2011 Akron Half Marathon

I really can't remember the day the conversation started, I think it was back in July when I was training for the Rev3 Half in july. I think it went like this... Hey I am gonna run the Akron Half Marathon this year, you think you might want to run it with me? Did you know that there is a vegetarian restaurant in Akron? Hey If you run it with me I'll buy you lunch there. So you want to run Akron with me? Half Marathon?, lunch? you in? Little did Kirsten know she had me from, 'you want to run a half marathon with me?' I played if off for a little bit and told her I was in. Why wouldn't I want to run a half marathon and get free lunch from a really cool vegetarian restaurant. Duh, I am crazy but not stupid. As my Triathlon year went by I decided that the Rev3 just wasn't going to happen this year. I did decide to keep training for it, then pickup on Kirsten's schedule for the half. I think that most of my sunday long runs I ran with Kirsten, she's a great pacer and the conversation is killer. Two weeks before Akron I had a 10k trail race that I PRed and gave me a good feeling about a sub 2 hour half marathon. (that was our goal for Akron). The week before Akron we ran a 5 mile race and both PRed! You can read about it here. So I knew we both could run our first sub 2 hour half.

Nice face dude!

The day before we met up and headed to Akron for the race expo to grab our race bibs and hopefully some new gear. The expo was ahhh... so so. The thing I learned the most is when looking for gear/clothes bring a shopping girl! After ten minutes of searching threw a huge pile of last years gear for a medium jacket, someone pointed out the one on display! SCORE it was a medium. Thanks shopper girl! After the expo we got some quick pictures out side the expo and headed out for some food.

The next morning came really quick, like 3:45am quick. I was picking up Kirsten at 4:20am then we were driving to Kelly's house. Kelly offered to drive us and be the official photographer and cheer person. I think she just really want to hang out with two really cool people, or was it that we were going to a kick ass vegetarian restaurant? We got there about an hour before the 7:00 start so we had plenty of time to hang out and take some photos... Well they took photos, I am not a big photo person. Around 6:40 we started to line up in front of the 3:50 pace group. I figured we could hang out in front of them we would be sure to get that sub 2 hour half.
The first mile is always a crowded slow mile, we ran it in 9:08. Mile two and three it started to clear out a little bit and we feel into our running Mojo grove, 8:54 and 8:48. The thing I remember the most in the first three miles was a lady in a wheel chair, she was doing the first leg of the relay race! I think it was 3.5 miles! Its so crazy to see people like that, it makes you so proud of them. Just remember that when your doing a 3.5 miler and you feel like you can't finish. This strong lady did it in a wheelchair!

Miles 4,5 and 6 we ran 8:37, 8:44 and 8:37. I was wearing the Garmin and was giving Kirsten time updates. I think I lied about a 100 times, telling her that we were just doing ok but we were going to have to hit it hard in the last 3-4 miles. Miles 7 8:55 and 8 9:01were the tuff ones for two miles we ran up hill. It felt like it would never end. As soon as we hit the peek it would let up for a couple hundred yards then turn a corner and go right back up. I love my hills, but man it was killer
towards the end. I was once again amazed with
Kirsten that she was right beside me pushing it

Last Mile

Mile 9 was a great gift almost all down hill! We ran it in 8:36. Mile 10 was once more a short up hill battle! I think we were both done with these damn hills 8:47.

From 10 to about 11.25 it was a huge down hill! one of those were you want to go crazy fast down it. we ran it in 8:16. Then the last killer up hill it was so crazy hard to be strong and keep running, if i was alone I might of walked it some. 9:36. When we got to the top of the hill I looked a the Garmin and new we had it in the bag. The last mile we got back on pace and hit it hard one last time, running it in 8:47. Finishing in 1:56:00.
It has been a really big goal of mine for awhile to finish under 2 hours. I am just so happy I got to do it with my friend in need from the Cleveland Marathon.

The Best Part

Its Better In Mentor Race!

Today was a great day for running! When we stepped up to the starting line this morning, I had one thing on my mind. To help a friend realize her awesome potential. There is know way I could of wrote it better.

Days go by and I grow stronger.

Believe and Achieve 10k trail race report

This was my first 10k trail race this year. My real love of running comes from running trails. So I was really pumped up for this race. The day before my race Kirsten and I ran some of the course just to check it out and get in some Akron half marathon training milage. We ran a lot of the normal loop and some of the buckeye trail. Nothing to crazy but enough to get ya a little muddy.

