My heart rate graph from the Twisted Ankle Half marathon...
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Raleigh Race for the Cure Race Report
Originally, I had planned to get to bed early last night since I was planning to be in Raleigh by 6:30 for the 7:30 start. That did not work out, however, and I made it into bed shortly before midnight – only to lie awake staring at the ceiling – in pain. The past couple days have been spotted with lower back pain – severe at times – that seems to be related to tight hamstrings and IT bands. Try as I might to stretch them out, pain in my hips and lower back was high as I tried to fall asleep. Drugged up, I finally dosed off. Seemingly 5 minutes later it was 5 AM and the alarm was going off. As usual I hit the snooze button once….twice…three times – oops, it’s 5:50. I was supposed to leave home by 6:00. Ok, out of bed – good thing I laid my clothes out and packed my bag last night. I was out the door by 6:05 – not bad at all – only to suffer from another aspect of poor planning….I was almost out of gas. I managed to get the fastest pump ever, and was back on the road by 6:15, making it to my Aunt Judy’s house at exactly 6:30.
Judy graciously let me park at her house and gave me a ride to the start – much appreciated. Her house is only about a mile from the start and the loop course actually passes her block twice (once on each end) so she stood at the corner and cheered for me at each end – it was really great to have someone out there pulling for me.
The race itself was pretty uneventful. My plan was actually based on my HR rather than mile splits and I think I was a bit conservative. The goal was to keep my HR below 190 for the first mile, below 200 for the second, and then just let it go for the final 1.1. I did quite well staying down for the first mile, my first split was just over 10 minutes. I did stop and walk up a deceptively large hill but ran the rest of the race, albeit slowly. Two streets were lined quite nicely with spectators. One street had a few yards with sprinklers set up, and even one spot where three kids were standing at the ready with Super Soakers, squirting anyone who indicated approval – that was excellent.
Coming into the last ¼ mile I had way too much energy left over and had a strong, smooth, fast kick into the end. As a comparison – my average HR for the TA was 199 with a max of 222, and for this race the average was 191 with a max of 212. Those numbers sound high – but they also tell me I could have pushed harder. Final watch time was 34:02…I’ve run one previous 5k in a time of 33:47, however a couple days later it was announced that my first race was actually only 2.9 miles – so I guess this is in fact a PR for the 5k distance.
With a little work on pushing my limits and dealing with discomfort, I know I can do better than this.
Judy graciously let me park at her house and gave me a ride to the start – much appreciated. Her house is only about a mile from the start and the loop course actually passes her block twice (once on each end) so she stood at the corner and cheered for me at each end – it was really great to have someone out there pulling for me.
The race itself was pretty uneventful. My plan was actually based on my HR rather than mile splits and I think I was a bit conservative. The goal was to keep my HR below 190 for the first mile, below 200 for the second, and then just let it go for the final 1.1. I did quite well staying down for the first mile, my first split was just over 10 minutes. I did stop and walk up a deceptively large hill but ran the rest of the race, albeit slowly. Two streets were lined quite nicely with spectators. One street had a few yards with sprinklers set up, and even one spot where three kids were standing at the ready with Super Soakers, squirting anyone who indicated approval – that was excellent.
Coming into the last ¼ mile I had way too much energy left over and had a strong, smooth, fast kick into the end. As a comparison – my average HR for the TA was 199 with a max of 222, and for this race the average was 191 with a max of 212. Those numbers sound high – but they also tell me I could have pushed harder. Final watch time was 34:02…I’ve run one previous 5k in a time of 33:47, however a couple days later it was announced that my first race was actually only 2.9 miles – so I guess this is in fact a PR for the 5k distance.
With a little work on pushing my limits and dealing with discomfort, I know I can do better than this.
Twisted Ankle Race report
Looks like I forgot to post this way back when, so here it is...
**********************************************************************************
I sat here trying to write a short version of this, and there just isn’t one so bear with me here.)
