My Year in Running – 2015

 

1. My main goal for this 2015 was: finish a post twins marathon

2. My Running Shoes: Asics GT- 2000

3. Favorite running gear item of 2015: Garmin 920xt – technically triathlon but it tracks running too so it counts.

4. Playlist screenshot: My phone is currently not working, so here are my top 10 most played songs (usually while running)

• Can’t Feel My Face – The Weeknd
• The Hills – The Weeknd
• Worth it – Fifth Harmony
• Stressed Out – Twenty One Pilots
• Stand By You – Rachel Platten
• The Heart Wants What it Wants – Selena Gomez
• Desire – Meg Myers
• Politik – Coldplay
• Most Muse songs
• Black and Yellow (yes, it has a good beat) – Wiz Khalifa

5. Number of races- Break it down:
5k – 4 (Turtle 5k, Sanagree Sombrero 5k, Moms Run 5k, James Island Connector Run)
10k – 0
Half – 1 (Sweet Tea Half Marathon)
Marathon – 1 (Myrtle Beach Marathon)
Other: 2 sprint triathlons (James Island 1 and James Island 2) and 1 olympic distance triathlon (Kiawah)

6. Most difficult race & why: The Sanagree Sombrero 5k – it was humid that day and my sinuses were angry which made for an interesting race

7. Favorite fun run: Insane Inflatables!!!!!

8. Favorite course: eh, no favorites.

9. Race I want to run again: Mom’s Run

10. Best bling/shirt from a race: I won 3rd in my age group at sweet tea and got a nice glass 🙂

11. PR/PB: Half Marathon – 1:44:48/ Marathon 4:02:48

12. Longest run: 20 miles

13. Out of state runs: none

14. Total miles ran: 971.3 – I would have easily gotten 1000 if I hadn’t aggravated my PSOAS and had to skip some runs. Grrrrr.

15. Favorite motivational/inspirational quote of 2015: Nothing worth doing is easy.

16. Lessons I’ve learned: Don’t take finishing for granted!

17. Injuries I battled and overcame: still battling the aggravated PSOAS but getting better

18. 3-5 Most inspiring people: List their blog, twitter or instagram-wherever you follow them:

• Tami – girl finished her 5th FULL ironman this year
• Amy – she works hard, trains hard, and even when she doesn’t do as well as she’d hoped (which usually means she still did pretty well) she has a great attitude about it and just picks up and tries again. You can read her blog here
• Nicolasa – she is training for the Boston Marathon with Team in Training. You can read her blog here

19. Favorite place on social media to connect with runners: Facebook

20. 2 goals for next year: 1. Finish a Half Ironman 2. PR 2 race distances

The 4th Tri

Well crap, I think I’m about out of catchy sayings now.

The goal for this race, the final sprint of the season, was to cut off some time. Any time would have been great, but a couple of minutes was what I wanted to see. Was it possible? I wasn’t sure. ‘

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pre race pictures this time because I Iost my phone before I even warmed up. I checked my bag about 80 times, I retraced my steps to my car, I looked IN my car, nada. I checked the registration tent and no one had turned it in. Great. Well thats just great. And not a great start for a race either. In the end, though, I knew worrying about it wasn’t going to change whether I found it or not, so I just tried to switch my focus.

I did a quick bike warm up, and then got in the water. My warm up swim felt….unorganized. Not smooth. Choppy. Ugh. I was just not feeling it today. No phone, and not feeling it, great combination.

The Swim

Last Race: 14:36

Distance: still .3 miles or 600 yards, but I swear even though this is the 4th time overall I’ve done this, the buoys look SO FAR AWAY.

An awesome friend of mine gave me a couple tips to help cut some time off my swim. First, start on the inside. Second, try sighting every 8 or so strokes (I was doing so every 5-6). I attempted this idea in the pool and kept veering WAY off to the right, so I wasn’t really sure what I was going to end up doing, but I did at least start on the inside.

After the whistle went off, something clicked. I found a rhythm and went with it. I wasn’t passed by anyone doing the backstroke and I only SAW (key word here) one person in the group behind me pass me. I actually hit the shore in under 14 minutes, but struggled wading out of the water to the timing mat.

This Race: 14:06 (it turns out that I’m not sure I swam faster so much as straighter – I did 608 yards this time vs 625 the last)

Transition 1:

Last Race: 1:36

I’m not sure what I did here, but it wasn’t faster.

