Third Time is the Charm They Say - Training Update

After not hitting my BQ goal in Cleveland due to weather I was disappointed. I sometimes have a hard time letting things go. Although I knew I would be sacrificing the beginning of my triathlon season I made the decision to run a third marathon this season in Charlevoix, Michigan later this month. It's a small, beach town race that is said to be one of the most beautiful races in the U.S. Needless to say I am excited to give it another go. Plus, I'll qualify for Marathon Maniacs  too, which is fun!

I am still planning to participate in the multisport races on my schedule as well - I just cannot train for these specifically. Last week for example I ran 53 miles, rode my bike for 75 miles, got in one 2000 meter swim along with some yoga and pilates work for strength. In a normal multisport focus training week I would have had another swim, 15-20 miles less running and about 50-75 more on the bike.

Last Sunday was the Twinsburg Duathlon. It was kindof a rainy, crappy morning to race but I was up for it. The first run went okay as I had not really intended to push the pace given my tired legs so according to my watch, the first 2 mile run was around a 7:29 pace. My goal was to run between a 7:15-7:30 for both runs and average 19-20mph on the bike. Entering transition I saw my hubby. He had a flat and said he was out so just to go ahead. I ran over to my bike but felt bad that he was out of the race so I went to go find him to just ride the course with him and finish for fun. After 5+ minutes of trying unsuccessfully to find him and then hearing that he changed his wheel and jumped back into race, I was bummed. I felt like I had lost too much time to be competitive and I had some extra run miles I needed to make up so I made use of the time to get in 7 more miles at a slower pace around 9. Later that afternoon I hopped on my cross bike for an hour to get in my needed bike miles for the week. I guess it all worked out okay in the end although I am bummed that I didn't get to race my bike.

I do get to do that this weekend at the Great Western Reserve Olympic Tri at West Branch! This week is another 50+ mile run week along with 70+ on the bike, 5300 meters of swimming and some strength work. This may not be optimal triathlon training but I am excited to take on my first tri of the season, tired legs and all! My husband and several friends are racing so it will be fun to see everyone! Hope that water is not too cold!

The following week I have my last build week for the marathon with about the same mileage as this week. Steve and I head South to Williamsburg, Virginia next weekend for a little vacation and to race Challenge Williamsburg. We will be racing the olympic again as we did two years back (last year we raced the half and loved it). I am super excited to see my Challenge teammates and staff!

The following week will be a taper week with no races (thank god).

Then we head to Charlevoix for another long weekend vacation with a race. I will race the full marathon and hubby is racing the half marathon. Hopefully I can get the BQ done and move on this season to the half iron and full iron triathlon build phase! I will not have any long races on my schedule until later in August now so I am looking forward to the change of focus.

Busy Weekend, Lots of Training & a Race for Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend is always one of my favorite times of the year since it's the official welcome of Summer for us Ohioans. This Memorial Day was full of friends and family and lots of training, including a race!

Friday kicked off the weekend with a recovery run and a Bikram Yoga class. Saturday Steve and I got in a ride on the tri bikes then spent some time with the kiddos at the driving range. Of course their favorite part was driving the golf carts!

Pre Blossom Run Fun at Ginny & Bobs

Sunday we headed to Chagrin Falls for the annual Blossomtime Run, which is always a fun and challenging race with the heat and the hills. Our friends Ginny and Bob had a nice little prerace party at their house for the runners. Some of our Cleveland Tri Club friends were there so it was nice to catch up with folks before jogging over to the start.

Last year I went out too fast at the race start so this time I held back with my first mile being a 7:15. My splits were pretty consistent as I never really felt I was pushing too hard and I ended up finishing the 5.25 mile course in 38 and change (7:20 pace), which I was happy with since it was a better time than last year. With that I placed 3rd of 85 in my AG.

Post race with my speedy guy!

