Rock n Roll Half

Today I kicked off race season with the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon in Dallas.  This was my second time running in this race.  Since I have two half marathons under my belt, does that make a whole marathon? Probably not.

I had good intentions of really focusing on my training for this race in hopes of breaking the 2 hr. mark, but it didn't exactly happen.  I had a few setbacks, but that's just part of the game sometimes.  Over the last few days I did a couple of workouts that weren't exactly "taper friendly" workouts.  On Wednesday I did intervals with Negative Split Racing, and then I pushed it a little harder than I intended on Thursday at Luke's Locker social run. At least I won a box of protein bars at the social run. I went into today's race still a little sore.

The race did go a little better than expected.  I knew I wouldn't be able to beat last year's time of 2:03, and I didn't.  My finishing time was 2:06. I was thinking it would probably be closer to 2:10.  My legs held up and I only had to walk a few seconds at a time at the water stops due to the congestion.  One of the water stops was handing out packets of  salt, which I was quick to take advantage of.  That salt really hit the spot.

During the run I let my body pick the pace. As long as the pace was under 10 minutes I was happy.  If it went over the 10 minute pace, I picked it up.  There were times when I thought, "Why am I doing  this?" and "This sucks!", but I thought about what Rebecca said earlier as we were waiting in our coral for the start.  "It's not supposed to feel good."  I was put in my place several times as I saw the pictures and signs people had pinned to the back of their shirt in honor on those they were running for.  It's was pretty heart warming to see people pushing though the pain to honor their loved ones.

The weather was beautiful and the crowds were great. Lots of people were holding funny signs.  One lady was yelling "WTF - Watch The Finish line!"  It was fun getting to run through downtown Dallas and Highland Park with lots of cover bands along the way. The race ended in Fair Park where we had a great view of the big ferris wheel.  As I entered the park I was reminded of last year's race at the very same point.  I recalled how tired I was and how much my knees ached. I also remember thinking the finish line would be just around the next turn, but it turned out there were lots of turns to get to the finish. This year I was still a little tired, but my legs were feeling fine (as fine as they can after almost 13.1 miles).  I ran to the finish line feeling relieved that I was done. I drank some chocolate milk and chatted with a few friends before heading home to my compression socks.

Despite not being as excited about this race as I was last year, I'm glad I did it....but I'm even more happy that I am done. It's a fun race and great way to kick of the season, but I'd still take a triathlon any day. It will be nice to get back to shorter long run, at least for a little while. I'm super excited that my Ironman training officially kicks off in one week, so I'll think I'll take easy until then.  Instead of running, I'll use the time to take Roxy on nice long walks.

"The long run is what puts the tiger in the cat." ~Stephen Covey

I've Got Some Work To Do

As I registered for Ironman Arizona in November my hands were shaking and my stomach was doing flips.  I was beginning a year long journey that I'm sure will test me in ways I cannot even begin to imagine.  After the sting of the registration fee wore off, I settled into a comfortable groove of enjoying my off season while dreaming of crossing the finish line and hearing Mike Reilly call out, "Amy Manuel, you are an Ironman!"  Sometimes the thought of those few simple words are enough to put a lump in my throat.  Am I really going to do this?

Now that I'm about to begin my "official" Ironman training, my focus is on the process rather than the end result.  Race day may be 140.6 miles, but the finish line far exceeds that. To begin my training, I met with my coach  this weekend for my VO2 testing. During the test I get to wear a mask that is hooked up to a machine that measures all kinds of stuff as I run on a treadmill and ride my bike on the trainer. It's a very sexy test, as you can tell from the pictures.  I did this test in June as I was beginning my half Ironman training, so we were able to compare my current results with my June results.

My bike test was the first test.  I was supposed to try to maintain a certain cadence (how fast you pedal), but it was hard to see my bike computer due to the mask and tube on my face.  Luckily my coach was able to monitor this for me.  The end result was that I had lost a minimal amount of fitness on the bike, but I did gain power.  My VO2 was still in the superior category.  It was nice to see that I didn't loose all my bike fitness despite not spending a whole lot of time in the saddle in the off season.

In June I was pushing 160 watts of power on the bike and yesterday I was pushing 190 watts.  I really don't know what that means, but I do know that more power is better so I'm happy. My coach says that I'll be training in lower heart rate zone than before on the bike. This is going to take some getting used to.  I was joking that I may not be able to go fast enough to keep my bike upright with a lower heart rate.

After the bike test came the run test.  I knew my VO2 numbers would fall a bit from June.  I went from the "superior" category down to "excellent."  I know there should be no shame in being in the "excellent" category, but it does kind of suck.  This just means I have some work to do.  I find it kind of ironic that my run suffered more that the bike considering the fact that I'm training for a half marathon right now.  There have been some set backs in my training over the last couple of months, but I don't think that's the only reason for the drop.  Running is my weakness and it's going to take a lot of work on my part to improve.  Originally I signed up for the half marathon so I could focus on my run and build strength, but it doesn't seem to have worked too well.  I guess I'll let my coach figure this one out.

"Ask  yourself: 'Can I give more?' The answer is usually 'Yes'." ~ Paul Tergat, Kenyan professional marathon runner