This was the second year of the Twisted Ankle Marathon and Half marathon – Last year I volunteered and somehow managed to forget between then and now all the reports of how hard that course is. I can assure you – that will never happen again. That race is unbelievably hard and I really wouldn’t recommend it as a first half marathon. There was absolutely no prayer of running a fast race – it was all about finishing.
The last race I registered for, I didn’t finish – that was not going to happen again. My training really didn’t go how I wanted it to, thanks to a lot of different factors and I knew I wasn’t ready for this thing. Once I found out I was going to have to do the whole toe surgery thing I reevaluated my goals and decided all I really needed to do was finish. In the weeks leading up to the race I was getting extremely nervous, and Randy, Amy, and Christina all agreed to run with me – they are wonderful people.
Race day was hot and humid, as Georgia typically is in late May I suppose. A little before 8:00 Pete and I headed out of our cabin and down to the race start – Pete didn’t want to walk all the way around on the road and convinced me to ramble through the woods on his own little shortcut – I was super nervous about that….and it turned out to be the easiest part of the day! We got down to the start and found almost all of the other people we knew and chatted for a while before the start. When we were all lined up at the start listening to Becky's opening speech I flipped my HRM display over to Chrono mode and checked out my heart rate – 154! Yeah…a little nervous. Sure enough, we started running and my heart rate actually went down!
I had a major case of nerves at the beginning and just couldn’t get over it and get into a groove. Amy and Christina went ahead of Randy and me at probably mile 2 or so and the two of us just kept plugging along. Not long after the girls went ahead, I started dry-heaving. A lot. Like every five steps.
I wasn’t really looking at my watch, because if I looked at the time I would also be looking at my heart rate, and at that point I just didn’t want to see it (but I did want the data, so I wore the monitor anyway - I’m such a nerd). There’s a hill right around mile 3 called Becky’s Bluff. First – that’s no bluff. Bluff sounds like a little grassy knoll in the middle of a meadow on a beautiful spring day. Everytime we came to a hill I’d say “Oh, this must be it”, then we would inevitably get to the top, I would realize it wasn’t, and Randy, in his cute southern accent, would say “I wasn’t gonna say anything.” And then all of a sudden, there was Becky’s Bluff. As I said – that’s no sweet little hill, it’s a dirt WALL. While climbing the bluff we met Ben – a guy from Raleigh who was having an even harder time than I was (very difficult, I can assure you). He walked with us for a while, but finally decided that his stomach just wasn’t up to the job and turned around to head back to the start. Randy and I were plugging along oh-so-slowly when I stopped, turned to him and said “You’re my new best friend – and Elizabeth at the top is Jesus”
We finally made it to the top of that thing and found Jesus and I felt instantly better. My legs were shot, but the mental block was lifted and it was much easier going from that point. Still slow – but easier. At about mile 5 or 6 we met Jackie who was run-walking the course and were more or less with her for the rest of the race. Somewhere between miles 4 and 7 we saw Jim, Margaret, Chuck and Rick, Amy and Christina, Mary and Lori who weren’t at their aid station, and finally made it to the half way point. On the way back out to the point where we would head back down the mountain we started seeing marathoners and I felt really guilty that Randy was still with me and probably apologized 50,000 times, but he stuck with me like the Southern gentleman he is. When we got to the final aid station at about mile 9 I stopped and put a blister block on the blister developing under my big toe – that didn’t do a damn thing. Also, somewhere in there I told Randy I was sure my left foot was bleeding as I forgot to trim my toenails (oops) – but my toes were numb so it didn’t matter.
We started heading down the hill, running right along, only to come up on a Ranger who told us they had reports of a rattlesnake on the trail – ok, we’re walking. We made it to the bottom of the hill and hit asphalt – yeah – 2 miles to go!! We tried to run on the asphalt but quite honestly, asphalt sucks! It didn’t work. A few minutes later we were going through the campground and Randy said he thought we would make it without getting passed by a marathoner – not two minutes later the first marathoner passed us and we felt a breeze as he passed – he was flying!