Steve also had a good race finishing in 33 and change and 3rd in his AG, which included some pretty fast local runners! After the race we caught up with my friend Jilllian for a few minutes and then headed to get a post race smoothie. The rest of the day was filled with house cleaning and yard work so it was a busy day!

Yesterday I was going to go with Steve to do the Snakebite Racing Death Ride but I needed to get in a decent long run and bike so I opted out and went to the Towpath in Independence instead for a 13 mile run at marathon pace followed by 30 miles of riding on my cross bike. Steve was nearby so we met up after for some much needed Chipotle! Then we ran some errands and headed home to get ready for our neighbors picnic.

This week will be full of lots of swim, bike, run as well and the first multisport race of the season too at the Twinsburg Duathlon, which is a sprint consisting of a 2 mile run, 10 mile bike and 2 mile run. I am hoping to do well but will see how it goes as I don't feel I am in great bike shape yet this season. It will be a great tuneup for the next two weekends, which will both consist of olympic triathlons (Champ Racing's GWRT and Challenge Williamsburg). I am excited to switch gears a little bit these next few weeks!

Twinsburg Duathlon Relay Race Report - Looking for some speed

Two or three years back when I was injured with a stress fracture in my foot, my husband and I had a great time doing the Twinsburg Duathlon Relay. He ran and I biked  and we won the co-ed division. When I learned that my friend Laurie had a stress fracture and wouldn't be able to race any duathlons or triathlons until later in the season I asked her if she would want to do the relay. I would run while she biked. It worked out really well. We had fun, pushed ourselves and took 2nd in the overall relay, missing first only by about a minute!

The race starts with a 2 mile run then has a 10 mile bike and a second 2 mile run. So it was my job to start the race off with a good run. My goal was to run about a 7 minute mile, no more than 7:15 so on the first run I was happy to clock a 14:34 (6:56) pace, which is good for me. 

I ran in to transition and had to remove the chip and hand it to Laurie as she prepped for the ride. Our T1 was 51 seconds and she was off for the 10 miles. I hung out in the transition area and talked with some fiends and other relay athletes. 

Post race awards with Laurie for 2nd place in the relay!

After her bike ride, which took 33:48 (17.8mph) Laurie was back. We again had to switch the timing chip for T2, which took us 36 seconds and I was off for run #2. I had left my garmin on to keep the time running but when I started the second run I noticed it wasn't giving me my pace. I tried to run by feel and ended up being a little slower than I had wanted with a 15:16 (7:16) pace and a finish time of 1:05:08. The first place team had finished in 1:04:02 so we were close.

Steve had a great, competitive race finishing in 55:53 and placing 4th in his age group and 12th overall. It was a tough field and the top 25 finishers including a couple females all broke an hour.

After the race we hung around for the awards and to catch up with some friends and then we headed home to relax for a while before a longer bike ride.

Next up is the Girls With Sole Lula 5 Miler this weekend and then Rev3 Williamsburg 70.3! Watch for the race reports.

Twinsburg Duathlon Relay Race Report

After not racing since April I was pretty excited to have some action this weekend! When my husband asked me if I'd like to do the Twinsburg Duathlon relay I couldn't resist saying yes. He would run and I would bike. It sounded good to me.

Pre-race:

Twinsburg would be my new bike's maiden voyage along with my new wheels! Have I mentioned how much I love my Kestrel and Gray wheels? It would also be the first time I raced in my new Team Rev3 kit and my new aero helmet. This was a race with a lot of firsts! Steve and I headed up to the Twinsburg expo and had my coach and bike mechanic Sean put my race wheels on and tune up the bikes a little to get race ready.

We went home and rode 22 miles to see how the bike and wheels would handle for race day. I had only used the wheels once maybe 6 weeks back. We rode one of our usual routes. I was quite speedy on the first half. Unfortunately we had some bad winds heading back so it slowed us down a little. I was in a silly easygoing mood on Saturday night. Steve and I cooked a nice pre-race dinner of gourmet pizza and salad and craft beer and took it easy.

