Saturday, September 30, 2017
September update
In Sept 2016, I swam, biked, and ran 248 miles. In 2017 this month, the total is 54. #RestYear #EndsNow #IronmanOct2018
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Air Force Half-marathon
Race: half-marathon
Date: September 16, 2017
Location: Dayton, OH
Time: 1:56:11
Overall Rank: 519 out of 4176
Age Group Rank: 44 out of 243
Results: http: http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=59806#racetop
My goal for this race was to finish in two hours. But don't we always have a secret goal, one we don't share for fear that we don't make it? My secret goal was to beat 1:54:59, because that is my fastest half-marathon time. It is true that the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon--where I set my personal best--is a hillier course than the Air Force Half-Marathon, but when I ran in Pittsburgh I had a running partner (thanks, Dan), and a race always goes easier when you have a partner to keep you motivated and distracted. So, hills+friend = no hills + no friend. Anyway, I didn't set a personal best today because I didn't deserve to. I didn't prepare for this race like I should have. I only did two "long" runs this summer: a 7-mile run and a 9-mile run. I've had some motivation issues, I guess. But not today. I pushed myself harder than I had planned to. The weather was good and my body felt good. The race results show that I maintained a 8:02 pace for the first 5 miles. I did this by keeping up with the professional pacer running with the "1:50" sign. I started getting tired soon after the 5 mile mark, and I let the pacer get ahead of me. My legs felt good but my head felt weird so I started getting Gatorade at each aid station. The addition of sugary fluid gave me a tangible burst of energy each time, but it didn't last more than a tenth of a mile after each aid station. The energy was probably just a psychological response, rather than a physiological response. By mile 9, I had slowed to an 8:38 pace, and my hips were feeling stiff. I knew I was going farther now than I had done in my training runs, so I was wondering how long I could go. I figured I would at least keep running to mile 11. And so I did. But then I had to decide whether or not I would start walking a little bit. Noting the race clock, I saw that I was still on pace to better my goal of 2 hours, and a personal best was still within reach. I kept running, but my strides were getting shorter and shorter and I was not having fun anymore. With less than half a mile to go, I saw Shannan cheering for me, and her smile is so warm that I got the motivation I needed to keep going to the end. I am really pleased with my performance, and I am proud of myself for pushing through the last miles. I wonder, though, what would it have taken to run this race just 5.5 seconds per mile faster? That would have gotten me a personal best. I think the lesson I have learned is to (1) train better, but also (2) verbalize those secret goals and that might just motivate me enough to reach them!
Date: September 16, 2017
Location: Dayton, OH
Time: 1:56:11
Overall Rank: 519 out of 4176
Age Group Rank: 44 out of 243
Results: http: http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=59806#racetop
My goal for this race was to finish in two hours. But don't we always have a secret goal, one we don't share for fear that we don't make it? My secret goal was to beat 1:54:59, because that is my fastest half-marathon time. It is true that the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon--where I set my personal best--is a hillier course than the Air Force Half-Marathon, but when I ran in Pittsburgh I had a running partner (thanks, Dan), and a race always goes easier when you have a partner to keep you motivated and distracted. So, hills+friend = no hills + no friend. Anyway, I didn't set a personal best today because I didn't deserve to. I didn't prepare for this race like I should have. I only did two "long" runs this summer: a 7-mile run and a 9-mile run. I've had some motivation issues, I guess. But not today. I pushed myself harder than I had planned to. The weather was good and my body felt good. The race results show that I maintained a 8:02 pace for the first 5 miles. I did this by keeping up with the professional pacer running with the "1:50" sign. I started getting tired soon after the 5 mile mark, and I let the pacer get ahead of me. My legs felt good but my head felt weird so I started getting Gatorade at each aid station. The addition of sugary fluid gave me a tangible burst of energy each time, but it didn't last more than a tenth of a mile after each aid station. The energy was probably just a psychological response, rather than a physiological response. By mile 9, I had slowed to an 8:38 pace, and my hips were feeling stiff. I knew I was going farther now than I had done in my training runs, so I was wondering how long I could go. I figured I would at least keep running to mile 11. And so I did. But then I had to decide whether or not I would start walking a little bit. Noting the race clock, I saw that I was still on pace to better my goal of 2 hours, and a personal best was still within reach. I kept running, but my strides were getting shorter and shorter and I was not having fun anymore. With less than half a mile to go, I saw Shannan cheering for me, and her smile is so warm that I got the motivation I needed to keep going to the end. I am really pleased with my performance, and I am proud of myself for pushing through the last miles. I wonder, though, what would it have taken to run this race just 5.5 seconds per mile faster? That would have gotten me a personal best. I think the lesson I have learned is to (1) train better, but also (2) verbalize those secret goals and that might just motivate me enough to reach them!
Sunday, September 10, 2017
AMYMSA at Baierl
Race: masters swim meet
Date: September 10, 2017
Location:
I started with 100 freestyle, finishing about 3 seconds slower than my personal best. That will be pretty easy to lower as my season progresses.
My second event was the 50 freestyle. I swam it in 28.50, exactly 1.5 seconds slower than my personal best. Again, I am happy with that. Dan and I were in adjacent lanes and while he beat me quite solidly, I think that happened at the turn where he got ahead. Otherwise, my strategy to do the swim without breathing really helped me keep up.
My third event was the 50-breast. Dan and I again were in the same heat but in opposite sides of the pool. My stroke felt really strong, so I employed more glide with a slower stroke rate. This led me to finish 0.63 seconds slower than my personal best. This has to be taken with a grain of salt because this meet was relying on stopwatch timers and not electronic touch pads. But if my time was accurate, that's a big deal. I can easily improve over the next few months and finally break a personal record set in 2013.
The 200 IM was the next event so I didn't have much time to rest. I didn't care. I knew I had not practiced this event in months, so I had low expectations. I decided to swim it for fun. My time was 3:03.16, much worse than my 2:48.62 personal best. I was considerably out of breath when I finished, so I know i didn't totally slack on that race, but my muscles didn't feel tired or sore, so I also know I didn't work very hard. One good thing about this swim was my legs didn't sink during the backstroke, which has been a recent challenge.
Date: September 10, 2017
Location:
I started with 100 freestyle, finishing about 3 seconds slower than my personal best. That will be pretty easy to lower as my season progresses.
My second event was the 50 freestyle. I swam it in 28.50, exactly 1.5 seconds slower than my personal best. Again, I am happy with that. Dan and I were in adjacent lanes and while he beat me quite solidly, I think that happened at the turn where he got ahead. Otherwise, my strategy to do the swim without breathing really helped me keep up.
My third event was the 50-breast. Dan and I again were in the same heat but in opposite sides of the pool. My stroke felt really strong, so I employed more glide with a slower stroke rate. This led me to finish 0.63 seconds slower than my personal best. This has to be taken with a grain of salt because this meet was relying on stopwatch timers and not electronic touch pads. But if my time was accurate, that's a big deal. I can easily improve over the next few months and finally break a personal record set in 2013.
The 200 IM was the next event so I didn't have much time to rest. I didn't care. I knew I had not practiced this event in months, so I had low expectations. I decided to swim it for fun. My time was 3:03.16, much worse than my 2:48.62 personal best. I was considerably out of breath when I finished, so I know i didn't totally slack on that race, but my muscles didn't feel tired or sore, so I also know I didn't work very hard. One good thing about this swim was my legs didn't sink during the backstroke, which has been a recent challenge.
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