On and on, I feel like the days are just flying by lately. Between work, training, hanging with friends, the dog, etc. it's been like Groundhog Day around here for the past month or so. Luckily, that has led to one great thing for an athlete; Consistency.
Over the past month I have been able to remain very consistent with training, logging somewhere in the range of 10-12k of swimming, 80-100mi on the bike and 40-45mi of running each week. While the old days when I would train at significantly higher volumes (20-25k S, 150-250mi B and 40-45mi R) are gone, I am making due with the reduced availability of training time and so far it seems to be working.
In the past month, I have mainly focused on increasing the distance of my intensity intervals in the pool (getting closer to race distance (1.9k)), getting in some bigger rides on the bike (60+ mi rides) and racing myself into good run shape.
A few weeks back, I raced the Cherry Creek Sneak 10-miler here in Denver. It was brutal. Heading into the race I had only run the distance one time since before I was injured way back in November. Most of my training runs had topped out at around 7-8mi. The first four miles of the course were pretty flat before getting to the hilly section of the race. I think I came through there around 23:00, but it got extremely tough once we hit the uphill sections. I tell you what, although I have lived at altitude for almost 5 years now, I STILL do not feel acclimated when I run hills here and this race was no exception! I managed to hang in and just barely meet my somewhat lax goal of getting under 1 hour. I went 59:51 good enough for 11th place overall on the day. Meanwhile my former teammate from Riptide, Tate Behning, managed to run away with the win in about 55:30.
Aside from that effort, my work in the pool has been going well. I am still swimming at right about 1:18-1:20 pace per 100y in the pool for sets as long as about 1000y. Over the next 3 weeks leading into the race I hope to get in a 2000y TT as well as one workout of 25x100y on 1:20 or 1:25 (depending on how I'm feeling) and that will be as good as it's going to get for this race.
On the bike, I got in almost 150mi of riding last weekend including to rides of 50 and 60 miles respectively. The 60 mile ride crushed me. 2 days later when I jumped into the 50 mile ride I expected to feel like crap. I rode the 1:10 or so out to Lookout Mountain and gave the climb a go. Lookout is kind of my marking post in the area for cycling. It's a 4.6mi climb with and average grade of 5% and a total elevation gain of 1,217 ft (starting at an altitude of roughly 6,300ft). I have ridden Lookout probably more than 100 times and surprisingly when I rode it on Monday, I was able to outpace my old PR by about 10 seconds with what felt like, significantly less effort. I was pumped.
As for the run, I have not been able to fit in any speedwork at all in the past month, so I'm relying on these race efforts to gain the speed that I will need for 70.3 next month. This weekend I will be jumping in to the Colfax half marathon just down the street from my house with a goal of just finishing at or below 6-min mile pace. Seeing as how this course is significantly less hilly than the previous race, I think it should be totally doable, although those extra 3 miles could leave me with a surprise.
So, that's my training update. Things in other areas of life are going extremely well and I'm finding that that is leaving much less stressed heading in to workouts, which in turn seems to allow me to focus more on the work at hand. I will have another short update for you all after this weekends run. Until then, thanks for checking in and Happy Training!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Running... but not on Wheat or Corn
It's been about two months since my last post, and frankly I've just been waiting to feel like I am getting fit again before sitting down and getting the blog going. Since my last post in mid-February (which seems like yesterday) a lot has happened, and not just with training.
While I was able to get my running going again, slowly, in February, in March I turned 32 years old (I can't freakin' believe it, but my body does tell me OFTEN that it's true) and once again celebrated being Irish with lots of my friends in Denver. Later in the month, I finally booked my Fall trip to go back to Europe for a couple weeks to visit friends. I also found out that the rashes that had been coming and going on my body were actually a result of food-allergies!?! Seriously, I found out that I have a very strong allergy to Wheat, Corn and Almonds. A few other minor allergies are in the mix too (like peaches, pears, strawberries, etc.) but those are the big 3. So from mid- March thru today I have steadily been trying to adapt my diet to account for this, but wheat and corn are in pretty much everything that I previously ate... pasta, flour, tortillas, sauces, BEER, bread, and on and on... so there have been a lot of mistakes. Unfortunately, now that I have cut the majority of that stuff out of my diet, now when I do mess up and eat it the reactions are much worse.
