"End of Tri Season and Back to Marathon Training"

Well the last month has had its ups and downs and while I’m sad to see triathlon season wrapping up, I am also pretty happy to shifting my focus back to the run.   Triathlons were great for training and the competitions were very challenging and a lot of fun but at the end of the day running is really what I enjoy most.  I will incorporate swimming and biking into my cross training and spend a good portion of time on the bike trainer during the winter months to get a good start of next season.

My focus from here through November is my first BQ attempt in the Madison Marathon in November.  I starting increasing my mileage again earlier August and am already back up over 60 miles per week so I’m feeling good about the base I have going in the next 8 weeks of training.  I will cut back on racing the next couple months and pretty much only incorporate longer races into my training (Quad Cities and Benefit Classic ½ marathons in Sept and a 50K in October).  I still need to finalize an actual plan but I’m loosely following my spring marathon plan just going to speed up the pace and slightly increase my long runs. 

Monticello Sprint Tri

This was a fun event but I definitely had a rough time in parts.  The water was very warm and I chose to swim without a wetsuit which backfired big time as we got hung up around one of the course cones and I was trampled by the more buoyant competitors.  I ended up finishing much slower on the swimming portion during the race compared to my normal training pace which was very disappointing.  I made up some time on the bike and did decently well but it was a hillier course than I had anticipated and I was not able to average over 20mph which was my goal time… overall I was pretty happy with the bike portion as I have a very little bike experience.   The run was my best event as it should have been, I finished 5^th overall with my time and passed a dozen competitors over the 3 mile stretch… I was a little surprised to find the course was all off road and very bumpy, it really took away from the pace I was shooting for but I was still very happy as I finished well compared to the competition.  I finished 16^th overall and 4^th in my division…  I was a little disappointed I missed 3^rd place by 12 seconds considering my rough swim but I am very driven to work hard during the winter to improve my times for next year.  I have setup my “running lab” with a bike training so I can continue to work on my biking throughout the offseason whenever possible.

Mines of Spain ½ Marathon (1:42:45)

This was probably one of the best times I’ve had in a race period!  13.1 miles in what has become my favorite place to run in the tristate area.  This is a fairly small event put on our local trail running group and some good running buddies of mine… they capped out at 200 people which was perfect for the trails and had a 5K, 10K and ½ marathon course.  You couldn’t have gotten a better day or group of people, it was just a blast.  Running the trails I’ve gone over hundreds of times before was even more fun as this time I was letting loose and really having a great time pushing myself.  The whole race flew by in what felt like a much shorter distance than what we covered… I finished at a 1:42:45 in 6^th place overall but wasn’t really concerned with place or time on this one.  The after party was great with a potluck with all sorts of goodies including beer and bacon.

Alzheimer’s 5K (18:05)

I had a fun time at Alzheimer’s this year and knocked off 52 seconds from last years’ time.  I was slightly disappointed that I did not break 18 minutes that that was all my own fault.  I had really pushed myself hard the week of this race and thought I could still overcome the fatigue by pushing myself, unfortunately I was not as mentally tough during this race as I could have been and I really did not drive myself as hard as I should have at the end.  I finished in 2^nd overall behind a very fast runner that I knew I could not keep up with, I was also about a minute ahead of 3^rd place, so I found myself in this void where it did matter very much place-wise whether I pushed hard or not so I eased up where I should have cracked down.   It was an important lesson and I think it was a sign that I needed a break from racing… it is hard to push yourself to the limit every week; when you never take a break from racing they can start to become just another speedwork session.  All that being said I was still OK with the time and happy to get 1^st in my division and 2^nd overall.

"I've got Race Fever!"

My races have really started piling up and I’m having a blast this summer!  Although I’m no stranger to running many summer races, this year I’m competing in a much larger variety of events.  Mixing the triathlons with the running is helping me become more well-rounded with my training and I find my run times continue to drop even as I increased the swimming and biking and had to drop back mileage on my running.   

I’ve got four more races to catch up on since my last post, three runs and a triathlon.  I actually only have one more tri firmly set in my schedule which is this upcoming weekend, after that time I will lace up my shoes and start cranking up the miles in anticipation of my fall marathon.  I’m going to make my first attempt at a Boston qualifying in November and I’m both nervous and excited for what is sure to be a challenging journey.  My training plan is still pretty rough but I’m going to base it off my plan for Grandma’s and make some small changes in pacing and elevation.

Race Summary of July…

Run 4 Troops – Dyersville to Dubuque, IA - Marathon Relay – June 28, 2014 (41:30, 6.6 miles)

We had an awesome time at the run for troops and our relay team pulled in a second place finish!   That being said, I learned a pretty big lesson on the old ego… not every race is going to be a PR.   Although I’m not too upset at my 6:17 average being I was only 6 days after Grandma’s Marathon, I was a little frustrated with myself for taking the first mile out at around a 5:40 pace.  I was only 2 miles into the race when I started to crash hard, the legs were still feeling the marathon miles and moreover my normally strong mental toughness was just not there that day.  Lucky for me the first place marathoner came up by my side and gave me some words of encouragement and pushed me to keep on.  I instantly felt better and my pace dropped about 30 seconds per mile as I ran with him through the end of my leg, it really goes to show how much of this sport is mental. 