The morning of the race it started to rain about 3:00 am, when I woke up I knew it was going to be a fun run. When I got to the race everyone was hanging out under the pavilion talking about the course and how the small water crossing were now small raging rivers. Even talk of a muddiest runner contest. Before the race started I decided to ditch the rain gear and just embrace the wet mud fest that was about to begin.

I am a mid pack runner, I know I will never run up front with the sicko crazy fast guys and gals. Today tho I lined up front, I think I was 5-6 in line. I wanted to see what it was like, even for the first .1 mile. When the horn went off two of the guys just laid down the hammer, I mean they were gone as gone could get. The start was on crushed gravel trails and was a slight down hill, so its was a easy fast start. Only a few runners passed me by. When we hit around .5 miles in we turned left and headed into the woods for some single person trails. This is my favorite part of trial running! Even thou the trails were a muddy slippery mess I was still holding good ground and even past some of the guys that took me in the start. When we cam up to the first water crossing some guys were a little hesitant about charging in, some were even standing in the water that was now over knee height. I was following a faster guy that manned up and jumped right into it and continued to run it hard. I could not just walk thou it after that so I hit it to, that was a great feeling to hammer threw that. I continued threw some really nice trails and climbed up a nice muddy rocky hill and headed back on the crushed rock trails. On the open paths you can tell who was the road runners, thats were they took off, but when we hit the hills they fell back. Half way was a killer up hill with a water stop at the top. Grabbed a quick drink and hit it again. The trail took us back the was we came from for a little then headed of to some nice single person trails again. The only complaint about the race was towards the end it wasn't marked out that well. I was running solo for a while and wasn't sure I was even going the right way. 400 yards from the finish I saw a runner walking back into the corse and I yelled out to him to make sure I was going the right direction. When I popped out to the woods I hit it hard again when I saw the timing lights. I am not sure on the official time yet, my Garmin was at 53:27. That would be a 9:14 pace. I am fine with that for a trail race!

Finally iOS app for blogger!

Yesterday was a strength/core workout in the morning and then in the evening my weekly tempo run.
I don't have any special program for my strength train, which as a runner drives me nuts! I need a plan to tell me what to do and for how long. Basically my current program is starting at the upper body row of machines and working down the line. There are about 12 different ones working just about every muscle I don't use. I do 3 sets of 13 on each. The weight varies depending on what I am working. Then I do some stretching and work a little with the ball. It feels weird that each exercise takes a short time. I am use to running, biking and swimming for hours on end. Almost like I am not doing enough, but I sure feel it the next day.
Tempo run was warmup 5 minute walk, 10 minute easy run. The main is 25 minutes at tempo. Cool down 5 easy then 5 walk. My pace times have been changing, not even sure my new paces are. Warmup is around 9:30. For tempo I try to hit 7:45. This week I hit a 8:06 avg pace for 25 minutes.

Been way to long

So much is going on lately, I feel that I never have time to blog. 

I am the first person in the first row.

First of all the MSbike point to point was so crazy awesome. My main goal of the ride was to have fun and ride my first century. Little did I know I had it in me to kill it! I finish day ones 100 mile ride in 4:51:00. That is a insane 20.89 pace. I would like to thank my group of riders that I road with, with out them I would of never made that kind of time. I learned a lot about riding in larger groups. Day two was a 80 mile ride home. I started out a little earlier than the 7:00am starting time because of the storms mother nature had planned for the day. When I headed out I was solo for the first 15 or so miles. I was still killin it time wise but was feeling the pain of riding solo. Then I was past by a group that was just hallin, two of the guys yelled out to me, they were in the group from yesterday. I didn't want to race it all the way home so I just waved. Two minutes later the racer in me put the hammer down again and caught up the the group and joined in mid-pack. The two guys looked over at me and said... ya thats what I thought, welcome back. When we hit mile 45 for the lunch stop it was only 9:00am so we decided to only take a 5 minute break and continue on. When we started back the rain finally caught up to us. I was a little worried at first riding this fast in the rain, the last time I road while it was raining I felt like i was going to eat pavement every 20 seconds. I finally felt at ease about 20 minutes into it. The only thing that bugged me was when your in a group, your front tire is about 4-6 inches away from the riders rear tire thats in front of you. When its raining there rear tire is shooting of a constant stream of water. so of course you got a stream of dirty road water in your face. I ended up finishing the second day 80 mile ride in 4:21:00 with a avg speed of 18.5. Our group was the second group to finish that day. I think they said in the top 25 riders. Not bad for rainy ride!