Luckily, my mom and friends have stepped in to try to help me out with meal ideas, etc. Mom even went out and bought a bread machine and has been baking me gluten-free bread regularly (thanks mom!). It's been a huge adjustment and definitely has been effecting body weight, energy levels, etc. with training. Apparently, a lot of pro endurance athletes out there either have similar allergies or have chosen to cut Gluten out of their diets on purpose.
Over the past few months I have also been working a lot (50+ hrs/wk), which in addition to Maddie, a social life and sleeping has limited the amount of time that I can really commit to training. At first this was alright as I was just starting to ramp volume up again and get my body readjusted to training. During that time I cut my weight back down to the 166-167.5lbs range and got the body fat percentage from 7.0% in Feb to 6.5% currently.
I've been finding that a 9-12 hr/wk of training is about what I have been able to fit in. Last week was a pretty common week for example and my volumes were 11K swimming, 63.5mi biking, 42mi running. While the swim and bike volumes are significantly lower than they once were, I am very pleased to be running over 40mi a week again! I jumped in a 5K a few weeks ago before having even made it back to the track and managed a 17:00 effort at altitude, which is the fastest that I have raced the distance since '09. I'm definitely still lacking in endurance, but this week is the Cherry Creek Sneak 10-miler, which I'm sure will be a humbling experience but hopefully will be a good benchmark for me as I begin to focus in on my early season goal of a good race at the Ironman Boise 70.3 on June 9th.
More to come soon... thanks for reading!
While I was able to get my running going again, slowly, in February, in March I turned 32 years old (I can't freakin' believe it, but my body does tell me OFTEN that it's true) and once again celebrated being Irish with lots of my friends in Denver. Later in the month, I finally booked my Fall trip to go back to Europe for a couple weeks to visit friends. I also found out that the rashes that had been coming and going on my body were actually a result of food-allergies!?! Seriously, I found out that I have a very strong allergy to Wheat, Corn and Almonds. A few other minor allergies are in the mix too (like peaches, pears, strawberries, etc.) but those are the big 3. So from mid- March thru today I have steadily been trying to adapt my diet to account for this, but wheat and corn are in pretty much everything that I previously ate... pasta, flour, tortillas, sauces, BEER, bread, and on and on... so there have been a lot of mistakes. Unfortunately, now that I have cut the majority of that stuff out of my diet, now when I do mess up and eat it the reactions are much worse.
Luckily, my mom and friends have stepped in to try to help me out with meal ideas, etc. Mom even went out and bought a bread machine and has been baking me gluten-free bread regularly (thanks mom!). It's been a huge adjustment and definitely has been effecting body weight, energy levels, etc. with training. Apparently, a lot of pro endurance athletes out there either have similar allergies or have chosen to cut Gluten out of their diets on purpose.
Over the past few months I have also been working a lot (50+ hrs/wk), which in addition to Maddie, a social life and sleeping has limited the amount of time that I can really commit to training. At first this was alright as I was just starting to ramp volume up again and get my body readjusted to training. During that time I cut my weight back down to the 166-167.5lbs range and got the body fat percentage from 7.0% in Feb to 6.5% currently.
I've been finding that a 9-12 hr/wk of training is about what I have been able to fit in. Last week was a pretty common week for example and my volumes were 11K swimming, 63.5mi biking, 42mi running. While the swim and bike volumes are significantly lower than they once were, I am very pleased to be running over 40mi a week again! I jumped in a 5K a few weeks ago before having even made it back to the track and managed a 17:00 effort at altitude, which is the fastest that I have raced the distance since '09. I'm definitely still lacking in endurance, but this week is the Cherry Creek Sneak 10-miler, which I'm sure will be a humbling experience but hopefully will be a good benchmark for me as I begin to focus in on my early season goal of a good race at the Ironman Boise 70.3 on June 9th.
