COLD COLD COLD! The day started out cold and gloomy. This race was sort of a last minute decision. I knew I wanted to do a duathlon but I just hadn't decided if it was going to be Oseola du or Cannon Wells...So the decision was made, I got to use another friends free entry to the Cannon Wells DU so the decision was pretty easy. First run went really good. I was cold but after my 30 min warm up I was ok. Then it was on to the bike. The bike was so cold, I never warmed up and my hands and legs and feet were numb. It was really hard to drink water because I was afraid I'd loose my bottle from not being able to grip it very well. I was very happy when the bike was over. The bike course was nice but very bumpy in some areas.
Coming off the bike to the 2nd run was challenging since my whole body was numb at this point. I had a lot of trouble on clipping my helmet and due to that didn't have a very good T2. I was so happy to be on the 2nd run just so I could warm up. Well that really didn't happen until mile 2, and by that time I was feeling some aches and sore muscles. I finished strong, in 1st place for women. I was happy with how I felt (besides the cold factor) I felt pretty strong out there. The first run I was really challenged by the girls who ran which was awesome!
First run 2 miles, 6:23 pace, 12:46
Bike 14 miles, 40:17 20.9 mph
2nd run 3 miles 21:23 7:08 pace
Overall time 1:16 and change.
Summary: Fun du but very very chilly!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
St.Croix Valley
I am happy to say that this year this race went much much better then last year. I was feeling pretty good in the morning and warming up my legs felt great. I had done a pretty tough workout on Tuesday that week and my legs had been feeling pretty sore the whole week until race morning.
The weather was chilly 54 cold degrees! Starting out on the swim the water temp was warmer then the air temp which was not a surprise. I felt pretty strong on the swim but was extremely cold. My feet and arms were pretty numb coming out of the water and I knew that the bike would just be colder with the air temp being so low. Swim time 28:41 (2min faster then last year!)
It took me a while to get going the bike because my muscles were soo cold. I never did warm up on the bike too much but I was feeling fairly strong despite all the hills on this course. I didn't drink much of eat anything on the bike as I wanted to because my hands were so numb I could not really squeeze the water bottle into my mouth. Final bike time 1:08 (almost a 5min PR from last year) 21.9 average speed.
Now came the run. I did remember this run course a bit from last year. Again I was so cold that coming into T2 it took me a while to get my shoes on and I decided to not wear socks simply because I could not put them on. The run went well. It took about 2.5 miles for my feet to 'defrost' then I was good. I felt a lot stronger on the second part of the run compared to the first half. This was also true for the bike. Final run time 43:40 (7:04 pace) same time as last year. I was hoping for sub 7 and was a bit disappointed with my run time (thought I was going faster).
Overall 2nd place, the impressively talented Kortney Haag took first! 7min PR from last year, I can't really complain and I felt so much better compared to last year.
The weather was chilly 54 cold degrees! Starting out on the swim the water temp was warmer then the air temp which was not a surprise. I felt pretty strong on the swim but was extremely cold. My feet and arms were pretty numb coming out of the water and I knew that the bike would just be colder with the air temp being so low. Swim time 28:41 (2min faster then last year!)
It took me a while to get going the bike because my muscles were soo cold. I never did warm up on the bike too much but I was feeling fairly strong despite all the hills on this course. I didn't drink much of eat anything on the bike as I wanted to because my hands were so numb I could not really squeeze the water bottle into my mouth. Final bike time 1:08 (almost a 5min PR from last year) 21.9 average speed.
Now came the run. I did remember this run course a bit from last year. Again I was so cold that coming into T2 it took me a while to get my shoes on and I decided to not wear socks simply because I could not put them on. The run went well. It took about 2.5 miles for my feet to 'defrost' then I was good. I felt a lot stronger on the second part of the run compared to the first half. This was also true for the bike. Final run time 43:40 (7:04 pace) same time as last year. I was hoping for sub 7 and was a bit disappointed with my run time (thought I was going faster).
Overall 2nd place, the impressively talented Kortney Haag took first! 7min PR from last year, I can't really complain and I felt so much better compared to last year.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Ragnar Relay Loo Lovers August 20th and 21st
I had always wanted to do the Ragnar Relay and this year was my chance. I was really excited to get going. I told myself that I would not race but just go out there and enjoy the scenery and pretty much jog it out...Well my competitive nature took over and I'd say I pushed myself pretty hard each of the three legs I had to do.
The day started out going to Kelly's house (one of the team member in Van 2). We packed out Van and decorated and were off to meet Van 1 at our check point. We had a lot of time to spare so stopped off at Subway.
Finally after waiting for a while we arrived at our checkpoint. Our first runner (runner 7) Kim was the first one to start. The rest of the legs in the day/evening time went great. My first leg was 5.2 miles with two pretty big hills and the heat! The heat really did all of us in. Kim had the biggest hill in her leg. I did my first leg at a 732pace. After the first legs was over we handed off to Van 1 and were off to Michael's house for dinner at 1100pm and a short nap before Van 1 got done and it was our turn to do our night runs (the second legs).
