speedvegan

Time 48:01 | Pace 7:44 | Age Group Place 3/162

Geoffrey’s recent 5K PR, a blazing 22 minutes, shows just how hard he’s worked since he started running only a few years ago. He has since expressed a desire to run a 10K but there are, surprisingly, very few in our area. There wil be one in January but it conflicts with our half/marathon training schedules. Then I remembered the annual Turkey Trot down in Miami. It’s within driving distance despite our typically full-on Thanksgiving schedule. He agreed to it so we registered !

I was ALL KINDS of ambitious after my Half Iron Triathlon two weeks ago. So much so, that I did a TEMPO run on Thursday, just four days after the event. My legs were NOT happy. They’d been agreeable until then but after that run they sort of went on strike. I had planned (don’t laugh) a 15 mile run the weekend after the HIM. Needless to say, the weekend did not go down as planned. I managed a recovery ride but wasn’t able to run until Monday. My legs felt a bit better by then but were still, well, unhappy. I wasn’t sure how they would deal with a 10K race. I took it easy the next two days and by race morning I felt almost normal again. Fortunately, I’ve only done one other 10K and it was a gazillion years ago. My running is much stronger now so a PR would be easily attainable no matter how badly I performed. I did have a number in mind – 48 minutes. It seemed like a good goal to reach for, even with battered legs. Actually, the monologue inside my head went something like this: “I ran a 10K in 50 minutes AFTER swimming and biking for two hours. I can TOTALLY do this.”

So, finally, after a lot of useless commentary (much like this blog posting), we were off ! First mile, an easy 7:55. I tried hard to keep it steady and not let my legs go all out. Fortunately the 5K and 10K started together so there were like a thousand people corralling me for most of the first mile. Geoff actually made a joke about the width of the path versus the amount of people in front of us at the start. Ha. Ha.

Mile 2, 7:45. I finally started to settle into the pace I wanted to run at. I was feeling quite strong, like I was barely making an effort but I just kept it steady. Mile 3, 7:46. Weird thing happened – we got to the 5K turn point and I was SO happy to be turning in the other direction. I wasn’t ready to stop. No way. This was a good sign. Obviously I wasn’t going all out, but I was having a great time.

Mile 4, 7:38. Halfway through, so I stepped on it a tiny bit. There were people in front of me slowing down which always throws me off. Mile 5, 7:37. Still feeling strong but knew I’d have to kick up the pace for a 48 minute finish. I decided to wait until the last mile to give it all I had. Mile 6, 7:16. There were two girls who kept passing me throughout the race but dropping back again because they couldn’t hold their pace. This irritates me. They tried to pass me AGAIN during this last mile but I’d just had enough. I pushed so hard I thought I was going to throw up. It was all starting to feel worth it until we hit a finish banner which a lot of people mistook for the finish line. I’d already seen the REAL finish line, about a quarter mile away, so I didn’t stop. Unfortunately, the woman in front of me did. Not only that, she actually turned around, hands in the air to wave to someone on her left and smacked me right in the face. No worries. I kept running like a little machine to reach the finish line in my goal time – 48 minutes, plus a second for good luck ! Or, perhaps to remind me that this PR chase is not over.

Geoffrey had a great race as well, but I’ll let him tell his story. In the end, we both had a great morning and felt much better about stuffing ourselves at the annual vegan Thanksgiving Feast later that afternoon. I love our life !

Time 5:46:24 | Overall 241/571 | Gender 46/154 | Age Group 13/19

Proud recipient of the world’s cutest medal

If I had to summarize this race report in one word, it would be “redemption.” I tried to sound positive in last year’s race report, but the truth is that I was devastated. It’s not like I expected my performance to be that of this year’s, but I did expect to perform better than I ultimately did. That may have been a false expectation on my part. Just about everything was different last year:

• Luka. While in hindsight adopting a dog was a great decision and I wouldn’t trade Luka for the world, the first 6 months with her were incredibly hard. My training schedule went out the window. I constantly felt guilty about leaving her locked in a crate for hours while I was at work only to get home and lock her up again so I could go for a run or a ride. I struggled a lot with this. A LOT. This year, Luka is a year older. She’s not locked in a crate anymore. I don’t feel guilty anymore. I stuck to my training schedule, guilt-free.
• Injuries. I suffered a couple of running injuries during those months as well which prevented me from sticking to a running schedule. I went through my training logs, comparing this year’s training, week for week, with last year’s and the results were appalling. I didn’t have any injuries to really deal with this year, apart from a mild ITB issue which was actually related to a bad bike fit, so I managed to run consistently and even incorporate some speed work into my schedule.
• Bike. I didn’t actually know this when I wrote last year’s race report, but something happened to my saddle between my last two triathlons of the year – my saddle dropped to the bottom of the post. I can’t say how this happened. It was fine in one race and then three weeks later, it was about four inches lower. The worst part is that I did not realize this. Yes, the race conditions weren’t ideal. It was very windy, but I have battled with wind before. The wind should not have reduced my speed to 10mph. This year, I had my bike adjusted properly and made sure that saddle was where it was supposed to be on race day !
• Race conditions. This is not something I can control, but I couldn’t have asked for better conditions this year after last year’s massive winds and blistering heat. I’m sure the milder weather helped physically and psychologically.

In the end, it all came down to one thing: being able to train consistently. It was all going well until the end of August and early September when I went to NZ for a few days and got sick. I had a cold that lasted three weeks and was barely able to train. I started to fret and even considered transferring my registration to the following year. I couldn’t imagine reliving 2009. But then I just decided to move forward. Once I felt better, I slowly started to increase my training volume and with a bit of luck, I managed to train consistently and injury-free straight through to taper.

Yes, taper ! I was actually able to taper properly this year and finally experienced just how beneficial it is. I’ve never had as much energy as I did that last week of taper. I was so eager to do anything longer than an hour that I just couldn’t wait for the race. I was super excited the day before and even on race morning. This is another difference from last year when I was scared, sick and didn’t have an ounce of confidence.

So, fast forward a year, to race morning. Unlike last year, we didn’t stay at a hotel near the race venue and it was wonderful. There’s nothing like sleeping in your own bed on the night before a race. I slept solidly for a few hours, woke up, tossed and turned a little but still had plenty of energy when the alarm finally went off at 3:45.

And so begins the actual race report…

Breakfast: cereal and almond milk, two pieces of toast (one with margarine and Marmite, one with peanut butter), one bottle Vitamin Water, water

We arrived at the race around around 5:50 and got a KILLER parking spot – GO Geoffrey ! I had dropped the bike off the previous day during packet pickup so I just had to lay out a few things in my transition spot, which was also AWESOME. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said this was a redemption race. We ended up with one of the worst parking spots last year and my transition spot was THE WORST. Trust me, I looked around.

Having arrived so early (my wave didn’t go off until 7:30) I had plenty of time to set up transition, go potty, put on my wetsuit and stand around leisurely with Geoffrey for another 15 minutes before heading off to the beach.

SWIM | 1.2 miles | 51:48

Finishing the swim (I’m the one in the white cap)

There weren’t that many girls in my wave which made me feel comfortable, until my face hit the water. See, I’ve never worn a wetsuit before, apart from doing a few laps in the pool to “test it out.” I wasn’t even sure that it fit properly. It seemed awfully tight. Apparently wetsuits are supposed to fit that way ! But what mostly bothered me was the tightness around my neck. I normally freak out when I first enter the water and mostly keep my head up until the first buoy when I finally start swimming like someone who is not totally neurotic. Well, it was really hard to reach that point with the wetsuit digging into my esophagus. My throat tensed up and I really thought I was going to drown. This must have gone on for at least 5 minutes. IT. WAS. TORTURE. During this time, I may have thought things like “I’m never doing another triathlon again” etc. Who hasn’t ? Anyway, eventually I settled down and continued to swim in my typical slow and slightly scattered way.

The most frustrating thing during the whole swim, however, happened to NOT be the wetsuit, but my goggles. They fogged up as soon as I stuck my head in the water making it impossible to see anything. It wasn’t so bad at first, but as soon as I turned into the direction of the sun I just couldn’t see a thing. At one point, I kept hearing someone screaming “GO LEFT GO LEFT.” I finally stopped and took my goggles off to see if they were yelling at me. Well, of course they were. I was headed towards the wrong buoy. I finally made it out of the water (for the first time) in 25 minutes. I couldn’t believe my eyes. All I had to do was swim the same length in the same amount of time and I would meet my goal !

The second lap seemed slower, and it was, but only by a a minute. The lake was less crowded for a bit until some of the International distance waves set off. I was kicked and pulled but somehow made my way towards the sun again and eventually out of the water for the last time in just over 51 minutes. I had hoped for 50 minutes, but that was good enough for me – a 12 minute improvement over last year’s time. I hoped my luck would continue.