More to come soon... thanks for reading!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The Long Road Back
Alright, I think it's about time that I got back on here and filled the blog-o-sphere in on my prolonged absence since the San Antonio debacle in November... As I mentioned at the time, I had planned to take two weeks, regroup and then make a 'run' at a January marathon. Unfortunately, just over a week after my experience in San Antonio, while vacationing in Mexico I managed to hurt my foot while playing (barefoot) football with a bunch of little kids. At the time, I thought that I had broken the little toe on my right foot, and knowing that there isn't much that you can do for a broken little toe, I went on with my days, thinking that a 3-4 weeks off would do the trick and I'd be back to normal. Within 24 hours, however, I was greeted with this:
My foot was extremely swollen, black and blue and tender to the touch. I've never broken a toe before so I assumed that this was normal and spent the next week swimming in the ocean and icing my foot, beverage in hand.
7 weeks pass and I still could not run more than 10-15 feet without pain, so I finally go to get an xray and the prompting of my good friend Dr. Ryan Gebhardt. Turns out that I did indeed fracture my toe but I did right in the joint space (where the toe connects to the foot), apparently making recovery much tougher. Here's the x-ray, although I can't tell ANYTHING from it.
I hate going to doctors and still to this day have not done anything further about it, but on February 1st, after about 10 weeks off, I decided to give running a shot again. I made it about 3mi that day with portions of walking scattered throughout.
In my downtime, I got back into swimming and biking (and other forms of non-impact cardio (like the elyptical machine) and actually have managed to get myself into relatively good shape... at least partially. While I can push reasonable power on the bike and my swimming is coming along nicely, I still managed to gain about 12-14lbs while not running. That said, I am the heaviest now that I have been in about 9 year (grad school). My typical race weight has been at 165-168lbs and as of tonight I weigh-in at just under 179 lbs. This is the low-point.
On the upside I'm starting to feel like I am going to be able to comeback and get to running again. While slowly ramping up mileage (I ran 15-17mi/wk for the past two weeks), I joined the Wednesday night run at the Runner's Roost (the shop that I will be racing for this year) for the first time. I managed to complete about 6.25mi at around 7min/mi pace w/o much foot pain. Aerobically I was fine, but it's funny how my old joints just go to crap when I give them a break for awhile. Increasing mileage, won't be too bad aerobically since I have stayed pretty fit, but getting the joints and muscles back in working order while babying the foot and trying to lose all of these extra pounds is going to make for an interesting journey back to the starting line.
I do plan to race Tri/running again this year although I am waiting to see how the foot progresses before outlining an entire schedule. I'm hoping to have a solid season, with the majority of racing aimed towards the back half of the season, including another attempt at the 'six-minute marathon' at a late Fall/early Winter marathon in the Oct-Dec time-frame. I think I'll keep the Blog going throughout simply to document the road to recovery and hopefully (one day) peak racing fitness. Hopefully you'll check in once in awhile too to see how things are going! Happy training!
My foot was extremely swollen, black and blue and tender to the touch. I've never broken a toe before so I assumed that this was normal and spent the next week swimming in the ocean and icing my foot, beverage in hand.
7 weeks pass and I still could not run more than 10-15 feet without pain, so I finally go to get an xray and the prompting of my good friend Dr. Ryan Gebhardt. Turns out that I did indeed fracture my toe but I did right in the joint space (where the toe connects to the foot), apparently making recovery much tougher. Here's the x-ray, although I can't tell ANYTHING from it.
I hate going to doctors and still to this day have not done anything further about it, but on February 1st, after about 10 weeks off, I decided to give running a shot again. I made it about 3mi that day with portions of walking scattered throughout.
In my downtime, I got back into swimming and biking (and other forms of non-impact cardio (like the elyptical machine) and actually have managed to get myself into relatively good shape... at least partially. While I can push reasonable power on the bike and my swimming is coming along nicely, I still managed to gain about 12-14lbs while not running. That said, I am the heaviest now that I have been in about 9 year (grad school). My typical race weight has been at 165-168lbs and as of tonight I weigh-in at just under 179 lbs. This is the low-point.
