Firecracker 5k

Finally something to think and write about besides my hip! Except running definitely reminds me of my hip-- constantly. 

The Firecracker 5k takes place in the middle of town, a point to point, helping it to be super fast. I really meant to train for it! Cramming in a track workout 5 days before doesn't really count, but it did help my confidence. 

Also helping my confidence these days is the Queen of the Mountain (or flats, whatever) segments that I can win on my newfound competitive outlet, Strava. All I need is a former state champion cyclist's wheel to hang on, and maybe a better idea of where these segments begin and end, and I'll be cleaning up. I had the former this week for my initial few titles, and it was super exciting to get all those little trophies, however temporary they may be. 

Anyway, back to the 5k. I warmed up 2 very slow miles between a porta potty stop and trying to find some bushes because I was NOT standing in that line again. I headed to the starting line, where the day's lineup was being announced by a familiar voice--an old Memphis teammate of mine. Then I saw another familiar face in the RD. I'll sidetrack again by saying that if you race Start to Finish events often, you may not realize how spoiled you are until you get to, like, southern New Mexico (hypothetically speaking of course). Only then do you realize how much of a difference all the little things, like an awards ceremony an hour after race start, and big things, like instantaneous printable and online results, make. 

So, the race! I felt like I wasn't warmed up sufficiently for the first mile. My "bad" hip was feeling ok, but the "better" one was extra painful, as was my knee. Hoardes of women sprinted out ahead of me, and I slowly drew a few back in within the first mile, in 6:15. We started with a few rollers, but it smoothed out by the mile mark. 

The second mile is usually the hardest in a 5k, isn't it? It's really starting to hurt and you're not close to being finished. Well this one was perfect. It contained exactly one small uphill; the rest was downhill. I picked off a few more women. 6:00

The third mile started out still going down, but quickly became painful as we turned a corner to a long gradual uphill that hurt my legs, lungs, and brain. Knowing I was going to be killing my average pace, I didn't dare look at my Garmin. Who wants to witness the average pace jump like that? I figured it would be about 8 minutes, with the fatigue I was feeling, but I made it in 6:30. An endless .15 mi later the finish line came and I crossed, with a 19:27, and immediately puts hands to knees to reduce the pain. The photographer finally came over to check on me since I was probably obstructing his view of the runners crossing the tape. Oops. 

My cool down consisted of running the course backward to cheer and get back to my car. But chatting along the way made me miss my AG award, which I believe was 2nd or 3rd, given that a couple of the other 7 women that beat me were old like me. The award I was really going for was first OA in the hip dysplasia category. I'm pretty sure I won that one.  

Glad my face of pain is obstructed here

Tri the Village sprint

Well. That not go so well, as H would say. But there were some mentionable parts, like the swim. I know, the swim! It's so rarely a point I like to cover. I brought my wetsuit like they told us on Facebook the day before, and once we got there the water temp was 81.5F, so speed suit it was. It may seem a bit ridiculous to use it for 500 yards, but I need every second, and every bit of confidence, that I can get.

I had warmed up by riding 4 miles over to the race and running a mile, and I topped it off with a very short warm up swim. I looked like an actual swimmer. Feeling good, I lined up near the front and quickly got away from the main group and right on a lady's feet. I weaved around a bit but stayed right with her through probably three quarters of the way back. That's quite an accomplishment for me! I came out of the water around 6-7th female. This was my first open water swim with the Garmin, and upon analysis, I found that I actually swam about 660 yards, and averaged about 1:30 per 100. This, for me, and for swimming about 3000 yards every 10 days or so, is outstanding. Sad, isn't it, that I would get so excited about it?

And that was pretty much the highlight of my race. I did have a longish transition since I had to extract myself from that tight suit and then find my helmet that somebody had knocked around. The bike went something like this, minus all the team cars:

At least it went like that in my mind. I never actually threw my bike, nor did I lie down in the grass. I might as well have, since I'm not sure I have actually ever seen that low of an average pace since I've had a bike computer (which has been for like the last decade and a half), except a couple of debacles on the Queen K. I'm not even going to write out that number. I know it's posted on the internet. 