Nutrition: gel and water 15 minutes prior to start

T1 | 1:54

I worried that wearing a wetsuit would slow me down in transition. However, due to some changes in the layout this year and the peelers being very efficient, I actually beat last year’s T1 time by almost two minutes. Incredible !

BIKE | 56 miles | 2:52:08

Finishing the bike leg on a well fitted bike !

Once out of transition, I had to walk my bike another 100 yards or so to the actual bike mounting area. I set off not really knowing what pace I’d be able to hold. I aimed for somewhere around 20mph. It was actually too easy at first, probably due to all the adrenaline and tailwind. Once we turned into the wind, I slowed down a bit, but kept a steady pace. The bike ride was somewhat uneventful this year in comparison to last year’s dangerously windy conditions. Also, because my bike fit like a glove this year, I barely felt any aches. However, I did notice a particularly high number of flat tires – a realistic fear of mine. Fortunately, luck was still on my side and I finished the bike leg unscathed.

I used fig bars for nutrition on the bike, as opposed to the Lara Bars I used last year which were too high in fat and hard to digest. The fig bars worked fine during training but for some reason my stomach felt a big queasy almost as soon as I got on the bike. Still, I forced myself to eat and drink. Sometime during the second loop, one of my water bottles flew off so I had to ration what was left. Still, I completely ran out of liquids with a few miles to go. All I could think about was having a big glass of ice cold water. Fortunately, this race is very well supported and I knew I’d get to have some as soon as I made it out of T2.

Nutrition: one fig bar every 20-30 minutes (8 total), one bottle water, one bottle prepared Heed.

T2 | 1:23

I had one of the fastest T2 times which really shocked me. I think it was partly due to having such an awesome transition spot but also because I was just SO ready to run. Last year, I actually thought about quitting after getting off the bike. That thought never crossed my mind this year.

RUN | 13.1 miles | 1:59:10

Swiftly running out of transition

Off I went, stopping for a bit of water outside transition. I felt SO strong. I ran the first mile in about 8 minutes – clearly too fast. Actually, a few people commented on how fast I was running. I finally came back to reality and started to run a more sustainable pace. Unfortunately, my stomach was still a mess and although I knew I had to get a gel inside me soon, I just couldn’t even think about it without the urge to toss my fig bars. I was very thirsty though and drank water at every aid station until mile 4 when I finally decided I needed to try a gel. It managed to stay down, somewhat. I’ll spare you the details. My pace was still very good though and I actually finished the first loop faster than I expected. Actually, I totally surprised Geoffrey who expected me a bit later as well. Then, early into the second loop, my legs started to feel heavy and my pace started to drop. The thought of having another gel, though, nauseated me. I managed to keep running on water alone until the aid station just after mile 9 where I walked just long enough to have a gel and some water. I set off slowly to try to keep the gel down and wasn’t really able to increase the pace much after that.

The last 3 miles were pretty tough. I’m not sure if it was a sugar crash, but I was covered in goosebumps and having chills. I kept trying to run faster just so I could cross the finish line and lay down but I had no juice left in my legs. I finally made it to mile 12 and dug deep inside for the few reserves I had left. A 5:45 finish was realistic if I could run the last mile in 8 minutes. I gave it my all, but I just couldn’t run fast enough.

Nutrition: gel and water at miles 4 and 9, water throughout

Ecstatically crossing the finish line !

So that’s the story of how I missed my goal by one minute. I’ll take it, though, because I came through that finish line 50 minutes ahead of last year’s time and that, mentally, made me feel like a million bucks. Physically, I still felt like I’d been hit by a truck. My average heart rate over the entire event was 73% of my max which seems a bit on the low side for a race, so I think fuel may have been the problem. Perhaps I just didn’t get enough calories. I need to go back to the drawing board and figure out a nutrition plan that will work for me.

I am planning to do another Half Iron event in central Florida in May 2011. It will be hot. It will be challenging. However, I now have a good performance to base training and a future goal on. Plus, I am much more confident than I was last year. Geoffrey gave me a card the night before the race. It said “I believe in you” among other sappy things sappy people write in sappy cards. I still think he believes in me more than I believe in myself, but after seeing what my body was capable of during this race, I have to admit that I do believe I can do better.