Race Day:

We got up Sunday morning and ate a quick breakfast, got dressed, loaded up the bike and our other stuff and headed out around 6am. We arrived at the Twinsburg Rec center where the race starts around 6:45 to get setup. We were both really excited. Here's a picture of me rocking my awesome new Rev3 kit and posing with my new bike.





The Start:

Finally around 7:40 I watched Steve and the others lineup. The race director Mickey made some announcements along with the local USAT official covering some of the race rules. And then they were off to run the first 2 mile leg.  A quick run to the ladies room for me and then I headed over to the relay area to get my bike shoes, helmet, shades and jacket on. It was starting to drizzle so I grew a little nervous about the weather. I hoped it would stop. Not so much luck!

T1, Bike

 Steve met me in the transition area 12:24 later and we switched the timing chip as per the rules. I grabbed the bike to run it out of transition and mounted pretty easily and we were off. I was a little nervous starting up with the rain since I don't have a lot of experience riding in the rain and had never raced this bike or wheelset before.  I knew I was close to the front of the pack so I just wanted to get on it. The start of the course is hilly for about the first 2 miles so I was probably just averaging 17-18mph and had to watch the turns with the rain. 

Once we hit a flatter section I opened it up more averaging between 22-26mph for much of the flat and slowing down for some turns. The rain unfortunately was coming down pretty good in parts of the race including some downhill parts with traffic as the roads are not closed. I just tried to be cautious. There's one section of the course with a longer climb and I slowed down there to 12-14mph as it was a tougher climb. Once we hit the descent I was back quickly to over 20mph hitting some downhill in the 30s. That's always a good feeling. The whole ride was good. There were a couple of other guys that I stayed with pretty much most of the race as I passed them and they passed me. I kept them as my markers. I wanted to finish in 30 minutes or less for the 10 miles. I ended up at 32:43 including our two transitions. This means I likely averaged about 20mph. Not bad for racing in the wind and rain and being a little conservative on the push. In fact I learned from my coach later that I had the fastest bike split of all the women in the race! And I think I ranked like top 15 or 20 overall with the men so that made me feel pretty good about all those miles I've been putting in!

T2 & The Finish:

I raced into the transition area and met Steve where we again switched the timing chip and he was off. I racked my bike and then got myself dried off a bit and headed over to watch the finish. It's always fun watching people finish! Steve made it back in 12:24 again for the second 2 mile run. Talk about even splits! Not as fast as he had hoped but still pretty good at a 6:12 average. For not doing a whole lot of running lately and no speedwork I think that's solid. They held the tape out for him since we were the first co-ed relay team with a time of 57:52!

Our first relay was a success! In fact we would have been third in the men's relay in terms of our time)! Not bad. Needless to say we were happy with the results. We stuck around to hang out with friends, get a bite to eat and collect our awesome award plaques. It was a great race again this year. Mickey does a fantastic job with the event. It draws a lot of strong local competition and it's just a fun atmosphere. We'll definitely be back again next year. Either for the relay or individually. TBD.

Special thanks to Rev3 Triathlon for the awesome new kit! And also to Swiftwick, who makes the world's best socks, Pearl Izumi who made our Rev3 kits and supplied the awesome Pro Aero jacket I wore, which  kept me dry through the race as well as the comfy and light tri bike shoes. Finally thanks to PowerBar for the pre and post race hat and race fuel. I used the PowerBar Perform for the race and use it for much of my training. It tastes good and keeps me going without any GI issues, which we all know is important!!!

Reflections on the 2011 Season

Wow, I cannot even believe that it is December 20th! Santa Claus will be here in five days! And I haven't updated my fitness blog since June (gulp...don't judge!)I can at least throw out some lame excuses like starting a new job and getting married or better yet TRAINING! Clearly one of my 2012 resolutions is to update my fitness blog more regularly!

