Yes, my Board Exam is less than one week away and I should be STUDYING, but frankly I'm sick and tired of it and would much rather ramble on for a while than look at another damn book.
Sunday was my last race of the year, a short reverse sprint tri here on base. I'll post the race report tomorrow after I swing by the gym and get the official results ;) I started this season with pretty low goals, namely wanting to finish all the races on my schedule. Having come off of knee surgery last year and missing the entire season, I wasn't sure how I would hold up under all the training. As a result, I would complain on an almost daily basis about HOW MUCH my coach (Little J) had on my schedule for the day. She took it all in stride and let me slide whenever I felt like it--for better or worse. My last few races have all turned out well , just barely making it into the top 1/3 of my age group each time. At the start of this year that would have made me ecstatic! Now that I've made it through the season with knees intact, I'm wanting more.
Can I be faster? I think the answer is a resounding YES! So what's it gonna take? After much internal struggle and thought, it all comes back to one simple answer-listen to your coach! Yes, I HATE morning workouts with a PASSION bordering on insanity, but I'm not the only one. Get your butt up and DO IT. And making my workouts a priority EVERYDAY instead of an option if I get all my other life stuff done is something I've got to do.
Next up on the agenda is the Vegas half-marathon in December, followed by the Arizona marathon in January. No goal for the half, but I want to run a 3:30 for the full. That would be a PR by 35 minutes. There, its in writing, no backing down now. Time to get my ass in gear and get at it!
Little J, get your running shoes on, cause when you get back, we are hitting the pavement (at 5AM) :)
OK, back to studying...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Elephant Man Race Report
Last weekend I raced in the 4th Annual Elephant Man triathlon in Truth or Consequences, NM. I started the weekend off right with a stop at the base on our way out of town on Saturday, to do a little pre-race carb loading at Oktoberfest.
The Germans put on a good party, and MAN that was some good beer!
On to the race start. Mandatory pre-race meeting at 7:30(swim buoys STILL not in place). 30 minute lecture on how we will not yell at the volunteers for NOT doing their job. 8:00 scheduled start time pushed back because pre-race director likes to hear herself talk. Its now 8:15 and the first wave is FINALLY in the water-for the head count. Oh, those chip thingies on your ankles? No, those things are computerized, who knows if they would work to count you and keep track of you? Better to do a manual head count instead.
Swim course looks long, but don't they ALWAYS look long? Assistant race director counts down out loud, 5-4-3-2-1 GO!(No bullhorn, speaker system, ANYTHING) The swim goes well, water was a little rougher than I anticipated but felt strong throughout. As I exited the water and started stripping off the wetsuit, I look at my watch and see 30:14! WTF! I'm a slow swimmer, but with a wetsuit I expected to be at least a LITTLE faster :-/ Little J tells me that I'm about the 20th male out of the water, and the first male came out at 25:30. That time means nothing to me(I'm ignorant) but J was trying to tell me that the course was long.
On to the bike. Two words: I suck. I felt pretty strong from the get go all the way back into T2. However, I did not pass ONE SINGLE MALE during the entire 26.5 miles. And I did get passed by several. GRRR... The first 15 miles were rolling hills with a gradual overall uphill trend, and the last 10 covered a long straight stretch with a slight descent. I FLEW through those last 10 miles, my speed was never under 27mph, and I still couldn't catch anyone. Time: 1:24. Double GRRR...
The run consisted of a 6 mile out and back. Mile 1 and 6 were on dirt. Not packed dirt; more like sand.
My legs felt GREAT. But I couldn't breathe. I was SOO frustrated. I really thought I'd have a strong run and be able to make up some time. Not so much: 50:42 on the run.
Final time: 2:49. 7th out of 18 in my age group, 41st out of 143 men.
Not a great race, but overall I am happy with my results. Just one more short sprint race next weekend, then it's marathon time :)
P.S. My board exam is 2 weeks from tomorrow, hopefully after that I can devote more time to consistently blogging ;-)
The Germans put on a good party, and MAN that was some good beer!
On to the race start. Mandatory pre-race meeting at 7:30(swim buoys STILL not in place). 30 minute lecture on how we will not yell at the volunteers for NOT doing their job. 8:00 scheduled start time pushed back because pre-race director likes to hear herself talk. Its now 8:15 and the first wave is FINALLY in the water-for the head count. Oh, those chip thingies on your ankles? No, those things are computerized, who knows if they would work to count you and keep track of you? Better to do a manual head count instead.
Swim course looks long, but don't they ALWAYS look long? Assistant race director counts down out loud, 5-4-3-2-1 GO!(No bullhorn, speaker system, ANYTHING) The swim goes well, water was a little rougher than I anticipated but felt strong throughout. As I exited the water and started stripping off the wetsuit, I look at my watch and see 30:14! WTF! I'm a slow swimmer, but with a wetsuit I expected to be at least a LITTLE faster :-/ Little J tells me that I'm about the 20th male out of the water, and the first male came out at 25:30. That time means nothing to me(I'm ignorant) but J was trying to tell me that the course was long.
On to the bike. Two words: I suck. I felt pretty strong from the get go all the way back into T2. However, I did not pass ONE SINGLE MALE during the entire 26.5 miles. And I did get passed by several. GRRR... The first 15 miles were rolling hills with a gradual overall uphill trend, and the last 10 covered a long straight stretch with a slight descent. I FLEW through those last 10 miles, my speed was never under 27mph, and I still couldn't catch anyone. Time: 1:24. Double GRRR...
The run consisted of a 6 mile out and back. Mile 1 and 6 were on dirt. Not packed dirt; more like sand.
My legs felt GREAT. But I couldn't breathe. I was SOO frustrated. I really thought I'd have a strong run and be able to make up some time. Not so much: 50:42 on the run.
Final time: 2:49. 7th out of 18 in my age group, 41st out of 143 men.
Not a great race, but overall I am happy with my results. Just one more short sprint race next weekend, then it's marathon time :)
P.S. My board exam is 2 weeks from tomorrow, hopefully after that I can devote more time to consistently blogging ;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)