On the upside I'm starting to feel like I am going to be able to comeback and get to running again. While slowly ramping up mileage (I ran 15-17mi/wk for the past two weeks), I joined the Wednesday night run at the Runner's Roost (the shop that I will be racing for this year) for the first time. I managed to complete about 6.25mi at around 7min/mi pace w/o much foot pain. Aerobically I was fine, but it's funny how my old joints just go to crap when I give them a break for awhile. Increasing mileage, won't be too bad aerobically since I have stayed pretty fit, but getting the joints and muscles back in working order while babying the foot and trying to lose all of these extra pounds is going to make for an interesting journey back to the starting line.
I do plan to race Tri/running again this year although I am waiting to see how the foot progresses before outlining an entire schedule. I'm hoping to have a solid season, with the majority of racing aimed towards the back half of the season, including another attempt at the 'six-minute marathon' at a late Fall/early Winter marathon in the Oct-Dec time-frame. I think I'll keep the Blog going throughout simply to document the road to recovery and hopefully (one day) peak racing fitness. Hopefully you'll check in once in awhile too to see how things are going! Happy training!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
San Antonio Marathon (Race Recap)
As you have probably guessed by now, things didn't quite go my way on Sunday... in fact, they really didn't go my way at all. That said, I guess I have good and bad news for the followers of this BLOG. The bad news is that the race was pretty much a disaster. The good news is: that I wasn't a total idiot and saved myself from injury, so I will likely keep this fitness going (after 10-14 days rest/recovery) and refocus on a January or February race.... Leaving you with another month or two of blogging to follow! Aren't you excited?!
Where to begin? First off, I am not a huge fan of weather variations from year-to-year. While I had seen that the previous year, the San Antonio Marathon had been held under cool temp's in the 40's and 50's with a relatively low humidity, this year I awoke to an entirely different scene (more on that in a minute).
In short, I ended up having a few different problems on race day, which led me to one of my first major DNF's ever (I dropped out at Mile 21 of the race). I can pinpoint this result to two specific factors:
1. Lack of training in the final 4 weeks leading into the race due to ongoing injuries
2. High Humidity and increasing temps throughout the race
Let me start by saying, that I was extremely pleased with my progress in training until just after the Denver 1/2 marathon on October 9th. It was directly following that race that I made the biggest mistake that I could have in my training: I didn't rest! I should have taken at least 2-4 days completely off (if not an entire week) and given myself some recovery heading into the final weeks of training. After 11 straight weeks of 70-80 miles a week, I should have known better than to push it. Lesson learned.
Secondly, I need to do better research in selecting my races in the future. As I stated above, the previous year had been subject to nearly perfect running weather and the average temp/humidity in San Antonio in November led me to believe that I'd be racing in temps in the 40-65 degree range with humidity of around 45%.
While the temps did hover at around 60 degrees throughout the first 45 minutes or so of the race, the humidity was through the roof! In fact for the first 8 miles or so the cloud cover was probably only a few hundred feet off of the ground. I was completely soaked with sweat within the first half mile of the race. Later, around mile 10-12 somewhere, the clouds began to lift and the temps began to climb. Anyone, that knows me very well, knows that I have never done particularly well racing in hot and/or humid weather. I just don't handle it well.
Race morning, as I headed to the line it was quite apparent that it was going to be a humid race with significant fluid-loss, but it remained to be seen, whether the temps would rise out of the 60's before I finished the race. I prayed it wouldn't.
The one thing that I am very proud of myself for is for sticking to my plan. The plan was:
- run smart! 6 minute mile pace (or a bit slower) for the first 2-3 miles. I typically go out too fast, and I really wanted to stay under control. Rather than running 5:40's and settling in to 6:00 pace, I wanted to start at or above the pace and go the other way for once (This was particularly important at this race because the full marathoners started, and ran with, the 1/2 marathoner's thru 10.5 miles, making it very tempting to run too hard in the early stages of the race).
