Triathlon Training Update

So, inspired by my friend Erin, who is also training for the Ironbabe Sprint Triathlon this month and created a new blog dedicated to tracking her training, I decided to give an update on my training (since many of you have been asking)...but no new blog, just an update :)

For the first time in 5 years, I took a REAL bike out on the road this morning. Yep. So what's the difference between 11 miles on a stationary bike and 11 miles on a REAL bike...oh...wind resistance, hills, cars trying to hit you, a group of women running a 5k race who you can hear plotting to jump you and take your bike and helmet (actually I found that pretty funny :) )...and about 20 minutes different on my time. I'm borrowing a Trek 850 mountain bike from a friend of Erin's. Nice bike- but I would be interested to see what difference a road bike makes...I think I'll be borrowing my friend Jeff's to perform that experiment.

My swimming is improving! My time on Friday for 300m was 7:45...I took a few minutes rest then did another 300m in 7:46. I'm alternating 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke. While the competitor in me would love to do the whole thing freestyle, it just isn't going to be possible with the time I have left...but there are no rules on which stroke you use, so I figure I can live with that. What is going to hurt me the most is my run time- I'd love to run an 11 minute flat pace, but I have a feeling it will be closer to 11:15....again, I have to keep telling myself, "you are doing this to finish, it doesn't matter what time you get". Yeah...I have to remember to LISTEN to myself :).

And now for a triathlon...

I just signed up for my first triathlon...the Ironbabe Sprint Triathlon. It's in August.

300yd swim
11 mile bike
3 mile run

Sounds like fun to me.

10K: Mission Accomplished!

We did it! Lisa and I ran in the Houston Rodeo Run 10K this morning! 6.2 miles- whew! And it was the most humid-hottest weather I have ever run in. The race didn't start until 9:45am, so it was already pretty warm by then. And there were hills!! Seriously, why plan a course that makes you run up an overpass...twice? I had to walk at some points because I was afraid my face was going to explode...my final time was 1hr 10min 4sec. So I didn't make my goal of 1hr 6 min, but I finished. I came in 203 place in my age group (no idea how many there were) and 2659/8000 runners. So it really was a decent time. I can't wait to run another one! That's a good sign, isn't it? :)

I did learn a lot about where to focus on my training (hills, heat) so good thing the weather will be getting warmer...now to find some hills....

6.2 miles later...

5 miles

We ran 5 miles this morning...in 55 minutes...10K is two weeks away!

Thoughts on Running

So Lisa and I (and several others) have signed up to run the Houston Rodeo Run 10K on March 1st...yeah 6.1 miles. Yikes! So yesterday we did a bit of a longer run, ~3.5 miles...good pace, good breathing, great weather. All in all a very good run.

Today was a different story. I decided that I was going to run 2 miles for time. For those of you who live in Houston, you know that today is an exceptionally humid day (currently 88% in my area). My first mile was great... 9 min 38s...and then I about died...I COULDN'T breathe! Seriously, it was like the air was getting stuck in the back of my throat! Does any one know of a lung implant I can get to filter the air? (Wouldn't that be a great invention??) So needless to say my second mile was just plain awful. First, I was running into hurricane-ish gale force winds (maybe a slight exaggeration...) granted...it did help to shove the air into my lungs...and then I had the Pain of Death in my side. Horrendous side cramp...which I used to my advantage by distracting myself with morbid scenes of myself collapsing on the side of the road because it was really acute appendicitis (overactive imagination..me?...never...). So definitely not my best mile ever. Oh well...

So bottom line, pray that the humidity on March 1st isn't ridiculous..under 30% would be great (and for you Arizonans out there, 30% humidity is NOT humid :) ).

Houston EP5K stats

I got my official 5K results:

• Division: Female 25 to 29
• Gun Time: 33:31
• Chip Time: 32:50

The difference between the gun time and the chip time is the time it took me to get to the start line after the race started (there were a lot of people!). The chip time is my actual race time.

• Place within division: 85 / 230
• Place within gender: 376 / 1315
• Place overall: 1011 / 2398

Houston EP5K!

I'll have more on my race results in a couple of days(stats, etc-for some reason I can't find the same stuff Lisa did), but I have seen two different times for my Chevron Houston Marathon EP 5K: 32:50 and 33:30...either way, I definitely met my goal of running an 11 minute mile, my pace was 10:46! I am soo excited!

To put that time into perspective, the first time I ran 3 miles (back in October), my time was about 43 minutes, about a 14 minute mile. I improved my 5K distance by 3 minutes per mile! And I am feeling great (no sore joints or other crazy stuff). I have deemed Lisa my official running buddy and our next challenge is the Seabrook Half Marathon Relay in March (one person runs 6.4 miles, the other 6.7 miles- total of 13.1 miles).

The experience today of all of those runners: Olympians, world record holders/breakers, people who wanted to challenge themselves...it was just amazing. I really want to run the Half Marathon in January...wow, that's a scary statement! Below are some pictures of today (thanks for running with your camera Lisa)!

Ready to run!

At the starting line. It was sooooo cold!

Just think warm thoughts...

3.1 miles later!

We got finisher medals! That is my first athletic-type award EVER!

Personal Best!

So today Lisa, Kevin, and I ran the Christus St. John's Hospital Annual Reindeer Run 5K (quite a mouthful isn't it?). And I ran my personal best! My goal was to run a 12 minute mile. Lisa was timing our run and she said it was ~34 minutes and 40 seconds!!! That means I ran about an 11:33-34 minute mile or so! Lisa was my motivation, because I stayed a little bit behind her and she keeps a good pace. Thanks Lisa! I am so excited! I am even more excited because I ran 3 miles on Monday, 2 on Wed, 3 yesterday, and 3.1 today! That's 11ish miles this week. Whoohoo!! And of course, we all forgot to bring our cameras, but thanks to Santa, we did get a picture to capture the event.

5K Frenzy

I did it! I ran my first 5K today! I ran the whole way ( I stopped to walk briefly while asking someone if I was going the right direction). I didn't finish last either! I also signed up to run the Houston Marathon 5k (keywords in that statement being "5k"- lest anyone thing I am more athletic than I really am).

Afterwards, to cool off, my friend Stephanie and I walked the course again...so it really was a 10k! Next up...The Reindeer Run 5k in December....bring it on!