Brooksie Way kicked my butt. However... I took 3 PRs in exchange!!!

Pre-race routine:

I woke up at 5:30AM, hopped out of bed and got ready. Made a breakfast of oatmeal and got on the road.

Event warmup:

Once at the race site, I spent all of my pre-race time standing in line for the porta-potty. I ended up peeing in the woods ala Trixie.

   Run

Comments:

This was a PR race for me. My goal was to finish in 2:45 or less - I finished 10 minutes fast! 2:35:20 is nearly a 5 minute PR, and is an HOUR faster than I ran PF Chang's RNR AZ Half in 2008. 

I set 3 PRs this course. :) 

1 10:39 
I felt good and strong and was pretty reserved out of the gate. I wanted to find a pace that I was confident that I could maintain. This seemed good. 

2 10:37 
Apparently it was good as I hit the same pace nearly to the second on mile 2. I still felt really strong. 

3 10:06 
I sped up a bit to see if I could push myself and sustain a faster pace. I could! 


4 10:05 
My test proved successful! At mile 4 I was smiling, happy, loping along without a care in the world! I am building such a buffer that I can slip into the 12's and still hit my goal. Then I get to thinking - oh wait... I can hit 2:35 if I really try. So for the entire mile 4 and 5 I just chanted inside my head "2:35, 2:35, 2:35") 

5 10:38 (PR @ 52:06) 
I checked my watch at the 5 mile mark and sure enough - PR! I decided that the hills were increasing and I knew that soon the real hills would show up - up until this point it was all rolling hills, very gentle, nothing crazy - I liked them a lot in fact. They told us at the start line that the last half is all up hill. I was getting close to wishing I had listened better. 

6 11:32 
Jodi W. and her friend Jennifer found me on the trail, so I ran with them until I got sucked down into the abyss I shall call Hill Hell. I gave it all she had cap'n, and my knees quickly informed me that I did not train on sufficient enough hills. As I crested, the guy at the top told us that this was the worst hill - the rest were easy. He was wrong. 

SPLIT - 1:10:44!!! I saw this wand thought to myself - holy cow I am on target for a sub 2:30 Half... but I knew that my sub 11-minute miles were gone. I was right. 

7 11:46 (starting hillage) 
I am feeling strong at this point, but I am starting to weaken. Walking sounds sooo good to me. So I do at the water stop. Just a little. 

8 12:15 
Walking sounds better to me this mile... sooooo... I do. 

9 14:24 This is my worst mile on this race. I kissed sub 2:30 goodbye and prayed for 2:35. I can do this! I am struggling, but I know the lay of the land, and when I get off the last mile - it should be all downhill with a slight uphill at Meadowbrook Music Festival. I walk knowing that I need it and then I just stop and start stretching. I was wishing for my new Stick(tm) to work out the knots that had formed in my calves, and the pain in my legs due to using foreign muscles. No luck. So I got back to it. 


10 13:07 (PR @ 1:55:11) 
I saw that I was in the 10th mile and wondered how much I had slowed down. So I took a peek at the screen on my Garmin that shows elapsed time... and I was on target for a 10 mile PR! Wow - I started walking and was still kicking butt. This was a needed boost in confidence. A quick run of the numbers and I knew that if I maintained a 13 minute mile or faster I would come in at 2:35 or less. I had it in the bag! 

11 12:30 
The motivation from mile 10 really helped keep me on track. 

12 13:05 
Then... then I faltered again. Just a little massage on my knees to get them to stop hurting so badly. 

13 11:18 
I am going to bring it home! I can hit 2:35! Holy cow I am doing it! The legs came back, the pain went away and the terrain flattened out. I was back in running happiness and I felt STRONG. 

0.1 2:34 
I hear my name being called - I check the clock and it has me at 2:34:41... SUB 2:35! I verify my time back at home, and the Dtag clocked me at 2:35:20. Oh well - I still kicked butt and beat my expected finish time by 10 minutes!!! 

TOTAL - 2:35:20 (PR!) 

All in all - this was a FABULOUS race. A must do in Michigan. 

What would you do differently?:

Run more long 4% hills - as that is what a lot of the course was. HILLS, and not your garden variety. I really thought that training at Kennsington would suffice. Not even close. My legs and hips are telling me that I am using muscles that I have not used so long.

Post race

Warm down:

They were out of water at the finish line. WTF? I walked the half mile to my car and tried not to pass out. I was tired, so very sore, and still had a day of randomness a head of me!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

My knees. If I didn't walk so much I would have come in at sub 2:30!

Event comments:

What a great race! It is a must-do for sure! I will be back in 2009 - I am going for a sub 2:20!

Getting Ready for Brooksie... or How I am NOT Ready for Brooksie.

Training wise, yeah I'd say that I am ready.  More ready than I possibly ever have been before, and certainly more ready than I was last year for PF Chang's RNR Arizona Half and the Chicago Distance Classic Half.  

I ended up take a 1+ week hiatus from running due to a little hip flexor pain, and now some foot pain, but all in all I got in my long runs in and I felt good and strong out there.   My hip pain is gone, and oddly enough it is the same pain 

I had 3 years ago when I started running again.   I think tht it has to do with weight loss.  When I was fat - no pain but in the knees.. now that I am not fat - I get hip pain.  Can a girl not win

? 

What I am not ready for is the physical act of racing.   

I have not got my clothes picked out yet, I do not have any gels left, and I just used up my last serving of subtle berry HEED.  