This Race: 1:39

I need some practice with this transition.

my only picture from the day and it was taken at home afterwards

The Bike

Distance: 12 miles

Last Race: 36:16

Having done the course a couple weeks before, I was more familiar with the turns. The advice to me for this round was this: take the visor off your helmet and remove the bottle cages. Sounds crazy right? But anything extra on the bike can cause you to be less aerodynamic, and therefore slower.  I decided to haul ass and pray my legs weren’t mush when I got to the run. In fact, my goal was to make it farther before my friend caught up with me, and I did, so win. Actually, overall it was a huge win. I was only passed by one person (TAMI!).

This Race: 35:16

Transition 2

Last Race: 1:09

Still had to change shoes, and actually stopped to take a couple sips since I didn’t have a bottle on my bike, but I still cut some time

This race: 48 seconds

The Run

Distance: 3.1 miles (5k)

Last Race: 25:25

The run after the last race felt HARD, and I’m not even sure why because it wasn’t a particularly humid day. This time, it felt much easier. Weird. I didn’t need to stop at the water stations and felt great overall. 

This Race: 24:34

And all my friends say I’m pretty fly with my inhaler

Final Standings:

Last Race: 1:18:51

This Race: 1:16:12 (PR!!!)

Age Group: 5/15 (just can’t quite make top 3)

Overall Female: 25/94

Swim Overall: 54/94

Bike Overall: 9(!)/94

Run Overall: 27/94

Oh, and I did find my phone! It must have been near the car because someone put it on my windshield!

Onward to Kiawah!

Sangaree Sombrero 5k

Races are fewer and farther between around here when the weather starts to get warmer, but if you look you can usually still find a good 5k to run. I had hoped to run one in April but opted out after I just couldn’t get the tightness out of my back. My running buddy that I met at Dicks Sporting Goods (not kidding) was also running this one, so what better than a race and an excuse to get together?

This, like my last 5k, was its first year. It was held at a local Middle School and funds from the race were used toward a digital road sign. It was small, but well put together. The race began at the school and from there basically did a 1.5 mile out and back. Water was offered around the halfway point and bananas at the end. Awards were given for male and female overall and then 10 year age groups.

After 3 weeks of track speed work and as part of my Plexus Trial, I was aiming to PR. I REALLY hoped to see a finish time in the 22’s.  Unfortunately, my sinuses hated me that morning, and I spent part of the run trying not to spit on people (gross, yes).

I started out at the front of the pack and passed a couple people, but could never quite catch the only girl ahead of me. I ended up placing 5th overall, 2nd female and 1st in my age group though, so I wasn’t complaining. And I did manage to PR with a finish time of 23:16. Lynnsey took home 3rd :).

Overall I felt that, for a first year, the Turtle put together a better race and better prizes (I’m never a fan of 10 year age groups). It was money being raised for the school though, and given the option I’d run it again.

One day I will see that 22 minute finish time again!

No More Marathon – What Next?

This happens after each marathon I’ve run- some version of the post marathon blues. Sounds silly, right? It’s a real thing.

I’ve actually enjoyed a more lax workout schedule and no real pressure to have to run when I do exercise. I’ve enjoyed practicing some more yoga lately and even hopped on the elliptical a couple days ago for the first time in months. What bugs me is no set plan for what comes next. Aside from the Sprint Triathlon series this summer and hopefully an Olympic Triathlon in the fall, I have nothing on the calendar. While this probably makes Bryan happy, its driving me a little nuts. Races give me schedules to follow, goals to set and things to blog about at least once a week, even if they are boring.

I can’t decide if I really want to keep recording “training” when I’m not really training for anything. I like the idea but it seems kind of silly. Since the jury is still out I guess I’ll just keep going.

Sunday – rest day. Sore.

Monday – rest day. Still sore.

Tuesday – rest day. Almost not sore.

Wednesday – Vinyasa flow yoga. Though I was no longer sore, I could definitely still feel some fatigue in my quads during the lunge poses. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Thursday – interval yoga

Friday – rest day

Saturday – 20 mile ride. It’s my longest ride yet on the new bike so I think that counts for something. But the headwind on the way back SUUUUUUUUUCKED.

My motivation to run, perhaps not surprisingly, was lacking the week after the race (to say the least). I did fend off a little of the “blues” by researching a couple 5ks over the next couple months. I promised myself (and my chiropractor) that I’d focus more on swimming and biking once this marathon was over, but lets be honest: I’m still going to be a runner.

Maybe a 5k PR can be next…….