A change in plans.

After my race in Miami, and looking forward the next few months, I was honest with my coach that I just don't have it in my to train for Eagleman. When it comes down to it, it's all about finding a balance. I enjoy triathlon. I love coaching and being part of the team I feel so lucky to have found in NYC. But I am not interested in the big weeks, the all-day weekend brick sessions and the 5am wake up calls.

From about mid June to late August, I will happily be spending more time in South Africa than NYC. I think for me, to train and focus on a few more short course races until that point is the best decision. So I have added two possible OLY races in June: Rev3 and the DC Tri. Rev3 is a challenging, hilly, team race, and DC is a hometown race where I can stay with my parents, perhaps race Elite and go all-in.

Depending when my work travel calms down, I will look to race a late season 70.3, most likely the new race in the Poconos. While in South Africa I can work on my swim and run base, and use September to get the biking in.

So that's the new plan.

Nautica South Beach OLY Triathlon

Welcome back to the world of novel race-report a la Sarah.

Short version, 2:24:24, 2nd/AG. Very happy girl.

Chillax. That's the best word I could find to describe my feelings going into this race. I was ecstatic after my half marathon results two weeks ago, but two weeks is a strange time in between races. Figuring out the recovery/workout/rest (for both mind and body) was difficult. I was feeling completely apathetic about my race in South Beach. A trip to South Beach? A weekend of sun? Couldn't wait. Racing an OLY? Not so sure. I felt flat all week. I had no motivation to get in my workouts, in fact, my coach left training peaks blank. I tried to move my legs and listen to my body, which basically resulted in taking most of the week off, minus a few good swims.

One thing I knew going into this race- my swim felt great. It felt in a place I haven't felt in a long time. Seeing 100 times I haven't seen in years, revisiting 100s on 1:20.

Saturday morning my Team offered a swim clinic on the race course to benefit St. Jude's. We had about 150 people turn out, it was an amazing event, and I got to work out the kinks in the ocean while raising some money for an amazing cause. The rest of the day included a hot, sweaty trip to registration (starting to freak out about racing in the heat, visions of Eagleman in the back of my mind) and some lounging by the pool (yes, in the sun, not in the shade, but c'est la vie, I was in South Beach, dammit).

Race morning, more of the same. Our hotel was about halfway between the swim start and transition (point to point swim), so I rode down to transition, dropped my stuff, and headed back to the hotel to relax before the start (and avoid the potty line). Kept things simple and tried not to overthink things - it was only 2.5 hours:
200 calories Carbo Pro + 2 Nuun (mmm grape) in the aero bottle.
water on down tube.
2 gus in my shorts - 1 for bike, 1 for run.
cycling shoes on the ground (no flying mount of this girl).
running shoes, no socks (I'm sorry my little baby toe).
visor, garmin.

Swim: 24:28 (2nd/AG, 5th female non-pro)

The water was absolutely amazing. Crystal clear, warm, relatively flat (ha, famous last words) compared to the prior morning. Every knew the water temperature was borderline, but race morning it was measured to be wetsuit legal. Some people thought it was too hot and chose to race sans, but I was out for a PR and a spot on the podium, so I pulled on my wetsuit and hoped for the best. I felt great from the start. In a very large mixed-up wave (clydesdales, athenas, women under 30, older guys) I ran, dolphin-dived (dove?) and was in the front pack at the first turn. I tried to find some feet, but got stuck behind some guys that clearly had exhausted themselves a bit too quickly, so I took off. I kept looking for feet, but finally decided to get put my head down and swim.

I realized very quickly we were swimming against the current. But I felt strong, so I just kept plugging away. I was looking for other hot pink caps, but could only see one about 2 body lengths ahead of me. I worked my way through the waves ahead of me, swam over a HUGE sting ray, and finally saw the 6th buoy and turn for the finish. At the turn, I saw another pink cap. Swim time includes a long run put the beach. I came out of the water 2nd in my age group by 1 second. Looking back, I am very happy I wore my wetsuit, but I definitely could feel myself overheating towards the end of the swim. My legs and around my knees were getting HOT and I could feel myself sweating inside my suit.

T1- I was roughly in the middle of a pretty large transition. As per usual, had trouble getting my wetsuit off over my timing chip and ankles, need to figure this out. Felt great, really raced transition as I came in next to another girl, and got out on the bike.
Bike: 1:09:02 (21.5mph)

I put my head down and pushed. This course was strikingly similar to Clearwater, with a few steeps climbs over the Causeways that connect Miami beach with the main land, and then flat and fast with lots of turns and some 180 U-turns. This course also sadly echoed the imfamous packs and pacelines of Clearwater. I luckily was able to swim through a lot of the crowds and had a pretty open bike course, but was regularly passed by pacelines of 5-10 older men. I only yelled at a few people trying to ride my wheel, but tried to not let it get to me mentally. I was sucking down my drinks faster than normal, so I had to really be aware to be a bit more conservative with the gulps. It was HOT and at some points was quite windy.