If I could call in some asterisks for these race results? Something was up with my bike. Jeremy said my brake was obviously rubbing. Maybe a little. The real problem seemed to be that my chain could not manage to agree with my cassette, and I was constantly trying to adjust my front derailleur to stop the grinding that was going on. At least, in between the changing of gears. Good grief, the rollers. It could just be that I'm terrible at hills. For 13.5 miles we climbed somewhere around 1000ft. Ug. Just when I'd convinced myself that it was equipment failure that killed my race, somebody posted this article with a guy setting records on a bald rim, entitled Remember That Equipment Excuse You Used This Weekend? Thanks for that. 

Deflated from being passed by so many women on the bike, I tried to forget what had just happened and think about running. The rolling hills on the run are just my style. I loved them, despite walking up two short steep ones. And I had to, because that nasty cough that Hunter had? Yeah I got it 3 days before the race. There was no going even slightly anaerobic. I passed several women, and was coming up on one that looked just like me from a distance (the swinging ponytail, white top, kicking out legs), right as I was getting to the last steep hill. After that was a turn into the finish area, where we went around transition in a series of sharp turns, then to the line. The last hill left me coughing a bit, and a guy running out of T2 made me swerve, and I didn't catch her. If I'd known she was second place, then surely I could've closed those 4 seconds. The OA female had been minutes ahead of us, and even though I outran all the girls, there was no making up that much time from the bike. 

So. Now I'm definitely not swimming more than once a week, and I may stop riding altogether, since that doesn't seem to work out either. There is a fast 5k on the 4th I may suffer through, as long as I can get some running in. I have gotten closer to figuring out my hip problems, although I'm starting to be increasingly sad about what those problems may be. I'm headed back to the doctor next week for a test that will hopefully rule out where the pain is coming from. Fingers crossed. 

The footnotes

Nobody gets an asterisk by their name in race results, as an old triathlete friend used to always say. Haven't we all wanted one at some point? Like Oceanside, I'm pretty sure I would've placed in the *women's overall flat-changing category. Or Heart of Dixie (ca. 2005), when a guy clipped my front wheel, and I finished all *bloody and road-rashed. Nationals in 2003? I *ate Mexican the night before. And a couple races in 2011, *pregnant. 

If I don't get a special mention for those, then I'm surely not getting an asterisk for *severely undertrained. After racing last month and then talking about training taking a back seat to the rest of life, I started looking at my logs from this past year. In just two of those weeks since July, I swam, cycled, and ran for at least 7 hours or more. Seven hours, not seventeen. One hour per day was more than I could manage. My old self, who rarely dropped below about 10 hours in the off season, would be appalled. It's not that I haven't done any workouts lasting longer than an hour, either. But something is always making me take at least one day off per week, like my 7th (?) bout of mastitis last week. And the day you start antibiotics just seems to require a day off from exercise. 

Time seems more important now than pre-Hunter. If I'm gone from my little dude more than a couple of hours, I start feeling really selfish. I know Hunter is having a blast with Daddy, but I feel like I need to get back. I get frustrated over things and people taking my precious time from me, like the orthopedic surgeon who decided to waste 2 of my hours and 40 of my dollars one day, not even getting an X-ray of my hips, much less giving me any answers. I could've been running! Or playing with my quickly growing toddler. 

It's hard to make the decision to race when I feel like such a weekend warrior. I want to say, I'm capable of more! Or, you should've seen me when I was actually riding my bike! I used to go to master's swim! But as much as I'd like it sometimes, there are no footnotes attached to the race results. The best I can hope for after a bad race is a strange absence from the race results, like that terrible marathon I did a few years ago in Phoenix that I never officially ran. Because if all races came with footnotes, I would also see some *there were only 20 women in this race, or *we had a perfect tailwind for the last 40 miles, or my favorite, *the run was short. :)

 did i run the phoenix marathon or didn't i?

Why I Run

The short story is this:

Yeah I know, the helmet. It's an 8-year-old's!

The details include this:

What happened was an (of course, self-proclaimed) awesome hit straight to the "pitcher," who wasn't supposed to be making plays. 

It was the 8 year old nephew's baseball team against their moms, one sister (Em), and an aunt (me), and the coach was running the pitching machine. But that's ok because I got a hit every other time at bat, scored, and only got that one out. 