Greater Cleveland Triathlon Report!

This was my third triathlon of the season. This was also my first olympic distance triathlon. 1200 yard swim, 40k bike and 10k run.  I woke up around 5:00 and left for the race at 5:30am. The race was only 2.5 miles from my house so I was very comfortable with the course. I rode the long and short courses as part of my training for the last couple months. When I arrived it was still pretty dark, there was a nice glow of lights coming from the west side of the beach where transition was setup.  After parking and grabbing all my gear I headed to the numbers marking to get tagged. Everyone was super nice for being up at who's know what time they got there. "Thank you volunteers" I setup all my stuff in order t1 and t2. I really didn't know how the swim was going to go so I walked down to the beach to see if they had anything setup. 

When I got to the shore I was greeted by 3-5' waves and some heavy winds. Not what you want to see when you have to swim 1200 yards in a race. By then I got a text from my official photographer and cheer person Kirsten, she said it was way too early and she was on her way. When she got there we walked around some, stalking on a bigger gentleman carrying a cup of coffee from McDonalds. The first waves started at 7:30 and I was in the third wave at 7:36. As everyone started down to the beach I finally got a look where the starting line was and how far the swim was going to be. You started to see the fear in a lot of the people's eyes when they saw how ruff the water was. They said it was 3-5 foot waves, some said 5-6. Let me tell you, I have never in my life thought that I would ever go into that kind of water no less swim a race in it. When we got to what I thought was the start, a lot of people where still walking down the shore. That was just the sprint start. 700 yards down the beach was my start. The whole way down Kirsten and I were joking about how ruff the water was and how I needed to man up for this one. It felt like forever taking that walk to the start. 

Once there I threw on my swim cap and goggles to see how the water was. I guess all I could say was that at least the water was warm. Man was it ruff! In the final meeting for the triathlon the officials told us because of the conditions of the water all we had to do was swim out to the first yellow buoy then make the turn to head back up shore, if we wanted to we could swim as close to shore we wanted. We could even walk down the shore, as long as your ankles are in the water you were good. The only thing is when you got to the last yellow buoy you had to swim out and around it before you got out of the water. A lot of the guys got a smile on their faces... I sort of knew what they had planned. I don't know how a lot of other people feel but, I trained really hard and I wanted to try my hardest to complete the swim no matter how long it took. When I told Kirsten about how the swim was going to go down, I think the only thing she said was what the &$@!. You’re gonna swim it right? The first wave was the youngest, it was a beach start so everyone gathered in the coral, when the horn went off it was total madness. Either you ran into the water or waited to see how everyone else was doing. Less then 30 seconds into it you heard "help" a couple of people started to panic out in the ruff water.  I won't lie I as nervous, but I had to man up and get it done. I lined up towards the middle on the beach, I didn't want to be last in and also didn't want to the first. When the horn went off I hung back a few and hit then water. I knew it was going to be tuff within the first 15 seconds. I took in a lot of water the first few waves until I got out more in the water. I almost freaked out until I regrouped and told myself slow down and take it easy. After the turn I headed down the shore for the long swim. I noticed that there was a lot of orange caps still around me so I knew I was ok. I was trying to stay out into the water and not too close to the shore. What felt like an hour went by, fighting the waves and current I finally started to pass the sprint starting point. You can basically sum up the swim by two words, the f bomb and "help" the life guards were on over time today! Finally I saw the last yellow buoy in sight. When turning into shore I noticed that the number of swimmer doubled, different colored caps everywhere. When I could finally touch I tried so damn hard to run out of the water onto shore but my legs didn't have it to fight the current, so I just walk up to the beach. Once I hit the sand I started to pick up the pace and heard Rob from the bicycle hub yell out my name... It was a nice cheer that gave me an extra boost to T1.

