"Mary" as in my marathon training. Yeah, I know... so clever. Anyway, I'm starting to panic a little bit about the training because it is crazy intense. I mean, it's intense for a seasoned marathoner let alone a newbie like myself. There are FIVE 20 milers in 16 weeks. The first being in week 4 and then every other week! What have I gotten myself into?
On a side note, I just picked up a stack on magazines that have been laying around for a while and what do you think was on top? An ad for the marathon I'm doing. I never even saw it before because it was on the back of the mag but there it was... like a little omen.
I honestly can't believe I am even talking about a marathon. I have never ever had any desire to complete one and was adamant that I would not put my body through 4+ hours of running. I can't even sit in a car for four hours! But (there's that but again) here are my crazy reasons for changing my tune.
1) The run is my weakest event and I need to work on it the most. What better way to improve than to train for a marathon?
2) After the 70.3, I knew that I didn't want to stop there. My ultimate goal is to be an Ironman and part of those 140.6 miles is a marathon. I know I can do the swim and bike but I need to prove to myself that I really can do the run. I can't commit to a IM right now but I can baby step my way there in the meantime.
3) Sticker envy. I want a 26.2 sticker on my car, too.
I've completed putting together my training schedule. I am using the Run Less, Run Faster program again. I spent way too much time crunching all the numbers like a crazy person but hey, I want to know exactly what I am getting into. Here's the lowdown on the plan:
-plan based on a 26:00 5K
-the suggested MP is 9:39
-official training begins the week of August 1
-weekly mileage range from 25 to 36 miles
-five 20 mile runs
For starters, the MP is nuts. I think the 10:00-10:15 range is more realistic. Then there is the issue of weekly mileage. Is 25 - 36 miles enough? I was expecting to be closer to 40 per week. I used the Run Less, Run Faster HM program and had great results so I guess I just need to trust that the MP program will do the same.
July is going to be my warm up to the actual training. I plan to follow the first four weeks of the training schedule modifying the long run mileage to 13, 13, 14, 15. After fine tuning everything, I realized that my previous goal of two 15 mile runs this month wasn't really feasible.
JULY GOALS:
-3 runs per week
-2 bike rides per week (1 Spinerval, 1 longer ride at a steady pace)
-one 15 mile run
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
DUNEDIN TRIATHLON RACE REPORT
Just a couple years ago in 2008, this was my first triathlon. It was the most miserable yet exciting experience I'd ever had and it absolutely changed my life. Last year's race wasn't quite the awesome experience I had the first time around but I only had myself to blame. I was in the midst of a lot of personal upheaval at that time and my training definitely suffered.
This year, I had very mixed feelings about participating. Part of me really wanted to do the race for a number of different reasons; it's a good event, it was close to home so there are a lot of friendly faces, a good friend was making her triathlon debut and at the very least it would have been my 3rd year in a row participating. But another part of me remembers the awful rocky swim from last year and the unusually crowded bike course, this year the swim waves were co-ed which I was not looking forward to plus my shoulder was killing me. But (there's always a but) since I had already signed up, I figured I would go and make the most of it. I have to say, though, this was the first race morning that I woke up feeling completely indifferent. It was weird. I was pretty much just going through the motions.
I got to the race site early, early and was ushered with all the other early birds to a parking lot far, far away from transition. Then we had to walk in the dark, around the pavement, down a sandy trail (I carried my bike, by the way), past the transition area and finally to body marking and chip pick up. Did I mention it was in the pitch darkness? Anyway, by the time I got to the chip table, I was less than thrilled to be there and was really thinking I should have cut my losses and stayed home. I finally headed into transition and whaddya know, I got the much coveted isle spot. Hmm, maybe this isn't going to be so bad after all. Before long, some friendly faces were starting to filter in and the race morning excitement was working it's magic on me.
Swim: 1.4 mile
Time: 7:19 (6 out of 28 AG)
Fortunately, the swim course was located about a half mile down the shore in a rock-free area of the beach this year. UNfortunately, that meant there would be a good portion of sandy run to TI following the swim. Sandy runs are totally my favorite *rolls eyes* This tri is notorious for a shallow swim and this year was no exception. There were two instances during the swim I actually stood up and walked while I tried to fix my goggles. It's like a nice little safety net which makes it great for folks out there for the first time or for the people who just flat out don't like the swim. In the photo, you can see how shallow the water was as well as the little bit of chop that was out there. It wasn't a horrible swim but I did get a little dizzy from all the commotion. Before I knew it, the swim was over. I had no idea how I finished in my wave. With my bad shoulder and goggle issues, I assumed I was in the back of the pack. It wasn't until I got home and saw the results that I realized I had done better than I thought. Oh, and I was so excited for my first-timer friend that I almost missed my wave! Thanks to a couple who walked by me and told me my wave was going off, I managed to make it to the line within 30 seconds of the start!