So, for those of you who wonder if I just fell of the map after June, I assure you I was busy racing. Additional races completed since the last post in June were as follows:

• 6/26/11 - Akron Crossfit Sprint Tri - bombed the swim on this and had ridiculous cramps during the run. Should have most definitely won age group but was 4th in age group. Fail.
• 7/17/11 - Milton Man Sprint Tri - decent swim, decent bike, decent run. Took first in age group. 
• 9/11/11 - Revolution 3 Cedar Point 70.3 - finished first 70.3, had a blast. Swim was decent, bike was decent, dogged the run but had fun finishing with hubby.
• 9/18/11 - Portage Lakes Sprint Tri - swim was off, bike was terrible. legs sore from previous week's 70.3 so walked some of the hills, run was fine. Not happy here but managed third in age group.
• 10/9/11 - Towpath half marathon - Great race, crushed my old half PR by finishing with a 1:39:37 despite lack of serious training. Was 13th of 581 women. Not too shabby. Fantastic race course and weather conditions. definitely doing this one again!

I had a very up and down season with the heel stress fracture in April/May and came back to race strong in June-October. I am happy with how the year ended given the circumstances and learned some things along the way. Overall I feel my biggest successes of the year were The Twinsburg Duathlon, Miltonman Sprint, Completing the Rev3 Cedar Point 70.3 and finishing strong in the Towpath 1/2 marathon. 

I am training strong right now in the off season and gearing up to train for some serious stuff in 2012! watch for my next post NEXT WEEK (promise) about the 2012 schedule!

Twinsburg Duathlon - Let the Good Times Roll!

I am a little late with this post considering the race was June 5. Better late than never I suppose. I am just happy to be writing in my blog again. Don't worry, I will not wait so long this time!

What can I say about the Twinsburg Duathlon? I thought it was a great race and I think I did well - especially because this was my first duathlon. North Coast Multisports did an excellent job of communicating and organizing the event. Packet pick-up and the little expo were the Saturday before the race so no scrambling on race morning to get that stuff.  Steve and I picked our stuff up and headed home to chill out and get our bikes and gear ready for race day. It was a pretty smooth evening prerace. We were a little nervous (me especially since I had just started running again that week following my heel fracture - yikes)!

On race morning we got up, brewed some coffee and had some multigrain waffles and juice, got dressed, loaded up the car and took off around 6AM. We arrived at the race site and I was feeling very excited and a little nervous. How would I run I wondered.  We racked our bikes and setup our gear and warmed up. I went to the bathroom a couple of times as I always do when the nerves are flared up and we lined up.  My friend and fellow competitor Laurie stood by me at the start and we chatted for a couple of minutes beforehand, which helped me relax.

We started and I blanked out everything but the run. Worries subsided and my feet took over. My first mile was sub 7 and then I thought I had better slow it down or I will be dead on the bike so I slowed it down and finished the first 2 miles at a 7:09 pace. Jumped on the bike and like an idiot I had my helmet on backwards so I stopped to adjust. Lost a few seconds there. The bike was fun but tough. The hill around mile 7-8 was killer. My legs were feeling it. Time on bike was 36 minutes for 10 miles but think my T1 and T2 times are in there as well since they don't break them out seperately. I think I averaged around 18-19mph. The second run was tough as I had not done one brick all season being out with the fracture. First mile was okay, second was rough and I stopped for a minute or two at the water stop. I lost time there not thinking I had a chance to place. I finished strong with a time of 1:07:12 - good enough for 2nd place in 30-34 age group and 8th overall female in the race. Not bad but I should have placed higher as 2nd and 3rd place were only 2-3 minutes ahead. Next year I will be ready to battle.

Steve also did well. He finished his first ever multi-sport race in 1:01:37 good enough for 4th in his age group and 19th overall in the race! We both had fun and at the end of the day that is what is most important! 

Thanks to North Coast Multisports for a great event! We will be back next year!