important. If Sunday had gone poorly, I'd like to think I could've drawn on the experience and used a bad training day to help talk myself through it somehow. I also learned the most when my body was mad about a workout: I learned that a steady diet of Domino's Pizza is not the fuel my body needs to run a happy 10 miles. On a different run, I ended up 3 miles from home completely bonked and walking it, so I learned to be better about carrying drinks and snacks. I learned that an extra rest week won't kill you when it was too icy to run and I "only" did 5 treadmill miles instead of 12.

None of the training prepared me completely for how little extra "umph" I would have after 12 miles of Zone 2-3 running. My brain was ready to run in Zone 4 like I'd been practicing at track, but my legs were totally not into that idea. I did manage to increase the pace, and Garmin tells me I had a lovely negative split, but my idea of how the race would happen at the end was pretty different from how it actually did. Learning to "race" something is pretty different from learning to cover the same distance.

After finishing this run, I respect the Marathon, Half-Iron and Iron distance races So Much More! I'd always thought they were extreme and admired the dedication the training requires, but now the magnitude of the challenge of actually racing such a distance is more real to me.

Overall, I'm thrilled with my training and result. Looking back at my calendar sheets for the winter, seeing the workouts I did and remembering how each "new longest" had seemed unrealistic a few months earlier, it's impossible not to smile.

I'm also terribly excited by the pace I was able to keep for the race. The 13 mile training run was done at a pace of almost 18 min/mile. The 1 hour taper run a week before the race was a pace of around 16:30 min/mile, so I'd been planning to try to keep a 16 min/mile pace and speed up at the end. In the race itself, it felt easy to maintain a pace in the 15 min/mile range until the 11th mile or so. After that, I managed to speed up slightly, but it was no longer as easy. My goal had been to finish around 3:30, so when I realized it was going to be more like 3:15, it gave me extra motivation to maintain form and to try to take longer steps for that last (impossibly long) 1.1 miles.

1/2 Marathon PR: 3:16:24

Half Marathon, Check!

A few weeks ago, I finished a 13 mile training run in 4 hours and felt pretty good. Yesterday I finished a half marathon in 3:16 and feel mentally awesome and muscularly shot. My goal for the day was to finish around 3:30 with a pace of 16 min/mile, so feeling good going 15 min/mile for the first part was an unexpected benefit.

I ran the first few miles with some teammates who were dressed up for the event, and when one of them decided to de-boa, I happily took it, wearing it like a pagent sash for a few miles, and then as a belt for the rest. Running with a green boa belt made the day even better. I hope the photos turn out :)

At the end I saw a training partner and pushed it to try to catch up, which was sort of a dumb idea, but since I didn't actually faint or throw up after the finish line I think it was worth it to finish with him.

Here's the data from the Garmin:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27689636
I thought it was going to do auto laps every mile, but forgot to check that before starting. Oh well. At least it picked up heart rate reliably and helped me not go too fast in the beginning when I was so excited.

600 Z4, check!

I had a great swim last night. We had a test set where we were supposed to go 600 yds Z4, ie. a longish way at a hard effort, and then 600 yds Z2, ie same distance easy pace.  I seeded myself a little poorly in the lane and was right on the person in front of me's heels for the Z4, but finished it in about 9:40, for a pace around 1:37/hundred.  I wasn't actually as tired as you should be at the end of a long hard set, so I'm pretty sure I could've gone faster, at least a little.  The Z2 set was slow enough to be comical. I can't remember how long it took, maybe around a 1:50/hundred pace.

The point of the set was supposed to be that, in a race, the extra exertion of swimming hard is not worth it because you only gain a bit of time.  I sort of hope we do this set again sometime though because I feel like I have a faster Z4/Z2 set in me.

Later in the practice was 5 100's working on something or other. I decided to work on the something while going fast for the 100 where I led the lane, and tapped the wall around 1:30 for the hundred.

I can't remember exactly how fast I was supposed to be going while being one of the worst swimmer on the college team, but I feel like doing 100's on a 1:30 interval would've been less embarrassing than what I was achieving. Certainly in grad school masters swimming, I would've felt pretty good about that pace.  The point of this paragraph is "Go me! I'm getting better at swimming again!!"