- Also, I knew that with the humidity I would need to drink at every aid station, take at least 3-4 gels, and even try to get a salt tab or two down.
Although my splits STILL aren't on the Rock n' Roll website (I don't think that they posted them, since I DNF'd). Here are the splits from my watch. You can see the explosion 10-11 miles in followed by the downhill slide, which really started at about mile 16:
Mile 1: 6:10 Mile 7: 6:03 Mile 13: 6:18 Mile 20: 7:41
Mile 2: 5:58 Mile 8: 5:59 (1:20:21 - 1/2) (2:07:18 - 20mi)
Mile 3: 6:04 Mile 9: 6:02 Mile 14: 6:22 Mile 21: 7:41
(18:48 - 5K) Mile 10: 6:11 Mile 15 & 16: 12:24 Dropped
Mile 4: 6:03 (1:00:52 - 10mi) Mile 17: 7:19
Mile 5: 6:09 Mile 11: 6:15 Mile 18: 6:42
Mile 6: 6:07 Mile 12: 6:24 Mile 19: 6:58
Another big factor in the slow down around Mile 10-11 could have been due to the fact that that is where the full marathoners (black race bibs) split off from the 1/2 marathoners (green race bibs). While it was motivating to run through all of the dying 1/2 marathoners in the beginning of the race, it got real lonely, real quick, after the split. I was actually the 4th place full-marathoner at Mile 10, getting passed by one person at Mile 16.5 or so, and then not seeing anyone again until I was bent over on the side of the road in mile 19.
In retrospect, after having 4 weeks of injury I should have switched down to the 1/2 marathon and tried to race well in that. My fitness was there for that distance, even at a significantly faster pace, but not for twice the distance. Now that I have a great fitness-base and another LONG tempo run under my belt, I can focus on those longer runs/workouts throughout Dec/Jan as I get ready for another attempt at the full.
Here are some pics (click for larger versions) from the earlier part of the day... Most from Mile 10, the Brightroom pics from Mile 3 or 4. Notice how absolutely soaked I am!?
So, thanks again to everyone who has supported me through this training by running with me, giving me advice or just plain wishing me luck. Hopefully you have enjoyed reading this and checking in on the progress. The journey is definitely not over! Stay tuned in late November/early December as I get back into training and try one more time and reaching this goal. Happy Thanksgiving next week! I'll be celebrating on the beach in Mexico... not training!
Where to begin? First off, I am not a huge fan of weather variations from year-to-year. While I had seen that the previous year, the San Antonio Marathon had been held under cool temp's in the 40's and 50's with a relatively low humidity, this year I awoke to an entirely different scene (more on that in a minute).
In short, I ended up having a few different problems on race day, which led me to one of my first major DNF's ever (I dropped out at Mile 21 of the race). I can pinpoint this result to two specific factors:
1. Lack of training in the final 4 weeks leading into the race due to ongoing injuries
2. High Humidity and increasing temps throughout the race
Let me start by saying, that I was extremely pleased with my progress in training until just after the Denver 1/2 marathon on October 9th. It was directly following that race that I made the biggest mistake that I could have in my training: I didn't rest! I should have taken at least 2-4 days completely off (if not an entire week) and given myself some recovery heading into the final weeks of training. After 11 straight weeks of 70-80 miles a week, I should have known better than to push it. Lesson learned.
Secondly, I need to do better research in selecting my races in the future. As I stated above, the previous year had been subject to nearly perfect running weather and the average temp/humidity in San Antonio in November led me to believe that I'd be racing in temps in the 40-65 degree range with humidity of around 45%.
While the temps did hover at around 60 degrees throughout the first 45 minutes or so of the race, the humidity was through the roof! In fact for the first 8 miles or so the cloud cover was probably only a few hundred feet off of the ground. I was completely soaked with sweat within the first half mile of the race. Later, around mile 10-12 somewhere, the clouds began to lift and the temps began to climb. Anyone, that knows me very well, knows that I have never done particularly well racing in hot and/or humid weather. I just don't handle it well.
