Friday, April 23, 2010

Glutton For Punishment

Today I signed up for another 70.3 in May. I'm going to attempt to actually do some run training leading up to this race. Yesterday I logged 2 miles after swimming then teaching a spin class. Not going to lie, it didn't feel great, but it didn't get any worse either. I guess I just have to suck it up. I have to keep getting better!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

New Orleans Ironman 70.3 Race Report

Goals can be dangerous because during a race there are so many things you can't predict. I had set out some pretty lofty goals for this race and I failed miserably, yet I left the race feeling pretty good.

There is a nasty rumor out there that I do not know how to swim. I spent 46 minutes in a rough, choppy, smelly, gasoline tasting Lake Ponchartrain. I had hoped to swim in less than 40 minutes so based on the numbers you would think I failed miserably. What I did not expect was for the lake conditions to be so rough and for me to freak out and almost drown. The good news is that I was able to take what would have been a 55 minute swim and turn it into a 46 minute swim by getting my act together and swimming like I know how for the last 20 minutes. Leaving the water I felt good and ready to ride a bike.

Now the bike is unquestionably my strength and I had thrown out some pretty lofty numbers not knowing if they were attainable or not. 2:25:00 was something I was shooting for, but under 2:30:00 was the realistic goal. I had a near perfect bike. We had a headwind going out but I managed to average 20.8 mph before we turned around. I watched the avg rise all the way back and finished in 2:27:19 for a 22.8 mph average. The best part was I didn't feel that bad and was ready to try and run.



I like running, not as much as biking, but still more than swimming. I haven't run since I hobbled through the Houston Marathon in January with a stress fracture in my leg. So the thought of running 13.1 miles on no training was a bit daunting. I was foolishly optimistic. I thought since I hadn't run in forever it would feel good to finally run. I was sort of right. There was excitement the first few miles, and I even felt good at about mile 4 or 5. The goal here was to run under 2 hours and I was not on pace but close enough that it was still a possibility. Then the wheels fell off. My engine was good, but my legs wouldn't respond. about mile 10 I felt it and by mile 11 I was walk city. So again I missed my goal and failed miserably. The positives I took from the run is that I felt good at the beginning and had I be able to actually train, I could have run the whole thing and perhaps fast. The run fitness will come.

Statistically speaking not a great start to the season, but I feel way better about the races to come than I did before I went to New Orleans.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Race Week New Orleans 70.3

Most of the time you have an idea of what to expect going into a race, this is not one of those times. I'm still overcoming my first real injury since I started racing and therefore have not really run at all since January, and even in January I wouldn't call it running. The doctor says my stress fracture is healed, but that I should expect some discomfort. He is right, it still hurts and I can still feel the lump of calcium build up where the stress fracture was. He promises me I cannot re-fracture the leg.
I've done a good amount of training leading up for this race. A lot of time on the bike, an increased amount of time in the pool, and no time running. The only thing I feel confident about this weekend is that I should have a really good bike split, everything else is an unknown. My swimming should be better, but I really have no way of knowing. My run is a complete unknown. Is it possible that it will feel so good to finally run again that I enjoy it? Is it more likely that it will hurt so bad that I turn in a super slow run(more of a walk)? I just don't know, but I hope I'm tough enough to gut out a decent performance. Initially my goal for this race was to do it under 5 hours. In a perfect world that may still be attainable, but more realistically I'm just looking for a PR which would be better than 5:16:58. We'll see how it goes and even if its a bad race, I'll be on Bourbon Street when its done!