By the time we got to the final mile I had full-blown goose bumps and chills and was trying not to cry. At one point I was stopped with my hands on my knees, hyperventilating and half-crying, and Randy practically picked me up and said we had come too far to stop- he was right, so we kept going.
The end of the course was a nice little run across a bridge and then about a 20 yard jaunt on the grass to the finish line. As we were approaching the bridge, Randy told me I had to go first because if I stopped he was going to push me. A little before halfway across the bridge, I hear Randy behind me yell “There’s a hill on this bridge!!” and it was all I could do not to die laughing. We finished (finally) together in about 3:50.
The tears hit again when we got across the line and apparently I was looking pretty bad because within a minute I had 3 medics asking me all kinds of questions. Rob and Christina got me some ice, powerade, and food – and Amy’s girls brought me a bottle of water (they are so sweet!).
Honestly, if Randy hadn’t been there I would have dropped out for sure. It was too hard and hurt way too bad for me to have finished it alone. So thanks, Randy, for being such a wonderful person and pulling my sorry ass through that race. I appreciate it more than you could ever understand…
**********************************************************************************
I sat here trying to write a short version of this, and there just isn’t one so bear with me here.)
This was the second year of the Twisted Ankle Marathon and Half marathon – Last year I volunteered and somehow managed to forget between then and now all the reports of how hard that course is. I can assure you – that will never happen again. That race is unbelievably hard and I really wouldn’t recommend it as a first half marathon. There was absolutely no prayer of running a fast race – it was all about finishing.
The last race I registered for, I didn’t finish – that was not going to happen again. My training really didn’t go how I wanted it to, thanks to a lot of different factors and I knew I wasn’t ready for this thing. Once I found out I was going to have to do the whole toe surgery thing I reevaluated my goals and decided all I really needed to do was finish. In the weeks leading up to the race I was getting extremely nervous, and Randy, Amy, and Christina all agreed to run with me – they are wonderful people.
Race day was hot and humid, as Georgia typically is in late May I suppose. A little before 8:00 Pete and I headed out of our cabin and down to the race start – Pete didn’t want to walk all the way around on the road and convinced me to ramble through the woods on his own little shortcut – I was super nervous about that….and it turned out to be the easiest part of the day! We got down to the start and found almost all of the other people we knew and chatted for a while before the start. When we were all lined up at the start listening to Becky's opening speech I flipped my HRM display over to Chrono mode and checked out my heart rate – 154! Yeah…a little nervous. Sure enough, we started running and my heart rate actually went down!
I had a major case of nerves at the beginning and just couldn’t get over it and get into a groove. Amy and Christina went ahead of Randy and me at probably mile 2 or so and the two of us just kept plugging along. Not long after the girls went ahead, I started dry-heaving. A lot. Like every five steps.
I wasn’t really looking at my watch, because if I looked at the time I would also be looking at my heart rate, and at that point I just didn’t want to see it (but I did want the data, so I wore the monitor anyway - I’m such a nerd). There’s a hill right around mile 3 called Becky’s Bluff. First – that’s no bluff. Bluff sounds like a little grassy knoll in the middle of a meadow on a beautiful spring day. Everytime we came to a hill I’d say “Oh, this must be it”, then we would inevitably get to the top, I would realize it wasn’t, and Randy, in his cute southern accent, would say “I wasn’t gonna say anything.” And then all of a sudden, there was Becky’s Bluff. As I said – that’s no sweet little hill, it’s a dirt WALL. While climbing the bluff we met Ben – a guy from Raleigh who was having an even harder time than I was (very difficult, I can assure you). He walked with us for a while, but finally decided that his stomach just wasn’t up to the job and turned around to head back to the start. Randy and I were plugging along oh-so-slowly when I stopped, turned to him and said “You’re my new best friend – and Elizabeth at the top is Jesus”
We finally made it to the top of that thing and found Jesus and I felt instantly better. My legs were shot, but the mental block was lifted and it was much easier going from that point. Still slow – but easier. At about mile 5 or 6 we met Jackie who was run-walking the course and were more or less with her for the rest of the race. Somewhere between miles 4 and 7 we saw Jim, Margaret, Chuck and Rick, Amy and Christina, Mary and Lori who weren’t at their aid station, and finally made it to the half way point. On the way back out to the point where we would head back down the mountain we started seeing marathoners and I felt really guilty that Randy was still with me and probably apologized 50,000 times, but he stuck with me like the Southern gentleman he is. When we got to the final aid station at about mile 9 I stopped and put a blister block on the blister developing under my big toe – that didn’t do a damn thing. Also, somewhere in there I told Randy I was sure my left foot was bleeding as I forgot to trim my toenails (oops) – but my toes were numb so it didn’t matter.
