Cazenovia Sprint Tri

 

Sunday I raced the Elite Sprint Division of the Cazenovia Triathlon. This being their 10th anniversary, they decided to host an “elite” start for some top local age groupers. It was a lot of fun racing and knowing where you were place-wise since everyone in the group all started together. Eric Prager was doing the elite race also so we met up in the parking lot and did a short warm-up on our bikes after setting up our transition area. The one thing that stood out was the WIND! 

The race went well and I finished 1st female, 5th overall in 1:14:45. My ex-husband’s brother was racing also so he brought Phoebe and Maggie to watch. They had a blast playing games and climbing on the playground. Lots of other kids there for them to make friends with also!

Swim

Two words…SUPER CHOPPY. My plan all along was to do the swim without a wetsuit. Kona is not wetsuit legal so I thought I should do at least one race without the wetsuit. The 60 degree temp and gusty cold winds had me second guessing this decision. Once I started swimming, though I was plenty warm. The water was so choppy and I had someone hitting my feet the first 100 yards at least. Then I managed to glide in behind someone (thanks mike ) and drafted most of the rest of the swim. The turn after the 3rd buoy was where the water got incredibly choppy and I lost my draft. I just tried to kick it in without swallowing too much water! As I ran up the ramp out of the water, I could hear my girls cheering for me…put a huge smile on my face!

T1

I was ready for this transition. No wetsuit…but I still had a little trouble. I was slow to get the helmet and shoes on and then had a little trouble unhooking the bike. I then had major trouble mounting the bike. The bike mount area is straight uphill and I have never had luck mounting the bike in the 3 times I have done this race. After 3 tries, I managed to clip in and was on my way. Of course, this was after I crossed the mats so it was all a part of my bike time.

Swim + T1 = 15:17 7th fastest overall, 2nd fastest female

Bike

The bike was uneventful except for the incredibly huge headwind on the ride back to the transition area. There is a climb about a mile into the ride that gets timed and a prize is awarded to the fastest climber of the day. (FYI – the timed part of the climb is short – maybe 50 yards?). I did my best but couldn’t outclimb Julie Rosa – she is amazing on hills! The course has a few other big rolling hills and one really nice big downhill. The highlight of the ride was breaking 50mph on that downhill. (That was my first time going over 50!). Eric passed me after the first uphill climb and then was out of sight.

Bike = 38:50 (22.1mph) 7th fastest overall, 1st fastest female
Hill climb = 31sec

T2

Somehow I managed to have trouble getting my run shoes on. They stuck to my feet because I didn’t have socks on. I told Karen and Eric we definitely need to work on my transitions!!

T2 time = 41sec

Run

Once you exit transition, the run begins with the same uphill that you have to mount the bike on. So, I was not feeling that great during the whole climb. It’s short but not a fun way to start a run after a hilly bike course. Once I made the turn, it flattened out. Where was everybody? I could see someone about 400m ahead but they were so far off that I was in no man’s land. The first mile is basically uphill and I was not feeling that great. Once I crested the hill, however, I started to feel stronger and reminded myself that this was still a race and still wasn’t 100% sure that I was in the lead. The out and back course allowed me to see the runners ahead of me. I must have been moving faster than them because more runners started coming into view. At the turn around, I realized I was in first (5th overall). Eric was way ahead…no chance of catching him (he finished up 2nd). My friend Mike was just ahead of me and I thought I might have a chance to catch him. I really pushed the downhill, passed him (then got passed by some guy running a 17min 5K (HS!!) ) and coasted in to the finish.

Run = 19:57

This is a really fun, well organized event. I’ve done both the Olympic distance and the Sprint and love them both. It is a real challenge with the hills and they have tons of great raffle prizes and awards. I was basically satisfied with my day. It was tough being in the middle of the hardest month of training so I don’t feel this was my best effort but I performed solidly in all 3 events. Can’t complain.

Up next…Skinnyman and I’m All That…

One last thing…I got a facebook message from a friend of my dad’s (pretty cool!):

“Hey, we just saw you on TV. YES network (home of the Yankees) has a 1/2 hour running show every week. Usually they show mostly NYC stuff, but tonight they showed the Chase race in Syracuse. Didn’t show the men winner, but did name you by name and show you crossing the tape. GREAT! By great serendipity, they segued right into the swim start in Kona from last year. Coincidence? I don’t think so!”

Du the Lakes Duathlon

Week 1 of my bike block ended with my first duathlon ever.  It was a very tough week with lots of miles on the bike and I was super tired by Saturday night.  The girls had been with their dad all week for spring break and they were wiped out too.  So much so that Maggie fell asleep under her bed at 5pm on Saturday.  I tried to wake her for dinner but she was out.  So, Scott lifted the bed, got her out and put her under her covers for the night.

