rmd in the district

Kinetic 70.3

Just some quick reflections before I go on vacation and forget. (pictures courtesy of Jason, Sarah’s husband)

Swim: 33:36

This was a run-in start which had me a bit nervous, but it was fine. I thought I went off course a bit and couldn’t see anything after the first turn. It made me really glad I wore a simple stopwatch because my time was actually 33:xx. I thought it would be 38:xx.

Bike: 3:08:04

This went really well and was my biggest improvement. The course was great, I kept shifting and didn’t grind down my legs and managed to eat, do a bottle handoff, and mostly keep my HR in Z2-3.

Run: 2:14:46

(Picture clearly taken on one of the first two loops)

Sigh. When I started the run, I thought for sure I had a sub-6 in me. All I needed to do was finish in under 2:14. I got through about 1.5 loops, still feeling ok. The hills were definitely tough. But at some point around mile 8 the hills just got to my legs and my knee was killing me. I really tried to push through and convince myself not to stop, that I still wanted that sub-6. I just could not will my legs to go faster. It was hot. The downhills hurt more than the uphills and I couldn’t even bank time. I finally ran towards the finish line and saw 6:06:52 (my wave started 6 min after the start).

Overall thoughts:

This was a huge improvement for me and I should not be disappointed. Every leg was faster than my previous 70.3. The A goal I wrote down before this race was 6:15 and I clearly smashed that. It’s just tough when you see a goal you really wanted slowly slip away before your eyes. But, I am signed up for B2B in October and I will do better there. I just need a better run approach. Whatever I’m doing isn’t cutting it- I should be able to run faster than 15 min off my half marathon time.

Rumpus in Bumpass Report

I know all three of you that read this are waiting with bated breath for my race report- but really I just want to record my thoughts and reflections since (spoiler) I had a great race.

Pre Race

While I left with plenty of time, I made the rookie mistake of half following the race director’s written directions and half following my GPS which led me 100% wrong. So I ended up at the race about 15 min later than I wanted. Luckily there was no real line at packet pickup. I ran into Sarah as I was furiously throwing my stuff out and trying to remember everything I was supposed to do. I met back up with Sarah outside transition and we walked down the crap gravel road to the swim start where we saw Cat, Karen and Kim. I managed to shimmy my way into my wetsuit while being forced to wonder if I’d gotten wider since October…

 Swim (25:57 7th in AG; photo thanks to Jason!)

Trying to avoid a panic attack like I had at Giant Acorn, I stayed to the outside until we rounded the first buoy. I was somewhat worried that all the markers were on the left (I militantly refuse to breathe to my left side) but it really wasn’t an issue. Once we hit the long straight-away I hit my stride and laid down the hammer. 

T-1 (2:45 15th in AG)

Frankly this is better than I thought since I couldn’t get my damn wetsuit off one of my feet. Just put on my shoes, grabbed my helmet, started bikeGarmin and was off.

Bike (1:15:33 7th in AG)

I fell in love with my new bike on this ride. An average of 18.8mph? That’s flying for me. And it was great. Although my heart rate was way too high the entire ride and I knew I’d pay. I just didn’t want to slow down. I also managed to eat while riding for the first time. In a race. Don’t try this at home, folks.

T-2 (1:33 15th in AG)

Racked my bike and had some trouble because it seemed more bikes had magically appeared on my rack than were originally there… just slid on my shoes grabbed my headband, water and race belt and went off.

Run (56:12 15th in AG)

This was really the only bad part of the race. It was mostly on gravel and was not “flat” as advertised. It was warm out and I’m sure I was paying for my HR being 170 the entire bike ride (and staying there during the run). I really should be able to pull out a sub 55. 

Overall thoughts:

My total time was 2:42:09- 20 minutes faster than Giant Acorn and way below my “sub 3” goal. This was really a confidence booster. I felt like I found my groove on the swim and the bike and now just need to strategize better to make sure my run is up to par. It was great racing with DCTri folks and having people to cheer me on and to cheer for. 

The Power of the Written Word

I consider myself a pretty highly motivated person. I don’t really skip workouts (unless I’m exhausted). But I mean really, no one that’s doing Half Ironmans and other tris can really be considered unmotivated.

Last year, I basically made up my training plan. I looked up different plans online and cobbled something together. And while I did hit most of the planned workouts, I would shorten a workout or skimp out on the intensity level I had planned for myself. 

Now that I have an “official” plan that’s all changed. It’s amazing how having a defined plan can motivate me to stick it out. Take today for example- 50 min run on the treadmill with 4x800. Without the plan, I’d have probably shortened it to 35 min. But the satisfaction of entering the completed duration that matches the planned duration kept me going. I’m weird, what can I say. 

As a second example, I recently signed up for an online “bootcamp”- because it was $25 and I get 8 weeks of strength workouts sent to me- done. Again, when I’m lifting, normally once the exercise gets hard, I drop my reps, maybe from 12-10 or 10-8. But the plan said 15, so I did 15, and man was it harder. 

I guess in some ways it could be viewed as an increase in accountability- but it’s not like anyone is really checking up on me. I’m just more accountable to myself, and hopefully improvements will come as I continue to push myself out of my usual comfort zone.