Saturday, May 29, 2010

Training Update

It's been a busy couple of weeks since the Mini. I've been training with a great group of triathletes for the last month and spent last weekend in Southern Indiana riding hills. Training has been going well. I keep feeling stronger and hopefully this work is going to translate into some faster race times. Last weekend I even rode in my very first bike race! It was a 40K Time Trial event in Kokomo, IN. Super fun! I'm excited to do another event to compare my progress on the bike. Lola is awesome and has treated me well this year. I'm hoping to upgrade her wheels this summer with some nice Zipp's or HED's. I was hesitant to invest so much money in a new bike but now that I've actually seen how much faster I am on the new bike, I'll never go back. I rode my road bike last week and it's still a comfy fun ride, but not nearly as fast.

Work has been challenging for the last few weeks. We just got through a grueling 3 day audit with flying colors. Things are going to be changing for me in the near future and I'm not sure how that is going to impact my training plans.

Frosty is amazing this year! He has such a fantastic attitude this summer and has show so much improvement. My trainer and I have modified his training and it is working well. She's riding him once a week and I'm riding him twice. More work means happier horse.

Cyndi and I are taking a road trip to South Bend next weekend. We're staying with my parents and running the Sunburst Half-Marathon. Last year, the Sunburst was the WORST race I've ever experienced. I had a terrible time, and my body broke down for days after the race. Not to mention I was wearing shoes that tore my feet up so badly I almost took them off at mile 10 and ran barefoot. This race is going to be a challenge. I've been very focused improving my times and pushing myself past my comfort zone for the last few races. This one, has to be about having fun and running to enjoy the run. There will be no taper. There will be no recovery next week. I just have to suck it up and push through the impending pain.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

One America Indianapolis Mini Marathon

May 8th, 2010

The Mini...This is the race that got me started running. My husband and friend Cyndi convinced me 3 years ago to run the Mini and it's been game on since. Friday I had the day off work. Not only was I running the Mini on Saturday, but I was in a very close college friends wedding Saturday night. Friday was spent getting ready for friends visiting for the wedding and the rehearsal dinner. Wendy chose well! Dinner was at Milano Inn, a very nice Italian restaurant in Downtown Indy. It was the perfect pre-race meal. The weather on Friday was sunny and hot. I could not imagine that 12-hours later the temperature would have dropped 40 degrees and the wind would have picked-up to a gusty 30+ mph.

We got up at 5:00 am. I had already decided that I was wearing compression shorts and a tank top and covering up with a throw-away sweatshirt. At the last minute I put on the heart rate monitor. I didn't really plan to race based on my heart rate but I was going to time my mile splits and it would at least give me my total calories burned. I also grabbed the GPS because I really wanted to use it to pace.

Jarrett, Cyndi, and I headed downtown about 6:00 am. Breakfast was a whole wheat English Muffin with Nutella and apple butter. I remember my vitamins, allergy medicine, and a Pepcid. The temperature when we got downtown was 48 degrees with a wind chill in the 30s. It felt like February, not May. We got to our starting corrals about 7:00 am which meant we had 30 minutes to stand in the wind before the race started. I was freezing by the time the race started and oddly enough, my stomach was growling. I have no idea how I could have possibly been hungry, but I was. After they announced the start, it took 25 minutes for me to actually cross the start line from my position in Corral N. Jarrett and Cyndi were running together and started in Corral R.

Mile 1 is always slow at the Mini. There are 40, 000 people running this race and it takes awhile for everyone to spread out.
M1: 10:34
M2: 9:06
M3: 9:23
M4: 8:55 - I dropped my throwaway sweatshirt this mile.
M5: 9:21
M6: 9:31
M7: 9:34
M8: 9:31
M9: 9:41 - I spent a little too much time during this mile trying to open a bag of Chomps. I finally managed to squeeze one through a tiny hole in the bag.
M10: 9:37
M11: 9:37
M12: 9:45
M13 + 0.1: 10:45

Total Time: 2:05:26

This is a new Half Marathon PR!! My old PR was 2:16:11 at the 2008 Indianapolis Half-Marathon. Here's my Mini history:
2008: 2:55:30
2009: 2:40: 37
2010: 2:05:26

I dropped 35 minutes off my time from last year. Wow.


After the race, I waited for Jarrett and Cyndi to finish. It was PAINFULLY cold. I didn't have anything to cover up after the race so I got to stand around in 40ish degree weather wearing a tank top and shorts. This is no one's fault but my own. I should have done gear check and I learned my lesson for the future.


After the race we went home and thawed out. Cyndi and I had to get ready for the wedding so we ate a quick lunch and headed out to get our hair done. Brooke did a wonderful job on my hair and make-up!



The wedding was beautiful! Wendy and Brian are adorable and we wish them a wonderful, happy married life. I'll post more pictures from the pro.

Boiler Sprint Race Report




The Boiler Sprint Triathlon was held April 25th in West Lafayette, IN. The swim was held in the Boiler Aquatic Center and the bike and run took place on the outskirts of Purdue's campus. The weather the day before the race was wet and cold. I woke up about 4:30 am to pack my bikes and head up to Lafayette. Jarrett was sweet enough to make the trip with me as my faithful sherpa. When we left Indy, it was raining. As we approached Lafayette, the skies were gray but no rain.


The swim was a 400 meter pool swim. I finished the swim in 10:13:65, including the run to transition. Jarrett timed my actual swim time and it was closer to 9:30.

T1 was 3:02:28 - It was very cold and getting my longsleeved shirt and bike jersey over my trisuit took WAY too long.
The bike started out great with speeds around 18-20 mph. Then came mile 6. We turned a sharp corner and there was the giant hill from the elevation map that I checked out the night before the race. I made it half way up and ended up walking the bike the rest of the way. I wasn't the only one. There were at least a dozen people doing the same thing. More hill work for me!! At the start of mile 9 - the freezing torrential ran started. The last 3.5 miles were pure torture. Bike time was 47:19 for a 12.5 mile ride with an average pace of 15.7 mph.

T2 was not timed for some reason. It seemed slow. I was freezing and my shoes were filled with water. I shoved on the running shoes and took off for a very wet 3.2 mile run. By mile 2 I had some serious blisters on my feet. Run time was 30:58:55 with a pace of 9:59/mile. Total race time was 1:31. I managed to start the season faster then I finished the season last year so that says something for my current traini