Race morning, as I headed to the line it was quite apparent that it was going to be a humid race with significant fluid-loss, but it remained to be seen, whether the temps would rise out of the 60's before I finished the race. I prayed it wouldn't.
The one thing that I am very proud of myself for is for sticking to my plan. The plan was:
- run smart! 6 minute mile pace (or a bit slower) for the first 2-3 miles. I typically go out too fast, and I really wanted to stay under control. Rather than running 5:40's and settling in to 6:00 pace, I wanted to start at or above the pace and go the other way for once (This was particularly important at this race because the full marathoners started, and ran with, the 1/2 marathoner's thru 10.5 miles, making it very tempting to run too hard in the early stages of the race).
- Also, I knew that with the humidity I would need to drink at every aid station, take at least 3-4 gels, and even try to get a salt tab or two down.
Although my splits STILL aren't on the Rock n' Roll website (I don't think that they posted them, since I DNF'd). Here are the splits from my watch. You can see the explosion 10-11 miles in followed by the downhill slide, which really started at about mile 16:
Mile 1: 6:10 Mile 7: 6:03 Mile 13: 6:18 Mile 20: 7:41
Mile 2: 5:58 Mile 8: 5:59 (1:20:21 - 1/2) (2:07:18 - 20mi)
Mile 3: 6:04 Mile 9: 6:02 Mile 14: 6:22 Mile 21: 7:41
(18:48 - 5K) Mile 10: 6:11 Mile 15 & 16: 12:24 Dropped
Mile 4: 6:03 (1:00:52 - 10mi) Mile 17: 7:19
Mile 5: 6:09 Mile 11: 6:15 Mile 18: 6:42
Mile 6: 6:07 Mile 12: 6:24 Mile 19: 6:58
Another big factor in the slow down around Mile 10-11 could have been due to the fact that that is where the full marathoners (black race bibs) split off from the 1/2 marathoners (green race bibs). While it was motivating to run through all of the dying 1/2 marathoners in the beginning of the race, it got real lonely, real quick, after the split. I was actually the 4th place full-marathoner at Mile 10, getting passed by one person at Mile 16.5 or so, and then not seeing anyone again until I was bent over on the side of the road in mile 19.
In retrospect, after having 4 weeks of injury I should have switched down to the 1/2 marathon and tried to race well in that. My fitness was there for that distance, even at a significantly faster pace, but not for twice the distance. Now that I have a great fitness-base and another LONG tempo run under my belt, I can focus on those longer runs/workouts throughout Dec/Jan as I get ready for another attempt at the full.
Here are some pics (click for larger versions) from the earlier part of the day... Most from Mile 10, the Brightroom pics from Mile 3 or 4. Notice how absolutely soaked I am!?
So, thanks again to everyone who has supported me through this training by running with me, giving me advice or just plain wishing me luck. Hopefully you have enjoyed reading this and checking in on the progress. The journey is definitely not over! Stay tuned in late November/early December as I get back into training and try one more time and reaching this goal. Happy Thanksgiving next week! I'll be celebrating on the beach in Mexico... not training!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Race Morning!
5:15am: Slept like I was in a coma last night (love being at sea level!). Barely moved for 7 hours. 56 degrees and a bit humid right now. mid-60's at the start is probably about right. Gonna be a warm one. I guess it's time to actually do this. See you all on the other side!
Saturday, November 12, 2011
12 Hours Away!
So, here we are. I'm camped out in my hotel room in San Antonio with the compression tights on. Packet Pick-up at the expo and easy shakeout run are done, Chinese food is eaten, and all that's left is one more night's sleep before the big race...
I've got to admit, I'm nervous for this one. With tri's it's been a long time since I've really gotten nervous for races. Even for Rome last Spring, I didn't get all that nervous, but this time, for whatever reason, it's different. I think it's the lapse in training over these past few weeks that has knocked my confidence down a few notches. While I know that just 1-month ago, I was in some of the best running shape of my life, it still seems like running 6-minute pace tomorrow is going to be a very tough task. Throw in the lingering VMO issues and this weeks bout with a sore throat and I am all nerves tonight. Hopefully once the gun goes off in the morning and we settle in to race pace all of this will leave my head and it'll be fine. That's what I'm counting on, anyway!