We started heading down the hill, running right along, only to come up on a Ranger who told us they had reports of a rattlesnake on the trail – ok, we’re walking. We made it to the bottom of the hill and hit asphalt – yeah – 2 miles to go!! We tried to run on the asphalt but quite honestly, asphalt sucks! It didn’t work. A few minutes later we were going through the campground and Randy said he thought we would make it without getting passed by a marathoner – not two minutes later the first marathoner passed us and we felt a breeze as he passed – he was flying!
By the time we got to the final mile I had full-blown goose bumps and chills and was trying not to cry. At one point I was stopped with my hands on my knees, hyperventilating and half-crying, and Randy practically picked me up and said we had come too far to stop- he was right, so we kept going.
The end of the course was a nice little run across a bridge and then about a 20 yard jaunt on the grass to the finish line. As we were approaching the bridge, Randy told me I had to go first because if I stopped he was going to push me. A little before halfway across the bridge, I hear Randy behind me yell “There’s a hill on this bridge!!” and it was all I could do not to die laughing. We finished (finally) together in about 3:50.
The tears hit again when we got across the line and apparently I was looking pretty bad because within a minute I had 3 medics asking me all kinds of questions. Rob and Christina got me some ice, powerade, and food – and Amy’s girls brought me a bottle of water (they are so sweet!).
Honestly, if Randy hadn’t been there I would have dropped out for sure. It was too hard and hurt way too bad for me to have finished it alone. So thanks, Randy, for being such a wonderful person and pulling my sorry ass through that race. I appreciate it more than you could ever understand…
Sunday, April 02, 2006
The legacy of the Timex Ironman 30-lap
A little background, first. I've had a long line of timex ironman 30-lap watches, and they all die in weird circumstances.
My first one, senior year of high school, met its untimely death in front of my house one day. My then-boyfriend and I were hitting a volleyball back and forth in the street, and I took my watch off and set it on the trunk of my mom's car. We went inside for a drink, mom headed out to run errands, and my watch flew off the car somewhere between the house and Giant :( We walked around the neighborhood checking gutters to no avail.
The second one was purchased the following fall so I would have a watch to wear to practice. That wonderfully trusty watch made it through 4 years of college and one year of grad school. It was the kind with the cloth band, so it didn't smell so great, but a weekly shot of febreeze kept it from getting too bad. By my second semester of grad school, the watch had been removed countless times and spent A LOT of time in the pool (the band was slowly being bleached). One time teaching a beginning swimming class, we were working on diving. I dove in to demonstrate, and as I hit the water the velcro on the watch came undone, but I somehow caught it in the same hand (aren't I cool? ;) ) and disaster was averted. Fast forward to that summer - My friend Logan and I are training for a triathlon. During one morning swim workout, I surfaced, hit the lap button, and everything went blank :_| Dead battery. Too much time in the pool, perhaps? I headed off to the store to replace said battery (just couldn't face life without my watch) and the dude said "Well, I can replace the battery, but you'll lose the water resistance. You could send it off to Timex and they can reseal it, but that'll cost $35-$40" Considering the watch probably cost $35, I said goodbye to my beloved watch.