It was around 1am when Michael woke us up from our nap. It seemed like I had just shut my eyes, but it was time to go again. It was around 3am when our first runner, Kim, started. My second leg was 5.5 miles. It was amazing running in the dark. It was a very crazy experience because not only could you not see anything ahead because it was dark when I was running it was foggy so I could really see nothing. At times there would be a runner ahead and I could see their night vest but that was it. My leg also took me into a valley where the temperature dropped quiet a bit. The run up was pretty tough but then after that there was only a mile left and it actually felt pretty good. I did my second leg at a 7:30 pace (even faster then the first leg). I was surprised because I was going on one hour of sleep...Hmmm maybe sleep is over rated! I also ran a part of Gabe's leg with him (3miles total which was actually not too bad). When we finished up the second leg it was tough because it was that in between time around 6am where it was hard to sleep and we were going to be running starting around 10am. We ended up going to Starbucks and filling up on coffee and some bagels before our final legs.
Finally it was time for us to run our last legs. Mine was my longest leg 6miles. I was a bit worried because it was the last leg so at this point I'm really feeling a bit run down and it wasn't what I'd call a short run. My last leg had a lot of downhills which was nice but I was really feeling it in my quads because of all the deceleration when going down. To my surprise the weather was cool and I actually ran my fastest pace on my last leg, a 7:00 pace for 6 miles. I'd have to say that I think the reason I ran so well was because I ended up running with a guy who joined me at about mile 3 and asked if he could run with me. I think he definitely pushed me!
I was so happy when we were all finished. We all ran in to the finish line together with our last runner.
Summary: Awesome experience! I would really like doing Van 1 or the Ultra Team of 6 next year. Van 1 has more miles and the Ultra Team is just crazy! I am really glad I got to do the Ragnar and I'm surprised how I did with such little sleep...Makes me wonder...We averaged a 8:35 pace between both Van 1 and Van 2. Total mile ran with Gabe's extra 3 mile leg 19.6 (I can do more!).
The day started out going to Kelly's house (one of the team member in Van 2). We packed out Van and decorated and were off to meet Van 1 at our check point. We had a lot of time to spare so stopped off at Subway.
Finally after waiting for a while we arrived at our checkpoint. Our first runner (runner 7) Kim was the first one to start. The rest of the legs in the day/evening time went great. My first leg was 5.2 miles with two pretty big hills and the heat! The heat really did all of us in. Kim had the biggest hill in her leg. I did my first leg at a 732pace. After the first legs was over we handed off to Van 1 and were off to Michael's house for dinner at 1100pm and a short nap before Van 1 got done and it was our turn to do our night runs (the second legs).
It was around 1am when Michael woke us up from our nap. It seemed like I had just shut my eyes, but it was time to go again. It was around 3am when our first runner, Kim, started. My second leg was 5.5 miles. It was amazing running in the dark. It was a very crazy experience because not only could you not see anything ahead because it was dark when I was running it was foggy so I could really see nothing. At times there would be a runner ahead and I could see their night vest but that was it. My leg also took me into a valley where the temperature dropped quiet a bit. The run up was pretty tough but then after that there was only a mile left and it actually felt pretty good. I did my second leg at a 7:30 pace (even faster then the first leg). I was surprised because I was going on one hour of sleep...Hmmm maybe sleep is over rated! I also ran a part of Gabe's leg with him (3miles total which was actually not too bad). When we finished up the second leg it was tough because it was that in between time around 6am where it was hard to sleep and we were going to be running starting around 10am. We ended up going to Starbucks and filling up on coffee and some bagels before our final legs.
Finally it was time for us to run our last legs. Mine was my longest leg 6miles. I was a bit worried because it was the last leg so at this point I'm really feeling a bit run down and it wasn't what I'd call a short run. My last leg had a lot of downhills which was nice but I was really feeling it in my quads because of all the deceleration when going down. To my surprise the weather was cool and I actually ran my fastest pace on my last leg, a 7:00 pace for 6 miles. I'd have to say that I think the reason I ran so well was because I ended up running with a guy who joined me at about mile 3 and asked if he could run with me. I think he definitely pushed me!
I was so happy when we were all finished. We all ran in to the finish line together with our last runner.
Summary: Awesome experience! I would really like doing Van 1 or the Ultra Team of 6 next year. Van 1 has more miles and the Ultra Team is just crazy! I am really glad I got to do the Ragnar and I'm surprised how I did with such little sleep...Makes me wonder...We averaged a 8:35 pace between both Van 1 and Van 2. Total mile ran with Gabe's extra 3 mile leg 19.6 (I can do more!).
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