At 1am, Phoebe came in to my bedroom to tell me Maggie needed me.  Phoebe went back to sleep but Maggie was wide awake.  She chatted with me for at least an hour and then told me she needed “brefast”.  I got her some cereal, set her up with a video and I went back to bed.  Then she came up to tell me she needed another video. I got up again and got her another video.  Finally by 5am I got back to sleep only to be woken up by the alarm at 6am.  Not the best start for race day but what can you do!  Of course, when we came downstairs, Maggie was curled up asleep on the chair in front of the TV.

OK – back to the race.  Rain was predicted but held off for the entire race.  It was about 50 deg and perfect racing weather.  We met the babysitter at the race, got our race numbers, set up our transition and were ready to go.  Scott was in wave #2 with me.  It was fun starting together.  We led our wave for the 1st 200 meters or so and then Scott took off ahead with a few other guys.  Karen’s plan for me was to take it easier on the first run and 1st half of the bike then work it for the 2nd half of the race…unless I was way out in front. She told me to shut it down and conserve my energy for the tougher workouts coming up.  I did not wear the HRM but went out at what felt like tempo pace.  I hit the first mile in 6:17 and the second in 6:23.  I felt extremely relaxed.  I could see Scott the whole time and just kept him in my sights.  I finished the run in 19:46 (7th fastest OA and 1st fastest female).  I later found out that the guy that came in 2nd overall was using me to pace himself on the run.  I thought that was totally cool that I am considered strong enough for a guy to pace himself off of me!!

Next transition – UGH!!!  Scott and I had horrible transitions.  We decided we definitely need to work on that.  I was 41sec and he 46s (16 and 26th OA). We lost a good 30s right there.

I mounted my bike right behind Scott and we took off.  Again, I could see him during the whole ride.  I just tried to stay close.  The ride felt great.  I just focused on staying strong.  In the back of my mind was that 2nd run that I still had to do.  Only 1 rider passed me during the bike portion.  He joined Scott and 1 other guy as they battled each other.  I was really encouraged that I was able to stay so close to them…even closing the gap a bit on the bigger climbs at the end.  Unfortunately, the guys pulled ahead of me on the downhill (I think because of their weight!!).  I did still fly down the hill into transition. I finished at 22.2mph (7th fastest again) – huge for me!

Transition sucked again and then it was on to the final run.  My legs felt awful!  They were dead…I couldn’t believe I had 3 more miles to run before I would be done!  I dug in and shuffled along.  I passed the rider that had passed me just as we passed the playground.  Phoebe came out and gave me a high five and even ran with me for a bit.  Maggie yelled go mommy and that put a smile on my face for the remaining 2.5 miles!  I hit the first mile in 6:20 – just seconds off the first run.  I was psyched.  Even though I felt bad, I was still pushing a good pace.  I caught Scott with 1 mile to go.  After that there was no one in sight so I just took it easy…still running hard but not killing myself.  I finished that run in 19:58 and place 4th overall, 1st female.  As I crossed the finish line I could see Phoebe out of the corner of my eye with a huge smile and arms out ready for a hug.  I am so glad they were able to come watch me race.  It is just more fun when they are there.  Scott came in 12 secs behind me for 5th overall.

I was happy with my race.  I don’t feel I went all out on any part but gave myself a good workout.  Obviously the transition times were my downfall here.  I can’t afford that in Texas.  I spoke with Karen about the race and she was extremely pleased.  She said her area of expertise is transitions so we would work on those asap!!  Scott compared my results to the National Duathlon Championship Race that was held the same weekend and with the same times, I would have place 1st age group and top 5 overall.  Pretty cool for my first duathlon ever!

The Du the Lakes Duathlon was an extremely well organized race.  This was its first year and the race directors put on a great event.  I will definitely plan this race again for next year.  Hopefully they will draw a larger crowd with even stronger competition.

Scott had to return to Virginia that evening ( ) so we headed out for an early dinner at Dinosaur BBQ.  Major protein replacement!!

Skunk Cabbage 1/2 Marathon, Ithaca, NY

Sunday, Scott and I and the girls traveled down to Ithaca to run the Skunk Cabbage Half Marathon.  This is pretty much an annual trip for me…being a Cornell alum, I love running this race.  Just being on campus brings back lots of memories!  On top of that, it is an extremely well organized, fun and challenging race.  They offer a 10K, too, that has a much flatter course for those of you not quite ready for 13.1 miles.  It is also a nice local race with LOTS of friendly runners.  At one point during the race a guy just blurted out to me “Does Wegmans have a team this year? You had a great race at the Finger Lakes Tri!”.  We chatted for a few but I wasn’t able to hold much of a conversation at that point.  I found him at the finish and apologized for not talking much!  I also ran into a couple of Cornell guys that we had met at the DC race.