When I ran into T1 I saw Kirsten, i was still a little dizzy from being in the water and I asked her how long I was out there. She said forever!!! She lost me and didn't  see me until I popped out of the water. I think she said like an hour... I felt a bit down on that time but I was so damn happy the swim was over. I took my time in T1 so I could catch my breath and get my bike on.

Heading out of the park I didn't get on it yet... They told us there was no racing until you hit the main road, so stay in order. I guess the guy that passed me missed that note. Once I hit the road I laid it down as hard as I could with out using up all legs for the run. The first part of the bike long course is a slight up hill for 4-5 miles. It's hard on the legs if you’re a grinder. I did pass a lot of bikes the first 6 miles, until the first downhill then the field leveled out and we all hung with each other until the big up hill climb. This climb hunts me in my sleep. The first time I ever tried it I ended up hoping off the bike and walking up. The second time I did it but I thought my heart popped out of my chest.  The more I did the course the easier it became. I just had thoughts of me in the middle of a pack of riders jumping off my bike to walk. Around a half mile before the the hill I notice a lot of people slowing down and getting ready. When I passed one guy I asked him if he was ready? He told me that last year he had to walkup the last part of the hill and he was hoping to make it this year. So when I got to the base I started spinning hard and gave it my all. Once I made it to the top, I thought to myself all that worrying over that? Ten seconds later I started hearing yelling of joy when a lady that I passed on the up hill made it to the top! Was a great feeling that I wasn't the only person that was celebrating the climb. There was only about 1.5 miles more of up hill and the rest was a fast paced down to the finish. I saw Kirsten one last time, she was taking pictures and smiling away.  I hung with the same people the last 5 miles of the bike. The last mile was a fast hard pace, i wanted so bad to pass one more rider before the cut off when  we reached the park. So once again i dug deep and sprinted on last rider, i think i was twenty feet from the park entrance. When I came into T2 I knew the run would be a death crawl.

 I tried so hard to run hard but I had nothing more  to give to the run gods. I thought as long as I could run 10 minute miles I would be happy. When I came up on mile three I notice one of the younger swimmers that had to be helped in the water and I started to talk to her, she really didn't want to talk about it. I told her it was really ruff and a lot of people were having a hard time. That's when I saw my photographer for the last time... She yelled out "you call that running!" I think I said that's all I got right now... I really didn't care on time anymore I just wanted to finish. The last three miles I felt like I might be able to push harder but the legs just won't go. Coming back into the park the only thing I could remember is my last training run. I knew I was so close to the finish, the strange thing was I didn't want it to be over yet. I am addicted to the feeling of almost passing out and pushing myself to new limits. I want to be in that moment forever. So I relished the feeling for a few more minutes and pushed on to the finish. I finished in 3:04:15 placing 10th in my age group. 

I have been bit hard by the triathlon bug this year, and I am so proud of myself for getting it done.

"My Goals" new and old

In two days I will be racing my third triathlon this year. This will be my first Olympic distance triathlon 1200 yard swim, 40k bike and 10k run. This race was going to be my "B" race for the tri year and my "A" race was going to be the Rev3 70.3 at Cedar Point. I have been training for the 70.3 for ever now, but It just wasn't in the cards for this year. So I decided to drop the 70.3 this year and make the Greater Cleveland Triathlon my "A" race.

Right now I am in the peak of the training for the 70.3 so there won't be much of a tapper...

Somebody asked me what was my time goals for this race. I was kind of clueless. I have done all the distances during my training, also I have done bricks with the same distances. I have never really thought of a time goal for this race. I think that I want to race this race as hard as I can as long as I cross the finish with a smile. I don't want to push myself to the point where I am not enjoying it anymore.

I am also doing the MS Bike Point to Point ride next weekend. Its a 175 mile two day bike tour. First day 100 miles and second 75 miles. I was also bribed with food to run the Akron Half Marathon in Sept. Tho I would of done it anyways. Plus I want to start base training with my run. I have a date with a 50k in January that I need to do. I didn't finish it last year and its been bugging me a lot. After the 50k I would like to start to add some good speed training in. I also have one more date with the Cleveland Marathon, I really would like to hit that 4:00ish mark. Continuing on I would really really really love to run the Burning River 100 in 2012. I think with the right planning and a good base(I have a year) I could do it. Even tho I might have to put my two other loves (bike and swim) on hold or a least just use them as cross training.