However, a very terrible play that was luckily not caught on video was the fly ball that I had like 30 seconds to get in position for, and I still missed it. 

Jenny about to score. 

Jackson on third hoping to get his mom out. 

Emily hitting another one. 

And that is why I run. At least the toddler seems to have gotten his dad's coordination and not mine.

Fair weather running

I guess my few weeks of perfect running weather are over. It seems I do best when the temperatures are somewhere in the small range of 65-80F. Back in March I was freezing up in my half marathon since I overestimated the temps and wore a tank top and shorts. And now I've already melted in the heat this spring, and it is only May.

Sun! He came out with this right after telling me he didn't know how to draw it.

Then he asked where the cold comes from and I tried to explain how the solar system works.

  

I might have possibly made a few small errors that caused my 10 miler to become a stumbling walk. After my apparent overeating before my triathlon a few weeks ago, I decided that less is more, and I knew a small breakfast would  get me through an aerobic 10 miles. Despite what I actually heard a registered dietitian tell a class once, exercise is NOT solely fueled by carbohydrates. And, also unlike what some "nutritionist" told a newbie runner recently, you don't use up all your carbohydrates in 30 minutes of exercise, requiring jelly beans to get you through. Good grief. No wonder people are so confused about how to fuel exercise. 

Anyway, I had a quick breakfast--so quick that I think the only thing I drank was my delicious coffee... Oops. The night before I had been out doing hill repeats on the bike with a group, and you know how much that makes you sweat, what with the lack of cooling wind and all. Then you get to talking on the descents and forget to drink. Some people may rehydrate all night, and then others dehydrate, like from nursing multiple times. 

So! I'm sure I started out a little low on fluids. I had a small 12oz water bottle with me running, which I finished within 6 miles. It was a bit warmer, leaving my house close to 10am, than my previous runs, and everybody knows how I can melt down in the heat. I've done it in the middle of the summer while training for an Ironman, during a half Ironman, during a few full Ironmans, and countless other times I happened to not have blogged about. Heading out for a hilly, sunny, humid, warm, longer-distance-than-I've-done-recently run on little fluid and scant fuel was not my brightest idea.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I do need to work on remembering good nutrition before exercise. Just like after a winter off from long riding post Ironman, when I would always forget how much fuel I'd need for a "short" 3 hour bike ride, ending up terribly underfueled, I have forgotten just how much I sweat, and how much I need to replenish after a 90 minute hill workout followed 14 hours later by an easy 10 miler. Learn from me how NOT to acclimate.

My regular daily nutrition, on the other hand, while needing to see a decline in daily ice cream consumption (at least I'm adding some antioxidants-- chocolate, strawberries and bananas), is based around these huge CSA baskets full of a variety of lettuces, beets, radishes, broccoli, onions, and various other goodies. I'm addicted to a couple of things right now besides ice cream, and I suppose I'll share my secrets. Try this homemade ranch dressing from the Pioneer Woman on your salads -- mine of course has modifications due to the herbs I have growing in the kitchen-- and you will never buy ranch again. And then make this broccoli, and you won't eat it any other way again. I'm not even a huge fan of broccoli, until now. Hunter actually said to me, reaching for the broccoli, "Give Hunter that!"

And speaking of Hunter quotes, he attempted to teach me a few things this week when he said, "Owl is a type of bird." And then today, "Octagon has 8 sides." Why yes it does, my miniature scientist and mathematician...

And since no post is complete without Hunter pictures...

  proud owner of his very own new basketball

 

best daddy ever, goes walking through tiny tunnels during his lunch break

 after the trucks go through the truck wash, they sit out on the curb to dry (where his pants should also be)

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Sprint tris and moms

I got my nineteenth triathlon season started Saturday with AIM High in Bryant. It was a fantastic pool, great course, and perfectly run race by All In Multisport. In its second year, it is bound to become a target race for many, especially beginners who desire the safety of a pool swim.

Of course there are risks, for example the guy in front of you may forget, within the very first lap, that you are swimming on the LEFT side of the lanes, and gash your neck and give you whiplash when he pounds you head on. And then he may forget again in the next lane, barely avoiding you again. I don't think too many people heard my variation on a common expletive. I said "fudge," actually. 