I have not had a computer on my tri bike for about a year, and strangely I think it has really allowed me to push my abilities on the bike. I no longer get bogged down with how much time has passed,, how many miles are left and how fast I am going. I just focus on keeping my cadence high (knowing what 90-95 feels like), and pushing. I was riding blind, I didn't even wear a simple stop watch. With about 3-5? miles left, a girl in my age group passed. I debated about going after her, but I was starting to feel the effort. A teammate passed and yelled some choice words of encouragement that lit my fire a bit and I picked up the pace into T2.

Flying dismount - FINALLY! Super happy and proud that I finally did this.

T2 - Had the girl who biked past in my sights, quick change of the shoes (no socks...never again), grabbed my visor and garmin and was off. Had the 2nd fastest female age group T2 of the day - it's the little things :) ha

Run: 47:40 (7:41pace) 4th/AG

I knew within 2 steps there was no mojo in my legs. I just haven't been feeling it since my race 2 weeks ago, and with the heat, I knew I was in for some suffering. I was able to hold my goal pace right around 7/miles for about 5 minutes, but as the pace started to slide, I turned my attention to NOT GIVING UP and dialing it in. I used to have a tendency to dial it back just enough to stop the pain, especially when it was clear that I wasn't going to catch the girl in front of me and there was no one coming up behind me. I have really been focusing on this mental toughness and am proud to say that even though I felt awful, I kept the thoughts positive. I knew I wasn't hitting my goal paces, but I decided if 7:30ish/7:45ish was what my legs were going to give me, then I was going to focus on keeping it there. If someone ran by me, I would try to tuck in and hold their pace as long as I could.

As a 3 mile out and back, having 35 teammates on the course was a major boost. It kept the smile on my face and found a little bit of energy with every teammate that I saw. I tried my best to pick it up into the finish. Still at mile 6, I had no clue where I was in terms of overall time. I pretty much knew my goal of sub 2:20 was out the window based on my run, but it wasn't until I turned the final corner that I realized sub 2:25 was a possibility

As I saw the results, a OLY PR by about 5 minutes a huge OLY bike PR and 2nd in my age group, I was so happy. It's funny how in a race, you can get so down on yourself over the smallest things, yet you control so much mentally. Even though my run felt completely just off, looking back, I was only about 3ish minutes off my 10k PR, and I have been dealing with an injury for the past month. It's so easy to forget these small details in the moment of racing.

Post race was followed by being spoiled by some friends who are too kind, having a few too many beers with my teammates and not enough sleep. Monday morning brought an easy 20 minute ocean swim and a long, honest talk with my coach about goals for the rest of my season. We talked about changing up my race plans through June. I am mulling over the options today.

All and all, I am very tired, happy (and sunburned) girl.

I still do triathlons (sort of)

Last night I swam 2900. It was the longest swim since Clearwater and I was pleasantly surprised I was able to mentally stick through a killer race-pace set. I think running fitness really translates to my swim coming back faster than I think.

On that note, I am still a triathlete. While work travel will limit my race schedule the second half of 2011 ,I still have a few big items on the horizon.

• In a few weeks I will head to camp with the team, where I will do these things:

-Run 20 miles on a red dirt road
-Race a sprint and watch my super-star roommate tear it up in a draft-legal race.
-Swim lots of miles in a sweet pool.
-Ride 100 miles.

• Then I will run a marathon. Note, I said 'run' as I haven't yet decided if this will be a 'race.'
  

• Two weeks later, pending my recovery from marathon, I will attempt a HUGE OLY PR (10+ minutes - I'm aiming high ha) at the Nautica South Beach race in April. Then I will drink my face off and sit on the beach with 30 teammates for two days.

• Then I will be all in for Eagleman. This race took the wind out of my sails last year and was a nasty intro to 70.3 racing, but I have learned a lot, and am committed to not letting the race break me this year.

2011.

I'm still deep in off-season mode. And enjoying every second of it.

Looking ahead to 2011, I am not sure what the first half of the year will hold work travel-wise, other than: A LOT. I need to do research on getting myself a bike and a group to train with in Johannesburg. In the absence of all that being finalized, one think I know I can do in South Africa is run (on a treadmill).

So today, I entered the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile lottery. If I get in the lottery, and I am in town on April 3rd, I am super excited to make this an 'A' race for the spring, working on my fitness and my speed.


Then on Easter is a race that is on my bucket-list.
I was signed up for the half-marathon option when I hurt my hip in 2007/2008, and had to sit on the sidelines and cheer (which was an amazing experience). But is a good chance I will need to be in South Africa the week before/after this race this year.

The decision becomes, do I make the half-marathon an 'A' race for the spring (it's a super crowded course), or do I dream bigger and work on developing a real (injury free) base and run the course that this race is known (and named) for, all 56k of it. I would 100% run the ultra for experience, as I would not have a 'qualifying' time from a marathon in the past year and would thus, be seeded in the back of the crowd.