This was Scott’s first time running it so I made sure to describe the course, including every hill…all 15 of them!!  It was a beautiful day – sunny and 50 degrees…perfect racing weather.  A co-worker of mine has a friend that goes to school at Cornell and she agreed to sit with the girls while we ran.  I was so excited that they were finally going to get to see us race and cheer us on.  Not half as excited as they were, though!!

My plan was to hit 6:30′s in the beginning and then pick it up once the big downhills started around 5 miles.  I hit the first mile in 6:31, second in 6:30 and third in 6:25.  The fourth mile has a bigger uphill (and I think it is long…every year ) so I hit that in 6:52.  Scott took off ahead of me but I could see him the whole time.  I caught him at 4 miles and knew something must be up.  He said he was having trouble breathing – he couldn’t get a deep breath.  He also gave blood 3 days before the race which I don’t think was helping his cause any, either.  I passed him and continued on.  I led from start to finish so my only motivation was to try and catch the guys ahead of me (or at least stay with them).  Usually I know I have a run a smart race if no one passes me during the 2nd half of the race.  And no one did so I was happy about that.  I was not thrilled with my finishing time 1:24:55 – about 2 minutes slower than in DC.  But I did feel good the whole way, it was the end of a 3rd hard week AND it was 20 secs faster than last year.  SO all in all, a successful race.  Scott finished 2 minutes behind me and was happy to just have finished.  He said it was mental for him the whole way – he wanted to drop out so badly.  I was proud of him for pushing through.  Not every race has to be about a PR.

Of course the best part was coming into the finish and hearing 2 little voices stand out above the rest – Go Mommy Go Mommy!!!  They both ran up to hug me until they saw all of the sweat.  I got high fives instead .  Maggie was so sweet.  Some of the older kids were handing out cups of water at the finish.  Well, 4 yo Maggie jumps right up with them, grabs 2 cups and patiently waits for someone to take water from her.  It was agonizing for me as runner after runner passed her by.  Finally a woman crossed the line and came right at Maggie.  She took a cup and the smile on Maggie’s face was bigger than mine when I won Chesapeakeman!!  Even some of the the spectators clapped when the woman took the water.  After that, we headed to the showers so I could get my hugs from my babes.

I won a $50 gift card to the Finger Lakes Running Company store in Ithaca, so we headed over there to spend it.  I found an awesome Prana top and pants.  Very comfortable and stylish.  Right next door was a great pizza place so lunch was there before heading back home.

Altogether a great day!

Run DC National Half Marathon

Friday at 5pm I got off of work and headed down to DC for my first race of the season.  This past week and a half had included some pretty tough workouts.  Plus, this past week was supposed to be an easy week but I was really determined to complete the treadmill workout that I failed to complete the week before so I added that in to this week’s workouts.

OK – I better back up here.  First of all, I did not listen to my coach.  Karen had me scheduled for an easy week leading up to the half marathon.  I was to do a tempo run, a treadmill workout and the race.  Also, 2 bikes and 2 short swims.  Well, the weather here in CNY was gorgeous and I managed to have some time free of children just when the sun was shining so I just had to take advantage.  In addition to that, the week before had a treadmill workout scheduled that I thought should be simple for me to complete that I was not even able to get halfway through (1mi at 8.3, 1.5mi at 8.6, 1.5mi at 8.9 and 1.5mi at 9.2).  I had the  brilliant idea of throwing that workout in on Thursday to prove I could do it.  So Thursday looked like this:  treadmill workout at 6am, 2200yard swim at 10am and 36mi ride at 2pm. Friday I cycled indoors for 40 minutes and then raced on Saturday.  The rest of the week…Monday was a tempo run and 40 minute ride, Tuesday was a 2000+ yard swim plus the treadmill workout and Wednesday was a day off.  So for a rest week, I ended up doing way too much.  I know…you are saying why didn’t you just listen to your coach? Well, I should have.  I guess its a good time to learn when it is a B or C race and not my big A race for the year.

My legs had been tired all week…and Saturday was to be no different.  Scott and I got up at 5:30am.  We stayed with his sister on Bolling Air Force Base so we were about 5 minutes from the start.  We showered and headed over in my car.  Well, so did the other 11,998 people running the race!!  We got within 1 mile of the parking area and came to a stand still.  I had to use the bathroom so badly and could see the starting line and porta-potties from where we were on the road.  Scott took over driving and I ran over to “squeeze the lemon”.  When I got out and ran back to the car, Scott had not moved.  The race was starting in 20 minutes and I started freaking out a bit.  Scott could see the anxiety building and sent me over to the start while he waited for the cars to start moving.  I kissed him, wished him luck and took off.  I was really upset about leaving him but he made me go.