The Gameplan: for the first 2-3 miles I want to run very, very relaxed. Probably so much so that I will feel like I am way slower than pace. Hopefully that will keep me at, or a little over, 6-minute pace. Assuming all goes well there, I will just try to settle in thru at least 15-miles. By mile 10.5, I will have to have made up my mind whether my knee has it in it to go the full distance. If not, I can turn left and just finish out the half. If so, that's where I will begin to enter no-man's land. From what I've read, miles 13-22 are pretty desolate, so that will be a challenge in itself.
The forecast calls for temps in the low- to mid-60's at the start. That, mixed with the slight humidity, which I experienced on tonight's easy run, will mean that I need to drink as frequently as possible. I'll also be carrying some Endurolytes to help with sodium loss.
I honestly have NO idea how this is going to go tomorrow morning, but I will be fighting to hit my goal of 6-minute pace. All of the long workouts and runs will definitely be going through my head as I fight through the dark parts of the race. Thanks to everyone who supported me through this journey over the past 15 weeks. This Blog, while a little self-absorbed, helped me to stay accountable throughout the training, and to get some key advice (from you guys) regarding training.Without a coach, it's sometimes hard to have those things, and this turned out to be a great solution for me. Now, hopefully the name of this blog doesn't turn out to be too far off!!
Off to bed. THANKS EVERYONE!!
I've got to admit, I'm nervous for this one. With tri's it's been a long time since I've really gotten nervous for races. Even for Rome last Spring, I didn't get all that nervous, but this time, for whatever reason, it's different. I think it's the lapse in training over these past few weeks that has knocked my confidence down a few notches. While I know that just 1-month ago, I was in some of the best running shape of my life, it still seems like running 6-minute pace tomorrow is going to be a very tough task. Throw in the lingering VMO issues and this weeks bout with a sore throat and I am all nerves tonight. Hopefully once the gun goes off in the morning and we settle in to race pace all of this will leave my head and it'll be fine. That's what I'm counting on, anyway!
The Gameplan: for the first 2-3 miles I want to run very, very relaxed. Probably so much so that I will feel like I am way slower than pace. Hopefully that will keep me at, or a little over, 6-minute pace. Assuming all goes well there, I will just try to settle in thru at least 15-miles. By mile 10.5, I will have to have made up my mind whether my knee has it in it to go the full distance. If not, I can turn left and just finish out the half. If so, that's where I will begin to enter no-man's land. From what I've read, miles 13-22 are pretty desolate, so that will be a challenge in itself.
The forecast calls for temps in the low- to mid-60's at the start. That, mixed with the slight humidity, which I experienced on tonight's easy run, will mean that I need to drink as frequently as possible. I'll also be carrying some Endurolytes to help with sodium loss.
I honestly have NO idea how this is going to go tomorrow morning, but I will be fighting to hit my goal of 6-minute pace. All of the long workouts and runs will definitely be going through my head as I fight through the dark parts of the race. Thanks to everyone who supported me through this journey over the past 15 weeks. This Blog, while a little self-absorbed, helped me to stay accountable throughout the training, and to get some key advice (from you guys) regarding training.Without a coach, it's sometimes hard to have those things, and this turned out to be a great solution for me. Now, hopefully the name of this blog doesn't turn out to be too far off!!
Off to bed. THANKS EVERYONE!!
Flying Out...
Quick check-in: On my way to the airport in a few minutes. Feeling pretty good. Have been fighting a sore throat all week but seem to have it under control. Nervous to see what the humidity is like down in TX, but I have heard that it hasn't been bad lately. This morning it was only 44 degrees in San Antonio at 7:30 (race-start time tomorrow). Perfect running weather!
I'll write a big update tonight.
I'll write a big update tonight.
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