Updated 2009 Schedule

I have had to revise my 2009 Race Schedule, yet again.  But this time I think it's as close to 'final-final' as it is going to get.  No more triathlons will be added to the schedule, due to budget, travel and time constraints.  So my 'tri season' this year is about 6 weeks long- 2 OLYs and a sprint.

I found out that the 5 Boro Bike Tour is the same day as my desired spring marathon date.  My dad has tried to do the 5 Boro Tour the past 2 years, but for various reasons, he has not been able to make it to NYC.  It means a lot to him, so I am more than happy to add that to the spring schedule.  It's a fun way to see parts of New York City and the outer Boroughs that you can't normally reach on bike.

5 Boro Bike Tour Route Map

Because of this, and other scheduling conflicts, I have let go of the idea of a spring marathon.  I have been keeping the mileage up, and enjoying running more often (4-5 times/week) with a 2-ish hour long run on the weekends.  I think I will be able to keep this up without a 'looming' marathon.  This will also let me enjoy my 10-day California vacation in February.  

I have added a 5k and 2 10ks to the spring schedule, and will make the Brooklyn Half Marathon my 'A' spring race.  I am excited to teach myself to enjoy running fast again.

I also have to wait a bit more for final plans for a fall marathon, based on multiple friend's looming wedding plans and work travel.  I have taken on a new work project since the 1st of the year, and the timelines look to have me in Africa more than a few times in the later half of the year.

I am hoping Marine Corps may be the one.  The good thing is that I can 'defer' my guaranteed entry to NYC until 2010.

May Marathon

I have decided I will be running a marathon on May 3. I was worried about running a marathon this late in the spring, as I didn't want it to interfere with my triathlon season, but I think it will be OK, as will have over a month to recover (and hopefully this time, I will be better trained, thus less recovery time.)

Now, to decide which one. This year for me is all about saving money (thus no Half IM on the schedule anymore).

Why, you may ask? It's that time of life for me- Wedding Year(s)!! I have three weddings on the calendar, all of which will require travel (LONDON! yay). I am SO excited, but need to plan wisely so I can attend and enjoy the festivities.

SO, my options, which are a result of the least amount of costs involved (read: entry fee, travel expense):

NJ Marathon
Long Island Marathon
Frederick, MD Marathon
Potomac River Run Marathon
Providence Marathon

• Frederick is tempting so my family can share the experience.

• NJ is popular with the NY-crowd, and there is easy transit race morning
  

• Have read Long Island it is more geared towards the 10k and Half marathon crowds.
  

• The River Run is a low key, grass roots run. I am leaning towards this.

• Providence is obvs more travel, and would require hotel, but I love Providence!

I don't think I need to rush to make a decision but to have it on the calendar will motivate me through my 14/15 miles in the snow tomorrow.

I am thinking it could be cool to run over the Brooklyn Bridge in the snow, I will try to get some pretty pics!

The fear of planning...

As you may have guessed from my last post, I am trying to start planning my race schedule for next season.  In a perfect world, this would be my schedule next year:

March 11 Global Dolphin Beach

April Two Oceans Half Marathon

January 2009- South Africa 70.3

(regardless of my physical living location, I am going to try to plan work trips around any or all of the three above):

HOWEVER, being more realistic as to where things stand right now (and where I currently live:) , here is what I am leaning towards:

Early Season Half Iron- Tupper Lake (late June) or Black Bear (late May)

Gold Coast Sprint- Early June, already registered, love this race

Mid Season OLY- Philly(late June) or NYC* (late July)

Philadelphia Women's Sprint- Early July (did this year- flat, fast course, nicely organized)

Late Season OLY- Mighty Hamptons/Westchester/The Nation's Triathlon in DC

(Also NYRR races all year, and possibly a fall marathon) 

The snags:

1. Philly OLY is the same date as Tupper Lake HIM

2. NYC is overpriced in my opinion (however, Philly would cost more once you factor in hotel and travel to the race)

*I also still have a bone to pick with the NYC course, as in, I want to kick it's ass like it kicked mine in 2007.

3. I really wanted to go up and watch Lake Placid this year 

4. Early HIM = Finally need to invest in a bike trainer (which I am OK with)

Most of the registrations for these races are currently open or open Nov 1.  ie, I need to decide.  

Oh, and I also need to find some extra cash laying around to pay for the registration 

AND the new bike I want.

Sweet.

Honestly, I think the thing that scares me most about this planning, more than breaking out the credit card to pay for it, is that I had a great season planned out last year too.   Two Oceans, St. Anthony's, Eagleman...and it all came crashing down.  I know I have done all I can (OK, well not ALL I can, but a lot) to prevent another injury, but the fear is still there that when I try to ramp up the intensity again to train for a 10k run, or add in the biking mileage on top of the running miles, old or new injuries will set me back again.  I think/HOPE that completing the marathon takes some of these fears away, proves that I am OK and not broken and can move forward, but the fear still lingers....

Ugh, I just need to go out and run.