T1: 3:28 (2/28)
Bike: 12 miles
Time: 35:41 (1/28)
Speed: 20.2 mph
The bike is a two loop course along the causeway to the beach. There are two small bridges and a tight turnaround inside the park. It's not the fastest course but it short, flat and closed to traffic. The first few minutes on the bike were really difficult. My legs were fatigued from a 6 mile run the day before and the beach run to T1 didn't help matters. It took me at least 2 miles to warm up and then I found my rhythm. The highlight of the race for me happened as I was coming in to T2. I heard the announcer call my name and say something along the lines of I'm no stranger to the sport and I coming into T2 with a lot of men. For a split second I panicked when I heard my name but then I realized it was a compliment and that little shout out had me beaming the rest of the day! I'm really proud of my bike split - with a bum shoulder and slow run, it's the only thing I've got going for me LOL
T2: 0:41 (2/28)
Run: 3.1 miles
Time: 26:21
Pace: 8:30
Well per usual, my run was super slow compared to everyone else but I did my best. The run goes through the trails of the park and there are some sandy parts that seem to kill my momentum. It's also protected from the nice ocean breeze but at least there's a lot of shade. I felt like I ran strong and I was happy with me performance. Well, mostly happy. I held first place in my age group until the last 400 meters. I saw the girl go by me and I saw the age on her calf. She was running with a guy and passed me just as we got to a single file section of the run course. She went first so I was behind the guy and by the time the course opened up, I couldn't get passed her. She beat me by FOUR seconds! I know I should be happy that I placed second for having a hurt shoulder but in all honestly, it felt like I lost first place. It took a few days for the sting to go away. Oh and get this, the third place girl beat me in T1 and T2 by one second each. I thought that was a funny little stat.
All in all, it was a great day. I was there to cheer on my friends and it was an awesome way to spend a Sunday morning. I'm already looking forward to next year!
This year, I had very mixed feelings about participating. Part of me really wanted to do the race for a number of different reasons; it's a good event, it was close to home so there are a lot of friendly faces, a good friend was making her triathlon debut and at the very least it would have been my 3rd year in a row participating. But another part of me remembers the awful rocky swim from last year and the unusually crowded bike course, this year the swim waves were co-ed which I was not looking forward to plus my shoulder was killing me. But (there's always a but) since I had already signed up, I figured I would go and make the most of it. I have to say, though, this was the first race morning that I woke up feeling completely indifferent. It was weird. I was pretty much just going through the motions.
I got to the race site early, early and was ushered with all the other early birds to a parking lot far, far away from transition. Then we had to walk in the dark, around the pavement, down a sandy trail (I carried my bike, by the way), past the transition area and finally to body marking and chip pick up. Did I mention it was in the pitch darkness? Anyway, by the time I got to the chip table, I was less than thrilled to be there and was really thinking I should have cut my losses and stayed home. I finally headed into transition and whaddya know, I got the much coveted isle spot. Hmm, maybe this isn't going to be so bad after all. Before long, some friendly faces were starting to filter in and the race morning excitement was working it's magic on me.
Swim: 1.4 mile
Time: 7:19 (6 out of 28 AG)
Fortunately, the swim course was located about a half mile down the shore in a rock-free area of the beach this year. UNfortunately, that meant there would be a good portion of sandy run to TI following the swim. Sandy runs are totally my favorite *rolls eyes* This tri is notorious for a shallow swim and this year was no exception. There were two instances during the swim I actually stood up and walked while I tried to fix my goggles. It's like a nice little safety net which makes it great for folks out there for the first time or for the people who just flat out don't like the swim. In the photo, you can see how shallow the water was as well as the little bit of chop that was out there. It wasn't a horrible swim but I did get a little dizzy from all the commotion. Before I knew it, the swim was over. I had no idea how I finished in my wave. With my bad shoulder and goggle issues, I assumed I was in the back of the pack. It wasn't until I got home and saw the results that I realized I had done better than I thought. Oh, and I was so excited for my first-timer friend that I almost missed my wave! Thanks to a couple who walked by me and told me my wave was going off, I managed to make it to the line within 30 seconds of the start!
T1: 3:28 (2/28)
Bike: 12 miles
Time: 35:41 (1/28)
Speed: 20.2 mph
The bike is a two loop course along the causeway to the beach. There are two small bridges and a tight turnaround inside the park. It's not the fastest course but it short, flat and closed to traffic. The first few minutes on the bike were really difficult. My legs were fatigued from a 6 mile run the day before and the beach run to T1 didn't help matters. It took me at least 2 miles to warm up and then I found my rhythm. The highlight of the race for me happened as I was coming in to T2. I heard the announcer call my name and say something along the lines of I'm no stranger to the sport and I coming into T2 with a lot of men. For a split second I panicked when I heard my name but then I realized it was a compliment and that little shout out had me beaming the rest of the day! I'm really proud of my bike split - with a bum shoulder and slow run, it's the only thing I've got going for me LOL
T2: 0:41 (2/28)
Run: 3.1 miles
Time: 26:21
Pace: 8:30
Well per usual, my run was super slow compared to everyone else but I did my best. The run goes through the trails of the park and there are some sandy parts that seem to kill my momentum. It's also protected from the nice ocean breeze but at least there's a lot of shade. I felt like I ran strong and I was happy with me performance. Well, mostly happy. I held first place in my age group until the last 400 meters. I saw the girl go by me and I saw the age on her calf. She was running with a guy and passed me just as we got to a single file section of the run course. She went first so I was behind the guy and by the time the course opened up, I couldn't get passed her. She beat me by FOUR seconds! I know I should be happy that I placed second for having a hurt shoulder but in all honestly, it felt like I lost first place. It took a few days for the sting to go away. Oh and get this, the third place girl beat me in T1 and T2 by one second each. I thought that was a funny little stat.
