Today was the first time this year that I put together biking and running in an official-ish capacity. My tri club put on a duathlon rehearsal and we had the choice of doing an Olympic distance (1 mile run / 22 mile bike / 6.2 mile run) or a Sprint distance (1 mile run / 11 mile bike / 3.1 mile run). I did the Olympic distance, which is what I did last year, too. I remember last year, I felt obligated to do the Olympic because that was the distance I was training for. But, this year, I didn't so much feel obligated (even though I am), as I felt the Sprint du would be too easy, or at least a waste of waking up early, packing up all my gear, and driving out the 'burbs.
I finished in 2:46:28, which was fine with me. (It was fun using the multi-sport feature on my Garmin - it even clocked my transition times!) I didn't have a goal going in, I just wanted to see how I did. Ideally I'd like to improve my bike and run pace a little, but I still have time, so I just may. I'm realizing that for longer distance tri's, it may not be a realistic goal to run a sub-10 min/mile pace after the bike portions, especially when it's hot and sunny like it was today. I averaged just over an 11 min/mile pace this morning. I wouldn't say I was giving it my all, but I don't think I would have been able to go much faster. At the Boulder Peak last year, it was 104 degrees and I felt like I had to slow way down from my normal pace and ended up averaging 10:55 per mile. In future races and rehearsals, I'm going to make a point of hydrating more on the bike so I'll be more prepared for the run. In sum, the two things I learned today: I'm used to the longer distances enough to not be tempted to take the shorter option and I need to hydrate more on the bike!
Speaking of hydrating on the bike, I'm riding 65 miles tomorrow, the majority uphill, from Boulder to Ward. Yikes!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
AA BBig ImprovEEment
The t-shirt slogan for this year's BolderBoulder (BB) was Altitude Attitude (AA) and I qualified and registered to run in Wave EE. YipEE!!!
As it turned out, I didn't actually get to start with my wave, which was only disappointing because of the previously mentioned correspondence to my first two initials. The reason I didn't get to the front by the time my wave started was because I got stuck in the line for the FedEx mobile locker (to transport to the finish line any belongings I didn't want to run with). I was so COLD after last year's run that I basically packed enough extra clothing to be prepared in case of a post-race blizzard. Even though it's not my initials, Wave FB was a fine wave to start in. I mostly just wanted to start with people who were my pace or faster so I would get off to a good start rather than have to spend the first mile weaving through joggers and walkers. The race used chip timing, so the actual wave you start in doesn't really matter for purposes of clocking your time. Added bonus--according to the announcer at the start, Wave FB included the only couple ever to get married during the BolderBoulder!
I set my trusty Garmin's virtual partner feature to pace me for a pace of 9:49/mile, which was my goal based on my 5k time last week at the Federal Cup and last year's BB time. The first part of the race is down hill and that coupled with the excitement of the start meant for a very fast first mile. I caught my pace at sub-8 min/miles several times, so I knew I needed to slow down, but I also felt pretty good and thought I would be able to keep up a pretty fast, consistent pace and would likely exceed my goal. Because of such a fast first mile, my average pace was just over 9 min/miles for the first 2-3 miles of the course. I decided to slow down a little for miles 3 and 4 so I would be able to speed it up again at the end. (That was a convenient decision because much of miles 3 and 4 were uphill.) This strategy didn't work out exactly as planned because I ended up getting a cramp around mile 5 and couldn't push quite as hard as I wanted. But, I pushed on, got a good laugh out of two guys wearing gorilla costumes, and saw that my average pace was right around 9:30/mile -- I was psyched! For the last 2K, I really wanted to keep my pace fast enough so my average pace would stay the same. I checked my Garmin and was nearly 2 tenths of a mile ahead of my "virtual partner," so I knew I would easily beat my goal and just wanted to beat it by as much as I could. As I neared the CU Stadium, I thought the visual of the end would be all I needed, but I completely forgot how steep the last hill leading into the stadium was! I had to slow way down to make it into the stadium and my average pace dropped by a few seconds. Once I got into the stadium itself, I was able to speed up and finish strong in a Ralphie-style victory lap.
My Garmin beeped as I crossed the finish-line, signalling that I had finished my 10K at an average pace of 9:36/mile with a total time of 59:41. That's 18 seconds faster per mile and almost 2 minutes faster overall than my time from last year! This was actually the first time I've ever done the same exact race more than once (it's hard when you move all the time) and it was exciting to be able to compare my performance year to year, even more exciting to beat my previous time by so much.
But, when I got home, I checked my results online and they told a slightly different story. The timing-chip clocked me at a 9:41/mile pace with an overall time of 1:00:11.57. Not too disappointing because it was still faster than last year's time and my goal time, but it would have been nice to have the official results show that I broke an hour. It's a bit perplexing because my GPS watch should have been accurate. If it were only off by a few seconds, I would have assumed that I didn't start my watch at the right time, but 30 seconds is a pretty big deficit. I haven't decided which time I'm going with . . . it's hard for me to understand why the time I clocked was off by so much, but it's also hard for me to go against something official and on the internet. I guess I'll go with my official BB time. If for no other reason, it will be easier to beat my time next year.
The BolderBoulder was the official kick-off to an all-Boulder, all the time race season. My next race is the first of the Boulder Triathlon Series: the 5430 Sprint on June 21st!
As it turned out, I didn't actually get to start with my wave, which was only disappointing because of the previously mentioned correspondence to my first two initials. The reason I didn't get to the front by the time my wave started was because I got stuck in the line for the FedEx mobile locker (to transport to the finish line any belongings I didn't want to run with). I was so COLD after last year's run that I basically packed enough extra clothing to be prepared in case of a post-race blizzard. Even though it's not my initials, Wave FB was a fine wave to start in. I mostly just wanted to start with people who were my pace or faster so I would get off to a good start rather than have to spend the first mile weaving through joggers and walkers. The race used chip timing, so the actual wave you start in doesn't really matter for purposes of clocking your time. Added bonus--according to the announcer at the start, Wave FB included the only couple ever to get married during the BolderBoulder!
I set my trusty Garmin's virtual partner feature to pace me for a pace of 9:49/mile, which was my goal based on my 5k time last week at the Federal Cup and last year's BB time. The first part of the race is down hill and that coupled with the excitement of the start meant for a very fast first mile. I caught my pace at sub-8 min/miles several times, so I knew I needed to slow down, but I also felt pretty good and thought I would be able to keep up a pretty fast, consistent pace and would likely exceed my goal. Because of such a fast first mile, my average pace was just over 9 min/miles for the first 2-3 miles of the course. I decided to slow down a little for miles 3 and 4 so I would be able to speed it up again at the end. (That was a convenient decision because much of miles 3 and 4 were uphill.) This strategy didn't work out exactly as planned because I ended up getting a cramp around mile 5 and couldn't push quite as hard as I wanted. But, I pushed on, got a good laugh out of two guys wearing gorilla costumes, and saw that my average pace was right around 9:30/mile -- I was psyched! For the last 2K, I really wanted to keep my pace fast enough so my average pace would stay the same. I checked my Garmin and was nearly 2 tenths of a mile ahead of my "virtual partner," so I knew I would easily beat my goal and just wanted to beat it by as much as I could. As I neared the CU Stadium, I thought the visual of the end would be all I needed, but I completely forgot how steep the last hill leading into the stadium was! I had to slow way down to make it into the stadium and my average pace dropped by a few seconds. Once I got into the stadium itself, I was able to speed up and finish strong in a Ralphie-style victory lap.
My Garmin beeped as I crossed the finish-line, signalling that I had finished my 10K at an average pace of 9:36/mile with a total time of 59:41. That's 18 seconds faster per mile and almost 2 minutes faster overall than my time from last year! This was actually the first time I've ever done the same exact race more than once (it's hard when you move all the time) and it was exciting to be able to compare my performance year to year, even more exciting to beat my previous time by so much.
But, when I got home, I checked my results online and they told a slightly different story. The timing-chip clocked me at a 9:41/mile pace with an overall time of 1:00:11.57. Not too disappointing because it was still faster than last year's time and my goal time, but it would have been nice to have the official results show that I broke an hour. It's a bit perplexing because my GPS watch should have been accurate. If it were only off by a few seconds, I would have assumed that I didn't start my watch at the right time, but 30 seconds is a pretty big deficit. I haven't decided which time I'm going with . . . it's hard for me to understand why the time I clocked was off by so much, but it's also hard for me to go against something official and on the internet. I guess I'll go with my official BB time. If for no other reason, it will be easier to beat my time next year.
The BolderBoulder was the official kick-off to an all-Boulder, all the time race season. My next race is the first of the Boulder Triathlon Series: the 5430 Sprint on June 21st!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Race Report: Fed Cup 5k
I did my first official race this morning: the Federal Cup 5k. The race is a "a fun and low-cost fitness event that honors the entire U.S. Government workforce and their families" and apparently the longest consecutively run fitness event specifically for federal employees.
The weather was great for running - overcast and temperature in the 50s - but not so great for hanging around before and after. The sun did start to come out around Mile 2 and it has since turned into a typically beautiful sunny Denver afternoon. I ran as a member of one of EPA's two teams, "EPA in the ZONE," but the whole team thing was just for fun. We didn't run together or have matching t-shirts or anything. I think they just calculated the team winner by adding together the top 2 male and female finishers from each.
The run itself went fine, great actually, but I had a pretty bad attitude for about 2.5 miles of it. I've pretty much accepted that I'm a slow runner and I'm never going to improve that much, but it's hard not to get a little annoyed when co-workers who say that they haven't run in months or who don't train nearly as much as I do still easily beat me. So, I childishly spent the first half of the race wondering why I even bother training and thinking how delusional I am to think I have any right to race a half-ironman this summer. But, with my trusty Garmin on my wrist I knew that I was making good time and maintaining a pace that was faster than I was hoping for.
When I was in law school, before I did any regular running, I was in career services freaking out because I hadn't found a summer job yet and everyone else in my class had and I was never going to find one and my life was over (you know, because it was November and summer was only seven months away). I ended up getting what was probably the most useful advice that I ever got out of the career services office. My adviser occasionally did marathons and other running races and said that when you get the starting line, it's really easy to pay too much attention to what the other runners are doing and get worked up or run too fast at the outset. But, what you're supposed to do is know what your own pace should be and focus on maintaining that. "Run your own race," she told me, "don't worry what other people are doing." Good advice for running and for life, I guess, so I kept that mantra in mind as much as I could and my bad attitude mostly subsided by the time I was in sight of the finish line. I still feel a little bit down that I'm never going to improve my running speed that much, but if my choices are go out there and run slow or stay in bed, it seems like a no-brainer.
My official time was 28:59, which is a pace of 9:21/mi. Despite my whining, that's actually a really good time for me, probably the best I've ever done. I haven't felt all that great about my running lately, and I was really hoping to run around 9:30/mi but worried I wouldn't be able to do much faster than a 10 minute mile. So, in terms of my internal personal goals, I did great.
This actually gives me a lot of confidence going into the Bolder Boulder 10k next weekend. Based on my time last year (1:01:32, 9:54/mi) I qualified for the last of the qualifying waves, Wave EE. Since those are my first two initials, I decided I had to do it even though I wasn't sure I'd be able to make that pace again. My goal for next weekend is to do the same as or faster than last year. According to an online calculator using the Bruce Hamilton method, my 5k time means I should be able to run a 10k at a pace of 9:44/mi. I think I'm going to play around with my Garmin, figure out the "Virtual Partner" setting, and set it to pace me at 9:49/mi (splitting the difference).
On an unrelated note, I'm eligible to upgrade my cell phone. I'm thinking about getting a Blackberry, but I'm not quite sure I'm ready yet. The cons for me are the extra money for the data plan and that I'm afraid I'll start obsessively checking my email, when I'm not the kind of person who gets enough email that she would need to check it obsesively. On the pro-side, I am the kind of person who gets lost and confused enough that there would be advantages to having access to my email, directions, and the internets when I'm on the go. I'm putting off getting a new phone until I know what I'm doing for work after June (I guess some things never change). Any thoughts?
The weather was great for running - overcast and temperature in the 50s - but not so great for hanging around before and after. The sun did start to come out around Mile 2 and it has since turned into a typically beautiful sunny Denver afternoon. I ran as a member of one of EPA's two teams, "EPA in the ZONE," but the whole team thing was just for fun. We didn't run together or have matching t-shirts or anything. I think they just calculated the team winner by adding together the top 2 male and female finishers from each.
The run itself went fine, great actually, but I had a pretty bad attitude for about 2.5 miles of it. I've pretty much accepted that I'm a slow runner and I'm never going to improve that much, but it's hard not to get a little annoyed when co-workers who say that they haven't run in months or who don't train nearly as much as I do still easily beat me. So, I childishly spent the first half of the race wondering why I even bother training and thinking how delusional I am to think I have any right to race a half-ironman this summer. But, with my trusty Garmin on my wrist I knew that I was making good time and maintaining a pace that was faster than I was hoping for.
When I was in law school, before I did any regular running, I was in career services freaking out because I hadn't found a summer job yet and everyone else in my class had and I was never going to find one and my life was over (you know, because it was November and summer was only seven months away). I ended up getting what was probably the most useful advice that I ever got out of the career services office. My adviser occasionally did marathons and other running races and said that when you get the starting line, it's really easy to pay too much attention to what the other runners are doing and get worked up or run too fast at the outset. But, what you're supposed to do is know what your own pace should be and focus on maintaining that. "Run your own race," she told me, "don't worry what other people are doing." Good advice for running and for life, I guess, so I kept that mantra in mind as much as I could and my bad attitude mostly subsided by the time I was in sight of the finish line. I still feel a little bit down that I'm never going to improve my running speed that much, but if my choices are go out there and run slow or stay in bed, it seems like a no-brainer.
My official time was 28:59, which is a pace of 9:21/mi. Despite my whining, that's actually a really good time for me, probably the best I've ever done. I haven't felt all that great about my running lately, and I was really hoping to run around 9:30/mi but worried I wouldn't be able to do much faster than a 10 minute mile. So, in terms of my internal personal goals, I did great.
This actually gives me a lot of confidence going into the Bolder Boulder 10k next weekend. Based on my time last year (1:01:32, 9:54/mi) I qualified for the last of the qualifying waves, Wave EE. Since those are my first two initials, I decided I had to do it even though I wasn't sure I'd be able to make that pace again. My goal for next weekend is to do the same as or faster than last year. According to an online calculator using the Bruce Hamilton method, my 5k time means I should be able to run a 10k at a pace of 9:44/mi. I think I'm going to play around with my Garmin, figure out the "Virtual Partner" setting, and set it to pace me at 9:49/mi (splitting the difference).
On an unrelated note, I'm eligible to upgrade my cell phone. I'm thinking about getting a Blackberry, but I'm not quite sure I'm ready yet. The cons for me are the extra money for the data plan and that I'm afraid I'll start obsessively checking my email, when I'm not the kind of person who gets enough email that she would need to check it obsesively. On the pro-side, I am the kind of person who gets lost and confused enough that there would be advantages to having access to my email, directions, and the internets when I'm on the go. I'm putting off getting a new phone until I know what I'm doing for work after June (I guess some things never change). Any thoughts?
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