That summer I had absolutely no money, and I couldn't replace my watch - so sad. When I started getting a paycheck again in September, I went straight for a new watch. Again - cloth band. It spent a lot of time in the pool, a lot of time running, a lot of time cycling (really, I had a permanent watch line). It also spent an entire summer working outside at Pottery Barn Kids - I was a stockroom peep (the muscle at the store, if you will). My watch and I unloaded many a truck together. My watch band got NASTY. I attempted to clean it, but I think it was beyond the point of no return. Really, to the point that I wound up with a spot of ringworm on my arm (ew ew ew!!!) from the band - after all, lord knows what I was exposed to unloading those trucks. So my watch was set aside, waiting for me to remember to take it for a new band. Time dragged on and on, because I was able to use my HRM watch in the meantime.
Well, yesterday I went to Target to get my watch band replaced. Two employees spent what seemed like forever trying to replace the band. Finally it seemed to work, and the girl started ringing up my purchase. As she was doing that, I put my watch on..and the band popped off. After some careful examination by my now-favorite Target employee, she decided that the little holes where the pin goes were worn out from all the struggle - and I got a brand new watch - free!
And so begins the saga of another Timex Ironman 30-lap watch (this time, with an elasotmer band)...
My first one, senior year of high school, met its untimely death in front of my house one day. My then-boyfriend and I were hitting a volleyball back and forth in the street, and I took my watch off and set it on the trunk of my mom's car. We went inside for a drink, mom headed out to run errands, and my watch flew off the car somewhere between the house and Giant :( We walked around the neighborhood checking gutters to no avail.
The second one was purchased the following fall so I would have a watch to wear to practice. That wonderfully trusty watch made it through 4 years of college and one year of grad school. It was the kind with the cloth band, so it didn't smell so great, but a weekly shot of febreeze kept it from getting too bad. By my second semester of grad school, the watch had been removed countless times and spent A LOT of time in the pool (the band was slowly being bleached). One time teaching a beginning swimming class, we were working on diving. I dove in to demonstrate, and as I hit the water the velcro on the watch came undone, but I somehow caught it in the same hand (aren't I cool? ;) ) and disaster was averted. Fast forward to that summer - My friend Logan and I are training for a triathlon. During one morning swim workout, I surfaced, hit the lap button, and everything went blank :_| Dead battery. Too much time in the pool, perhaps? I headed off to the store to replace said battery (just couldn't face life without my watch) and the dude said "Well, I can replace the battery, but you'll lose the water resistance. You could send it off to Timex and they can reseal it, but that'll cost $35-$40" Considering the watch probably cost $35, I said goodbye to my beloved watch.
That summer I had absolutely no money, and I couldn't replace my watch - so sad. When I started getting a paycheck again in September, I went straight for a new watch. Again - cloth band. It spent a lot of time in the pool, a lot of time running, a lot of time cycling (really, I had a permanent watch line). It also spent an entire summer working outside at Pottery Barn Kids - I was a stockroom peep (the muscle at the store, if you will). My watch and I unloaded many a truck together. My watch band got NASTY. I attempted to clean it, but I think it was beyond the point of no return. Really, to the point that I wound up with a spot of ringworm on my arm (ew ew ew!!!) from the band - after all, lord knows what I was exposed to unloading those trucks. So my watch was set aside, waiting for me to remember to take it for a new band. Time dragged on and on, because I was able to use my HRM watch in the meantime.
Well, yesterday I went to Target to get my watch band replaced. Two employees spent what seemed like forever trying to replace the band. Finally it seemed to work, and the girl started ringing up my purchase. As she was doing that, I put my watch on..and the band popped off. After some careful examination by my now-favorite Target employee, she decided that the little holes where the pin goes were worn out from all the struggle - and I got a brand new watch - free!
And so begins the saga of another Timex Ironman 30-lap watch (this time, with an elasotmer band)...
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