Despite panicking when I learned Jeremy had registered me with an estimated 400 yard swim time of 5:45, which I never have accomplished even in my best  shape, he seeded me in a nice position, where I didn't have to pass anybody on the swim and had a few go by me easily. And I am actually pretty proud of my 7:20ish swim time! I swim THAT little now. 

Once out on the foggy roads on the bike, I was near a guy for a bit, determined to keep him close, until a couple of little downhills where I could not keep up. And then it was no man's land the rest of the ride. I didn't see one other bike. I enjoyed myself, a little more than I probably should've, and eventually got back around to transition. The run was similar, but with an out and back, it kept me thinking about racing since there were people out there doing just that! 

Soon after finishing I got to see Damie's sweet little Isla for the first time in most of her life, and then Jeremy brought Hunter out. Leslie was here from Memphis too, and my favorite part of the race was definitely getting to see all of them just like old times. 

We loved hanging out with D and baby Isla later that afternoon at our house. Hunter had so much fun with her, that now we are considering getting him a baby sister. Just not yet. 

Here, let's take a pic all together! Oops Isla is on the move...

Now Hunter is...

There we go!

I realized if I'm going to try to race again this year, I need to work on things like my nutrition (so I don't throw up in my mouth the whole bike, or feel like I'm in one of those awful dreams where something is chasing me but my legs won't run), and figure out what to wear (so I don't have to tuck my blousy shirt into my shorts and look really pro). 

Happy late Mother's Day to all the Mommys of human and furry babies!

The selfie captured

50k recovery and a 5k

The best way to recover from a 50k? Not a 5k. But if I had to pick a 5k, this was the best one to do. I ran exactly zero miles (excluding ones with Hunter) between races, instead hosting some out-of-towners: Megan and Annie, then Hunter's Mammo and Nanny. We had a blast, and Jeremy and I even squeezed a date in.

So Sunday morning was a new 5k for the Ronald McDonald house, being held in accordance with a new bike race downtown. The crit course was .8mi on South Main, a rejuvenated section south of downtown with lots of historic houses and great restaurants. And as a commenter (erroneously) said, how perfect that 4 x .8 miles is a 5k (once again, can't my races ever be short?). 

The timing was perfect since I could sneak away before Hunter woke up, and he'd be very entertained by his grandmother and great aunt anyway, so off I went. As few people as I know in town, one of the race organizers I did know, and she hinted that I might be out front. 

I was. There was a guy ahead of me through half a mile, but he took a wrong turn, squeezing through the line of barricades instead of following their curve. The guys behind me started shouting "left, take a left!!" to me, and it was more than obvious which way I was supposed to go. 

After just 8 corners and one long hill, I was back around to the start line with 3 more laps to go. Soon after crossing the line and passing the announcer and stage, a bike escort showed up beside me. He followed me and gave a few encouraging words, mostly while chatting with the course monitors who were commenting about how fast I was going! You could tell they were cyclists and not runners, though, because my less than blazing 6:38 pace wouldn't normally be commented upon. I really appreciated it, regardless. 

Probably the best spectator/cyclist comment, that almost made me laugh had I not been breathing too hard up the hill for the 4th time, was, "So what do they run, like 16 minutes?" Spoken like a true criterium racer. My escort knew it was 4 laps, but still told me "one to go!" when I actually had just a quarter mile to go. I gasped a "no I'm done after this one!", and thought of how fitting that would be after that indoor "800m" in college where we ran an extra lap on the 160m track. Torture. At the finish, the announcer asked me for my time. Ha! 

It was tough actually racing this 5k since there was no one around, not even any men close to me. I tried to push it a few times and found that my quads would let me know that they were definitely NOT recovered from the 50k. I ran a few cool down miles before driving off through the closed bike course where racers were starting to warm up (oops!), and I went straight to the bakery down the street to reward myself with coffee and muffins. 

I forgot to run again this week until today, Thursday. I did swim at one of my all time slowest paces, and made it to the acupuncturist AND the structural integrationist to work on my back and hip kinks. Maybe I'll continue this recovery/taper routine until Saturday, when my 19th season of triathlon commences. I hope this season is half as fun as my first.