Also, the snowpocalypse has started here in DC. NOAA says 20-28 inches expected this weekend.

PS. Seriously, snowpocalypse! Here's an exceprt from the newest NOAA Winter Storm Watch thingy:

* ACCUMULATIONS...WIDESPREAD STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 20 TO 30
  INCHES...WITH SOME LOCATIONS IN EXCESS OF 30 INCHES.

* VISIBILITIES...WIDESPREAD VISIBILITIES AROUND ONE-QUARTER MILE
  ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT IN HEAVY SNOW. STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE
  WITH THE SNOW ALONG THE MARYLAND CHESAPEAKE BAY AND TIDAL
  POTOMAC RIVER TO REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO WELL BELOW ONE-QUARTER
  MILE...PRODUCING NEAR-BLIZZARD CONDITIONS TONIGHT THROUGH
  SATURDAY MORNING.

THIS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RECORD
SNOWFALL FOR THE BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON DC METROPOLITAN AREAS.
TRAVEL CONDITIONS TONIGHT ACROSS THE REGION WILL BE EXTREMELY
HAZARDOUS AND LIFE-THREATENING. HELP YOUR LOCAL AND STATE
GOVERNMENT FIRST RESPONDERS AND TRANSPORTATION AGENCIES BY STAYING
OFF THE ROADS.

More snow, more running

There's a chance that one of these days I'll get around to something other than amazed, narcissistic thinking about how unbelievably exercisey my life is compared to what it used to be.

Until then...

I've been training for a half-marathon that is coming up towards the end of March.  The weekend runs have been getting longer and I've mostly been getting more and more excited as I complete new longest-ever runs. Until two Saturdays ago. I packed my stuff to go run, carrying my keys in my hat, though "oh, a notebook!" and picked that up, headed downstairs and realized, as I shut myself outdoors, that my hat, and keys were still in my condo. GAH!

Thankfully, I recently met some teammates/neighbors, and stood outside their building and used their computer and phone to call a locksmith. Very expensive.

I couldn't bring myself to run after all that and instead played computer games and ate pizza.

Sunday, when I got up to go run, I really wasn't feeling like it. I made myself leave the house (with keys, but without snacks) and then headed out further than usual before turning around because I thought I would quit if I went back past the house. Well, I sort of did quit, even though I wasn't near the house. After 7 miles, about 1 mile from my car with snacks and stuff, I just couldn't run anymore. People talk of "bonking" and I think that's what it was. I ended up walking the rest of the way to the car, walking and drinking and eating snacks, but never did get any umph back, so just kept walking to finish the 10.

It felt good to finish 10 miles, but it wasn't a good 10 miles.

The next weekend was scheduled for 11, and as the week went on, I got more scared and nervous.

Of course, the fact that it was supposed to be stupid cold and start snowing didn't help the nerves.

I showed up, paired up with a teammate and we headed out with a plan of 2 4-mile loops together plus some more for me on my own.

It was awesome.

• The snow did come, and it came early and there was more than predicted, but it was mostly gentle.
• Both our watches were recording km instead of miles, so we had no idea how we were getting such freakishly fast splits, but it was super exciting.
• I'd made hot gatorade for my refuel snack and it was wonderful.
• After the two loops, thinking we'd done 12.8 freak-miles (knowing it wasn't right, but if the GPS gods were giving out free distance, we were going to take it), we stopped and talked with other crazy teammates out running in the snow.  I figured out the km vs miles thing and was so excited, I bounced off to do 2 more miles.
• Running down the road in a few inches of snow was exciting. The sound of it squeaking under my sneakers is something I never would've imagined I would've experienced. It was fun to try to find my footprints coming back and match my stride length. The snow was deep enough that I wasn't kicking through to the pavement, which was also new.

So I ended up doing 10, and it was a happy 10. I'm excited again instead of scared, and am (almost) looking forward to a new longest of 12 miles on Feb 13.

Here's some pictures from teammates that I've completely stolen without asking: