March Madness Duathlon

I’ve had a lot going on the past two weeks including, but most definitely not limited to… 

My 8th Annual Birthday Bash with my Bestie...

Izaface and me!

 ...St Paddy’s Day, my actual 31st birthday...

Not my actual birthday, but a nice, sweaty party pic! 

 ...an absolute insane work week, seeing Mythbusters Live...

Nerd Alert!

 ...and finally the Central Park Duathlon! 

Paul & me in transition

Yes, all of that happened in a span of 9 days.

After completing Ironman Lake Placid last summer, I decided I did not want to go long in the fall. I wanted short & sweet races that’ll keep me motivated and in shape. During my “short & sweet” period I raced 3 sprint duathlons (approx 2 mile run/10-12 mile bike/same 2 mile run) and to my surprise, I wound up at the top of the podium in each race! (two age group wins and a 2nd woman overall placing) Let’s be honest, there are not too many people racing duathlons so I get the advantage of a small field – but I’m still proud of those suckers!

So when I saw there was a March Madness Duathlon in Central Park, I was IN! It was the same race I did back in September, so I knew how fun it was going to be. I’ve been really working on getting my running speed up and I think these short races are good reminder that going fast = hurting. Like, the whole ‘my heart is beating so fast it might jump out of my chest’ kinda hurt. Since I’ve been going long & easy for most of 2011, I like to wake my body up with some short and fast races to get my body used to that feeling again.

Well, Sunday’s race did not disappoint.

Happy little runners

Run 1 (2.3 miles) = 16:56 (7:15, 7:17, 2:24)
The run is an out and back that goes straight up Cat Hill, one of the more notorious hills in Central Park. When they yelled go (yes, it’s a grass roots race – but it did sell out at over 650 competitors!) my friend Paul and I hustled our way up Cat Hill and to the turnaround. The hill felt harder this time compared to last year but I got up it and tried to keep up a perceived hard effort. I know you’re thinking, “Why weren’t you keeping track of your time on your fancy garmin?” Well, I was determined not to look at my garmin and just go “balls to wall” (sorry Mom, I know that’s not a classy thing to say). I just wanted to get that feeling of my body working hard – and I sure did.

Run #1 wee! I'm flying

T1 = :52I ran back into transition, fumbled a bit with my helmet, slid my sneakers off and bike shoes on and tahdah – I was ready to bike!

Bike (12 miles) = 36:33 (approx 20.1 mph)
After many years of struggling on the bike, it has now become my strongest sport. I guess when you receive your dream bike from a special someone, you gotta spend lots of time on it. But for this race, I knew I hadn’t put in the bike miles compared to last year so I was a little worried. It was a nice surprise when my racing legs decided to show up right from the get go! I pushed and biked hard enough where I was breathing heavy, but not too hard where I would totally zap my legs for the next run. There was a certain someone at the race that I have a rivalry with. She may or may not even know about it. She also may be the one that spread her arms nice and wide at this very same race last year and blocked me from passing her in the finishing chute. So when I saw she was racing again, I knew I had to do everything in my power to beat her, within the rules of course.

let's roll!!

Apparently, during the bike portion she wasn’t too fond of playing by the rules. I passed her going up Harlem Hill (a steeper and longer cat hill) and when we got to a very fast & flat section of the park she made her move. But what was her move? Her move was to hang on the back of a fast dude and literally slingshot her way around me!! I was speechless. I didn’t want to spend any energy yelling that she was drafting so I focused on beating her fair and square. I put my head down and powered my way through lap two of the bike and yes, folks I beat her. I got off the bike in front of her so BOOYAH, lady.

too fast to catch me!

T2 = :50
I put my bike on the rack, off comes my helmet, shoes and on go my sneakers.

Run 2 (2.3 miles) = 17:32 (7:52, 7:30, 2:10 = 6:42 pace)
My rival ran out ahead of me but within 15 seconds going up Cat Hill she faded. I passed her and never looked back! When I got off the bike I was about in 6th or 7th place. I passed a couple of speedy runners on the bike so my goal was to now just hang on and run! My legs felt pretty heavy and I think I might have biked a little too hard… but for a 2.3 mile run, who cares! Go hard or go home! As I was slogging up the hill one chick passed me and I tried to hang with her but I just couldn’t get my legs to go any faster. Then, right after the turnaround, another speedy runner chick passed me – DOH. I felt a little defeated and I hoped that none of the girls in 4th thru 8th were in my age group. I ran and was feeling the burn in my legs. I told myself that once my garmin beeped at 2 miles I would gun it and sprint in the last .3 miles. So when it did beep at mile 2, I started to speed up. The race ends going down Cat Hill so you can really pick up some time here. As I was going down two dudes crept up and started sprinting. I sprinted with them and made it my goal to hang on. I did and crossed the finish line feeling very satisfied.

Sprinting down the hill with dudes

ouch - this hurts

um, yeah, that was painful!!

TOTAL = 1:12:45

This time was exactly 14 seconds faster than the fall – hah! Overall, I feel like my running was stronger than last year and my bike was just about the same. The best part was that I defended my 30-34 age group and got 1st place again! BAM! It’s not a bad way to start a season off!

yayyy award time!

Up next, I have the More Half Marathon, April 15th, where I plan to take down my 1:55 PR!

LOOK!!  Another pink Roo!!

Monday Funday - Dream Edition

I'm a superstitious person.  I believe in ghosts, the afterlife... even  little green aliens.  I just might believe in vampires and zombies. I also have vivid dreams.  I mean the "can't wake up they're so real" kinda dreams.  I will laugh, talk, yell, kick, sleepy stare and sometimes terrifyingly scream while sleeping. 

Simon loves this about me.  He especially loves it when I scream that there's a snake in the bed at 3 in the morning.  My old college roommate loves this about me too.  Especially when we share a pullout couch one spring break and she wakes up to me creepily staring at her in my sleep.  What are creepy college friends for?

I like to analyze my dreams and try to find a real-life connection or hidden meaning.  Dreaming about snakes apparently means that your life is in transition or that snakes represent the dreamer's creative urge toward wisdom.  I don't know about that... but I do know that they scare the poo out of me in my dreams and in real-life.

Anyway... when my Lake Placid buddy Jon recently had a dream about us racing in lake Placid in 2013 I, of course, asked... what does that mean?  Are we meant to race again in the gorgeous mountains?  Swim in the pristine lake?  Have many celebratory Lake Placid brewery beers?  Quite possibly...

Head on over to Jon's blog and check out his first "Ironman Nightmare."  It is only fitting that this crazy dreamer chick is part of his nightmare!

Happy Training!

Resting

This past week has been a very strange triathlon ride.  Here's kinda how it went:

Sunday - slept in til 1030, ignoring my 9am alarm.  Indoor bike 2 1/2 hours.  Napped for  1 1/2 hours.  Felt fatigued the whole day.  I didn't talk much.  Simon said I was weird for not talking a lot, per usual. In bed by 10pm.

Monday - morning swim. Nailed swim. Work. Normal day. Not a great night of sleep.

Tuesday - 545 wake up call.  Speed run with 3 x 5K race pace miles.  Nailed it.  Loooong work day from 830-1030pm.

Wednesday - slept in.  Work. Total and complete fatigue. No workouts. Come home. Nap from 8-9pm. Eat dinner. In bed by 10pm.

Thursday - wake up achy.  Blow off swim/bike.  Work.  Feel fatigued by 1pm. Come home. No working out again. Feel achy and tired in pm.

Friday - Personal Day off from work.  Wake up achy AGAIN. Blow off bike workout and sleep in. Take Simon to get Lasik surgery.  Feel better as the day goes on.  Can't really complain because Simon just had his eyeballs lasered, so really?  Achy again at night.  In bed by 1130.

And that takes us to today - Saturday.

I had one of THE best long runs this season! I didn't feel achy, no fatigue.... Once I laced up my Brooks, my legs were ready to rock Central Park!

Brie and I both had the same long run workout.  Run for 1 1/2 hours, start out easy, negative split run by running last 10K at half marathon place.  We nailed it!  AND - we even decided to get in not one, but TWO Harlem Hill loops.  You know, just for the heck of it.

I felt guilty all week for missing my swim/bike workouts but my body was telling me to take it easy.  I listened and worried about the missed fitness, especially on the bike.  But I knew that this weekend's workouts were more important so I just let my body fight off whatever was trying to rudely invade my system.  So far, the plan worked and I'm happy with my long run.  Tomorrow is the first real brick of the season.  Can't wait!

Here's a little parting gift to you folks.  My little Olive completely hating life after getting her fancy blowout at the groomer!

March Monday Funday!

Monday’s = Swim Days for me. And today’s swim? It’s getting the honor of its own Monday Funday post!

So right as I was getting in the pool, I didn’t know my own crazy awesome strength and ripped apart my Mooseman Half Ironman Swim Cap! Now, I can’t remember what year it was from, 2008? 2009? Or 2010? Either way “Little Red”, as we’re calling him, was a fine swim partner and saw me through some good times and bad times in the pool. Let’s take a moment of silence for the Little Red…

After borrowing a teensy weensy white cap from the lifeguard, I SMASHED my main swim set today! Smashed, I say! I had a warm up, then a main set of 4x300 build and 3x200 zone 3, then a nice easy cooldown. My threshold pace for 300’s is about 1:33/100. Today my times looked like this:

300's = 4:40, 4:37, 4:33, 4:27!!!

200's = 2:55, 2:58, 2:54!!

Wowza’s! I know for you speedy folks this is your warm-up pace, but for me, this is crazy fun and awesome. I wasn’t even gasping for air at the end of each either! I kinda can’t wait for another threshold test to see how fast I can go with the feeling of dying!

This Monday Funday also notes something really, really exciting… and it surpasses any amazing swim times my feeble little arms pull out…

2010 Lake Placid Ironman Finisher James Gray and wife Multiple Marathon Finisher Debbie… are now Iron-Papa and Marathon-Mama to an adorable Miles Sebastian Gray!

Congrats friends – can’t wait to meet the little guy!!