After my leg I had a blast watching all the rest of the crew run, each of them did an amazing job.  On a relay you ride in a van with your team and drive point to point dropping off and picking up runners; you would think this would lead to a logistics nightmare but the race crew did a great job of leading everyone though.  We had 2 teams for the DRC and my brother and sister had a team as well so there was lots of fun cheering everybody in at the finish.  They had pizza at the finish which hit the spot and I got to chat with the winners who did amazing considering the heat of the day, it really was a ton of fun and a great cause.

Firecracker 5K – Earlville, Ia – (17:53, 3.1 miles)

This was a great race and I was thrilled to come away with the overall win...  you see, I have had a chip on my shoulder since I missed my first opportunity two years ago to possibly bring in a win… let me explain.   In 2012 I drove out to Earlville only to realize I had signed up for the “EarlHAM 5K” instead of “EarlVILLE”, a town about 200 miles away.  Unfortunately I did not have any money to register that day so I drove home disappointed, two days later I found out the winning time was over 20 minutes and I could have won the race… pretty devastating for me at the time as I had never even gotten close to winning a 5k… this bothered me for a long time…    

So fast forward two years and a lot of training later and I was hell-bent on taking my win back.  I normally am not very nervous for 5ks but the pressure I put on myself for this race had my nerves going pretty good.  The last 20 minutes before the race start I was feeling like I could lose my breakfast about any time… I always find the few minutes waiting to toe the line the most nerve racking of times.

So once the gun goes off it was pretty much me and last year’s winner battling it out from the start… he was a younger guy and took off very quick from the start.  I decided to use a strategy I had not planned on before the race and pushed the pace throughout the first mile down around the 5:30 mark to keep stride with him.  Lucky for me around mile 1 he dropped back and by the second mile I was all by myself.  These are very bittersweet moments as I am happy to be in first place but wishing I had someone to push the pace and help me drop more time.  I ended up well though with a 17:53, I got a nice medal and a new cooler filled with Gatorade… yet all the sports drinks in the world couldn’t taste as sweet as finally redeeming my win haha.

Ironman 70.3 – Racine, WI – (5:23:24, 70.3 mile triathlon)

So this was definitely the hardest physical challenge of my life so far, the race consisted of a 1.2 mile swim in Lake Michigan followed by a 56 mile bike ride and a half marathon (13.1 mile) run.  The weather was awesome, decently cool for mid July and not much wind which meant the water was like glass.  I had heard horror stories about Lake Michigan swell and sea sick racer vomiting all over length of the route… I was more than happy this was not something we had to deal with.  The temperature of the water however was a factor, it had only gotten to the upper 50’s and was quite cold at first.   To combat the head freeze I wore a thermal race cap and also decided to wear my sleeved wetsuit instead of my sleeveless one… this turned out to be a good decision.

Once the race started the adrenaline kicked in and I did not mind the water temps, in fact the swim went so well it was probably my favorite part of the race.  I never realized the water in Lake Michigan is so clear but I could see right down to the bottom and compared to my training swims in the murky Barrington Lakes, I felt much less claustrophobic and was very relaxed… I comfortably ran onto the beach hitting a 34:40 swim time.

The bike portion was my biggest worry… I have not had much bike training, in fact I’ve barely rode over 200 miles total prior to the race.  On top of that I had only had 1 training ride over 15 miles per hour so I knew I would be in for a long afternoon.   Again the race day adrenaline must have really kicked in because I started off right around 18 miles per hour and somehow managed to increase my pace throughout the 56 mile course and ended up a little shy of 20mph.. this considering I had a small incident with my chain getting stuck that tacked on a minute or two at the beginning.  The only issue on the bike portion was on two different bumps I lost a water bottle and about ½ the nutrition I packed… I started supplementing with product on the course I had never used and this turned out to be a bad decision as it gave me some stomach cramps towards the end.  I finished the bike strong though and thrilled to have it a  2:56:11.

Running was the last portion of the race and by the time I hit the pavement it was up around 80 degrees temp and quite sunny.  I felt great however and took out the first mile around a 6:50 pace feeling strong.  The course was a double out and back so we went about 3 ½ miles out and turned back.. then once close to the start we circled back again for anther lap.  The first lap in general I felt great  but the second I had some issues.  I knew about 7-8 miles into my run that my stomach wasn’t liking all the supplements I had taken from the course, I started getting some pretty bad cramping. I tried to drink some water but my stomach turned pretty quick..  the last three miles were a struggle but I made it through and didn’t feel too bad about hitting a 1:44 run time.

So my overall time for the race was a 5:23 which I was very happy with, I had a goal time of hitting under 6 hours so I had beaten that by quite a bit.  I did however come out of the race with many areas to challenge myself to get better at, mainly the biking and nutrition.  I’m excited to train a little harder in those areas and come back next year to compete again!

The Bix – Davenport, IA – (43:20, 7 mile)

The Bix was AWESOME!  I just love this race, over 20,000 people gather up in downtown Davenport to run 7 miles of hills on a pretty grueling out and back course.  The best part for me is watching the professionals battle it out for top spots, there are some of the best runners around that show up for this one.  I had a pretty great race myself considering I was only 6 days  out from Racine Tri, I actually PR’d the course by 4:31 from last year’s time and came in 199^th overall and 16^th in my division.  That and I unknowingly got to battle it out with a two time Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit!... I just thought she was a really fast older lady and was a little upset when she attempted to pass me on a downhill J   Other than my race the whole club did great, we had a large turnout of DRC members and everyone did awesome… I really enjoy our out of town races as it us more time to hang and chat about running and our race strategies...