All in all, it was a great day. I was there to cheer on my friends and it was an awesome way to spend a Sunday morning. I'm already looking forward to next year!
I'm baaaaa-aaaack
Well, it's been far too long since my last post. I don't believe in excuses so I'm not going to list a bunch of paper thin reasons why I haven't blogged. At the end of the day, it just wasn't enough of a priority. The good news is that there wasn't much to blog about but I guess that's also the bad news. Here's the lowdown on my June happenings:
- Dunedin Triathlon (June 6) - great race, agonizing loss, more to come in the race report...
- Still in a major funk and I can't shake it. Saw the Endo Dr who suggested it may be due to the thyroid med, Synthroid, and switched me to Armour. It's been a few weeks and no difference, still feeling down in the dumps. Totally lacking all motivation, eating anything and everything I can get my hands on but on a good note, I'm not gaining any weight. Go figure.
- Appointment with Dr. Carlan at Eaton Orthopaedics confirmed the shoulder diagnosis - inflammed long head of the biceps tendon. No tears or major damage. Woohoo! Script for antiinflammatory, rest for another two weeks and then I can ease back into normal activities.
- Not a whole lot of training to recap. Just a pathetic and slow 5 mile run at the wrong time of day and a nice 10 miler on Saturday.
- I have a plan... 25 weeks until my first marathon. 16 week program begins August 1. First goal is to complete two 15 mile runs in July. Still finalizing the weekly breakdown of goals.
I plan to catch up on all my favorite blogs soon!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Turning lemons into lemonade
The bad news is that my shoulder is out of commission for the summer. No swimming, no summer tri's, no boot camp.
Preliminary diagnosis is that the issue is not in the rotator cuff but is actually where the biceps connect to the shoulder. Going to another doctor for more info but in the meantime I need to ice, rest and do prescribed band exercises.
The good news is that I found a loophole. Of course, big picture is that I'm not going to sacrifice next year's NOLA 70.3 for some summer sprints so I will stop swimming. Really, I promise. But in order to continue racing, I'm going to relay the bike or run. The first on my list is the School's Out Inaugural Triathlon next month and I will be doing the bike leg! So that buys me some time. If I'm still unable to swim for the Sand Key Triathlon in September and the Longleaf Triathlon in October, then I will find a relay for those as well but I really hope to be swimming by then. Another good thing to come from this injury is that it will free up some time for weight training and marathon training.
I'm really happy that this did not rear it's ugly head before the Florida 70.3 and that I have plenty of time to heal/rehab before my next 70.3. If it had to happen, this is was great timing :)
Friday, June 4, 2010
New gear!
My running shoes served me well but after training for and racing a half marathon and a HIM, they definitely needed to be retired. I was going to just by a new version of the same shoe because I knew what to expect. They weren't perfect but they were the lesser of all the evils every other shoe offered. I didn't have to worry about shin splints or knee/hip issues but I have suffered with blisters this whole time. I get the same blisters after every run and although I'm used to the pain (really, it doesn't even phase me anymore), my feet look awful.
I opted for the Asics GT 2150's. So far so good. Tomorrow's 6-miler will be my first "long" run with them and I have my fingers crossed.
For my sprint tri's, I wanted to have a lighter pair of shoes so Hubs got me the Zoot Ultra Race 2.0. They are easy to slip on, lightweight, and seemingly indestructible to sand, salt and water. I'll be testing them out this weekend at the Dunedin Tri.
Next on my list... socks. Any suggestions?
Where did the week go?
Quick update of my training for the week. It was a pretty lackluster week but I should have my training plan ready for next week.
Bike: 1 hour
1 hour easy ride after the run
Sunday:
off
Monday
Bike: 1 hour
Run: 1 mile
60 minute Spinerval, 1 mile run
Tuesday
Swim: 1600
I cut this swim short since my shoulder has really been bothering me lately and my arm was still tender from where I had blood drawn last week.
Wednesday
Bike: .5 hour
Run: 3 miles
3 x 10 bike/1 mile run @ 8:06
Thursday
Well, I showed up for swim class, had my swim and goggles on and was even in the pool but never swam a single lap. The only thing that got any exercise was my mouth. Fellow swimmer, Kathryn, will be doing her first tri at the Dunedin Triathlon this weekend so we spent the entire class talking about everything triathlon :)
Friday:
Run - 3.5 miles
2 mile warm up
4 x 800 @ 7:53: 400 RI
I continue to struggle with my runs and this low mileage is such a drag. I don't want to be negative but I just don't see a great run for me at the Dunedin Tri this Sunday. Despite that, it should be a great time with lots of familiar faces!
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