So on today's list of activities are the following in no particular order:

1. RunningFit - HEED and Hammer Gel purchasing (enough for Brooksie and Detroit half marathons)
2. Pick out my attire for tomorrow's race.  Possibilities include my cropped leggin with a sport tank on with a long leeved dri-fit top over.  Wind breaker for AM warm up.
3. Water bottle prepred and bottle holder packed
4. Put race # on my clothing, and remember to NOT wear my Champion Chip as this race is uing some new D-Tag technology.  Interesting.
5. Go to Oakland Univerity and pick up my race packet and peruse the expo.  
6. Hang out with the Kryvicky clan and catch up on their trip to Paris
7. Carbo load and get some SLEEP

During my training this time around I worked on not only endurance and some speed (heh), I also worked out a nutritional plan.  Granted when I started it was 90*+ and I have a known problem with cramping in heat, so I started by mixing up HEED electrolyte mix with some electrolyte enhanced water and sip on it ever mile.    It worked, and I will do the saame in 60* weather  well.    Also, I take 1 gel before the race, and then 1 gel every 6 miles or so.  This will have me taking a gel at mile 12, but oh well - the energy that I get from it really makes a difference in me.  My legs have felt as fresh at mile 11 as they have at mile 1 and that is going to make a difference in me finishing, and me finishing strong and happy.  I prefer the latter much more to the former if given the choice.  Although somedays just finishing is reward enough.   

Well my friends, I guess the next post will be my first Half Marathon race report in over a year.   Here's to enjoying the run!

Hills and Yards and Fartleking... Oh my!

This week has been an amazing training week for me. Heck - this has been the eye opening simple week that I needed to get me back on track with my ped sport - running.

Monday I did a 1.2 mile run at lunch. :o) I did it in work clothes and snowboots and managed a very easy 12:30 pace. I mean it actually felt easy. I RACED at that pace just the day before - but then again, I really didn't race. lol. I really did keep it slow to make sure I was fit enough to run the whole distance.

Tuesday I swam 600 yards easy and after quite a few 25's I decided to just go for it. I did a 150 out of no where! WOO HOO!! Then after about :20 of rest I did another 100 just for fun. My swim fitness is improving for sure.

Wednesday was the day that I discovered a great way to not hate my time on a treadmill... by doing hill repeats on it.

No.

For real.

You see, Runner's World online has a great video on hill challenges - you do a 10 minute warm up, then a set of hill repeats at or just above 10K pace. I did all the hills and the run at a nice and suprisingly EASY 11:30 pace. The repeats then go as such (staying at your pace!!!)

90 seconds at 3%
3 minutes recovering at 0%
90 seconds at 3%
3 minutes recovering at 0%
60 seconds at 5%
2 minutes recovering at 0%
60 seconds at 5%
2 minutes recovering at 0%
30 seconds at 7%
60 seconds recovering at 0%
30 seconds at 7%
60 seconds recovering at 0%

The cool down with 10 minutes.

I was happy that I was able to maintain the 11:30 - which shows me that I am improving in speed. I actually could have gone into the 10's but I wanted to be comfortable (at least the first time I do the challenge!)

I am doubly happy about my heart rate as it was MUCH lower after this crazy run than a few weeks ago - hmmmm.... improvements in fitness? Guess what? They really do happen! You just sort of have to work for them.

I did the hill repeats at lunch at the gym by work. The after a 3 hour trip home after work(SNOW STORM!) I went to the gym (AGAIN!) and did my swim workout. :o)

This time my workout was courtesy swimplan.com - the BEST swim website evah! It gives you a personalized swim workout based on your fitness, endurance, pool length, equipment, and goals. So I did the 750 yard workout (granted in my gym's pool it is only 690 yards due to the whole 23 yard length thing - how odd!) with no issues.

I went back to swimplan.com today and asked for a more difficult workout and the leads us to today's great swim!

W/U 100 yard FS easy, rest :20
Build up (did this set 3 times) 1 x 50 FS single arm (6xleft, 6xright) rest:10, 1 x 50 FS lateral kick, rest :10
Core 12 x 50 FS target time 1:25 (I completed each in an average of 1:09!) :15 rest after each 50
C/D 2 x 50 FS easy

Of course it ended up being only 1012 yards due to the pool length - but it was a nice workout. The 12 x 50 actually took less than I thought it would and the 100 warm up was great! As my mentor over on BT said - those yards are really starting to add up. Man 1 month ago I did not think that I would be able to do a workout like that. Amazing how so much can change in so little time!


I really owe Triathlon a huge thanks. Without the diversity I would be a sore runner. Sort of like a sore loser, only worse. That girl who laces up only to dread every step. NOW... well now I love running again - to the point where I am actually training not just running. Hill repeats, tempo runs, easy recoveries, and long runs will all be in rotation. I look at swiming, running, and cycling as equal parts in who I am and the activity I partake in. No longer will activity detract from my running - all this alternate activity is making me a better runner!

In addition to the swimming and eventually cycling (you know, when I get that bike in the next 3 weeks!) I am going to be training for the CRIM (a huge 10 mile race in Flint, MI)- no not just running to get ready... I mean actually training. I want to toe the line and have a plan to follow on the course. I want to toe that line and be excited for the next 10 miles... I want to toe the line knowing that not only will I finish - but I will finish STRONG.

I want to run the CRIM with no more than 11:30 pace per mile. So that means the addition of tempo runs and real speedwork. Oh yes - this year I am fartleking.

Excuuuuuuse me.... I am about to fartlek.

Also on the plan - two half marathons - the Brooksie Way (held in Rochester, MI by the CRIM organization) and of course - my favorote run - the Detroit International Half Marathon.

So see - all this triathlon training has made me a better person all around. I no longer see running as a necessary evil - I see it as an extension of who I am, and triathlon is just making the running all the more fun!


Swim, Bike, and above all else - RUN.

})i({ Runnergirl to the end!