I ran around the start, peed a couple of more times and then jogged back while they began singing the national anthem.  Before the song was over Scott was by my side.  He could see me visibly relax…we were ready to race!  I was sooo glad he made it.  The half marathon and marathon all started together so it was pretty crowded.  Scott and I started up at the front so we didn’t have too many people to navigate through but it was still congested.

The race took off and we headed for the Capitol Building.  Mile 1 passed in 6:26 (Scott was already ahead), mile 2 6:14, mile 3 6:06, mile 4 and 5 6:24, mile 6 6:46, mile 7 6:34, mile 8 through mile 13.1 all were around 6:20 pace.  The course was very hilly – much more than I expected.  Apparently more than others expected, too, because everyone around me was begging for the hills to end.  I was glad I wasn’t running the full marathon today!  At 9.5 miles, I could see Scott just ahead of me.  I felt good enough that I could catch him.  I decided to slowly work my way up.  In the meantime, another 2 women came up on me.  One went by and I tried to stay with her.  I could hear cries of “Go Joanie” and assumed that was the name of someone near me.  I did not want anyone else to pass me so I pushed it as hard as I could.  I was psyched at how much strength I still had at the end.  At about 11 miles I caught Scott.  He cheered me on as I ran by him.  We both admitted our exhaustion to each other.  There was a long uphill going to 13mi and then the last 0.1 mile was downhill.  I still heard the cheers for Joanie but figured I had her  beat, whoever she was.  After I crossed the finish line (in 1:23:05) I turned around to see Joan Benoit Samuelson crossing the line – no wonder I heard so many people calling her name!!!  Scott crossed right after her in 1:23:20.

I was kind of disappointed at first with my effort.  I really felt tired and weak during the race.  I also thought it was kind of a slow time.  Later on in the day Scott and I checked our results from races last year and I discovered it was only 10 seconds off of my best time in 2009.  I think that is a pretty encouraging way to start the season!  Karen said I was right on where she wanted me to be.  I think if I had rested even a little and knew the course ahead of time, I could have easily run under 1:22:55.  It turns out I won my age group, too (11th overall) and really, that’s all I need to do at Buffalo Springs!!

April 11th, Scott and I will have a rematch in Ithaca at the Skunk Cabbage Half Marathon – stay tuned to see who will prevail!

Attempt #2

Today I cringed when I looked at the workout that was assigned…it was the same treadmill workout that I could not complete 2 weeks ago.  To refresh your memory it was a 10 min warm-up (treadmill on elevation 1 as always) then 5 minutes at 7min pace, 5 min at 6:45 and 10 minutes at 6:30 pace…then repeat.  Thankfully, this time she gave me a 5 minute easy jog before I started the second set.
I decided to skip the cycling and do that another day…wanted my legs to be fresh for this challenge.  I felt OK during the warm-up. Definitely not my strongest but decent.  I made it through the first set with my heartbeat at 163 – 10 beats lower than last time.  I jogged very easily (at 6.6mph) and then started the second set.  The 7 minute and 6:45 intervals went fine but my heartrate was averaging higher than the first go round.  When I hit the 6:30 pace, I knew I was in trouble.  I made it through 5 minutes but just barely – my heartrate was registering 173 and that is close to my upper limit, I believe.  I knew I wasn’t going to make 10 minutes so I backed down for another 5 minute jog and then headed back up for 5 more minutes at 6:30.  This time it was actually easier and my heartrate stayed down at 167.
Afterwards, I spoke with Karen and told her I couldn’t complete it again.  She reassured me that it was OK and that if I was doing it easily she would have to make it harder.  She also said that in a month or two I WILL be telling her it is too easy.  We’ll see.  For now, maybe third time’s a charm

Philadelphia Marathon

This past Sunday I ran in the Philadelphia Marathon. It was to be the last race of the year for me and not even an A race. I was doing it more to support Scott in his quest to break 3 hours. I had trained him for the past 3 months and wanted to be there for him. I had done my first Ironman distance triathlon at Chesapeakeman September 26th so had no idea how tired I would be. I went into this race more relaxed than any other race in my life. The morning of the race, as Scott and I were parking the car, I joked to him that we didn’t need to worry about our bike or wetsuits or helmet or goggles! There is so much less stuff in running! I felt relaxed and was just looking forward to getting started. It was a perfect morning for the race…42 deg with a high for the day around 55 deg. Sunny and little wind. My dad had made the trip down to cheer us on so I was really hoping to run well in front of him. Read more