Carlsbad 13.1, Pizza, Beer & Fun!

I went into the Carlsbad Half-Marathon assuming I'd pull off a 7:30 pace given the training I've done thus far. I knew a 1:38 or 1:39 was doable. But secretly, I hoped I'd somehow miraculously pull off a 7:00 pace. That didn't happen. Finish time- 1:37, a 7:29 pace (7:24 on my Garmin though, hm).

Getting on my game face at 6 a.m.:

Keeping it in perspective, I know why I didn't pull off that faster time. I've NEVER run just a half-marathon (only in 70.3s) and I'm only just starting to build volume on my run training for this season. My longest runs have been ~10 miles, and there's only been several of those since I've been back at it. Plus, unlike veteran runners, I have no past years of 13.1 or 26.2 experiences to fall back on, so what could I expect? Running an all-out half-mary was completely new territory for me! The reason I thought the 7:00 pace was possible is because those 10-mile runs have all been hilly trail runs--I figured the hill training would transfer into faster times on a flat course; sort of did but not entirely. (Btw, I don't consider Carlsbad a flat course, either.)

One GOOD thing about C-bad: I felt fabulous for the first half. My splits on the Garmin show that I ran my first 6 miles in 43 min (7:10 pace). That's good for me. It was the second half where I started to fall apart. So, that just means I need to keep building more volume and do more long runs before I can expect a faster 13.1.

One BAD thing: I never found Tatiana. I parked a mile from the course (so ended with 15 miles of running) and obviously didn't have my cell. Finding one person in a sea of thousands wasn't going to happen. She ran a smokin' 1:30. Wow! Go teammate! I wonder: Had I run (or tried to run) with her, would my time be faster?

But overall: Stoked on the race and all that it taught me.

Even more so, I'm stoked on the whole weekend....

After I finished with my AM clients at SPI on Saturday, I headed to SD. Packet pickup, then La Jolla. I stayed with Brad, the ex. Yes, we're still friends... just friends!! But with how crazy busy we both are, we rarely ever talk (hadn't seen him since Kona), so this weekend was a good opportunity to catch up.

Saturday afternoon was spent lounging around enjoying blue skies. Felt good & refreshing after the week of storms SoCal endured. Brad is fresh off a surf trip he took on some remote island where he had a gnarly accident aka pounding on the reef, so he can't surf (or do much of anything right now) but we had to go down to check out the killer swell that was rolling though. And I got me a little beach time/La Jolla sunset action...

Sunday was a complete 180 from Saturday. Action packed! Brad worked out while I raced, then we converged back in LJ for a coastal spin at noon-ish with a halfway stop back up in C-bad at Pizza Port for pizza & beer. Apparently I still had enough left in the tank post-Cbad for a solid ride sans nap--I was surprised! Maybe it was the PERFECT weather that got me pumped. Pizza Port was Brad's idea... and I was totally stoked on the pizza part, but I've never been one to drink beers halfway into a bike ride. But hell, you only live once, and I had gotten in my "quality" workouts by that point.


I think the adventure took us nearly 4 hours. We spent a good amount of time at Pizza Port because I didn't want to get a "BUI" on the way back. Still, let me tell you, climbing Torrey Pines 1) post half-marathon, 2) after a few beers and 3) burping pizza is something!

In the end, Sunday was a 65-mile day for me (15 run/50 bike) and it left me spent and with a huge smile on my face. I love when you're so tired/worked/sore/"buzzed" from the day's activities that you can barely lift yourself off the couch that night. And that's why Mondays are my recovery days, ahhhh :)

Tritonman & 50 on the Bike - A Perfect SD Day!

I was almost that person who runs with a helmet on....

I did the Tritonman sprint triathlon at Mission Bay today, and though it wasn't nearly as cold as it's been lately, it was still freakin chilly first thing in the morning! But overall, I had a blast. I did this tri to practice racing in cold before IMCA and am so glad I did. I have total issues with cold hands and feet, and today was a reality check as to how bad that gets: I screwed up my transitions because of numb extremities. T1: couldn't un-velcro and un-zip my wetsuit; T2: couldn't unclick my helmet!! Asked for help with both.... I ended up getting 2nd in my age group, so my bike/run was legit enough to make up time (not my swim, ha). It was a 500yd swim, 12-mile bike and 5k run and I did it in 1:10. Oh yea, ankle is still kind of sprained too.

Here's how it went down:

I showed up at 5:30 and got to set up transition in the pitch dark. Note: bring flashlight to "small" races. Tritonman was put on by UCSD, had 400 participants and transition area was right on Fiesta Island - no high-powered lights to guide us. Kind of a cool experience with it being pretty laid back - no assigned rack areas or anything. I helped a first-timer who didn't know what to do with his race numbers, he had the helmet sticker on his bike. I racked next to some super cool Marines who were Nytro-lovers too. Good times. This was my first race minus a support crew. Totally on my own; however, my ex-boyfriend-turned-good-friend was doing a 16-mile a.m. run and planned to end up on Fiesta and watch me cross the finish line.

Swim

Race got off to a late start because of registration overload. I was in the second to last wave and jumped/ran around in my sandals -- no bare feet on cold mud -- to stay warm (forgot those sandals on Fiesta, they might be there now). By the time Open Women's went off (7:10?), the sun was blinding in the direction we had to swim. I'm already bad at spotting/swimming straight in the ocean, so this didn't help the matter. Surprisingly, though, the water was way warmer than I expected. Tasted like complete crap (heard something about a dead whale recently?), but at least it wasn't arctic. Got out in like 9 minutes, ran up the beach and into T1 where the wetsuit-taking-off problem happened. God knows how long I took.

Bike

I was ready to crank hard, wanting to average at least 20 mph. I'm currently borrowing a Cervelo P2SL from Nytro (some issues with the Felt, more on that later), and was stoked on the level of quality. I felt great the whole time on the bike. But looking back, I should have put on gloves or even a long-sleeve shirt. I was going fast enough to really freeze my hands and skin. Three laps and about 30 minutes later I dismounted, feeling on pace to do well. Then T2 happened. First, I dismounted too early and had to run for way too long in bike shoes to my transition area. Then the helmet catastrophe. I spent probably 2 minutes trying to unclip it and just couldn't. I was ready to go running with it on, but I asked for help instead. Putting on shoes was crazy too - my feet were so numb it felt like I was putting shoes on someone else! Don't know what my T2 time was, but likely 5-plus minutes!! Crap-o-la!!! That makes me so mad!!!

Run

Frustrated with T1 & T2, I was anxious to get running. I felt great from the start. My ankle is still techinically sprained and I've only run maybe 5 times since being off running for a month (yikes!), but I was able to bust out a decent pace. Feet thawed and I think I ran it in about 21 minutes? Not sure. Meanwhile, the college crowd was finishing their race and the weather was getting better every second!

Finish

Crossed the line at 1:10. Not as good as I wanted (of course, I'm hard on myself), but a great learning experience - those transitions got the best of me! I now have a lot to think about and plan for IMCA!

Then...

After the race, pro Jim Vance was the guest announcer and UCSD had a crapload of legit prizes to give out. I think about 4 Xterra wetsuits were given out, on top of shirts, backpacks, books, watches. To win a pair of Rudy Project sunglasses, Jim set the challenge: Swim across the bay, run out and touch a tree and swim back (looked like about a 500yd trip). Anyone could charge, fully clothed or whatever. And with that, roughly 10 guys were in the water. Jim also had couples who raced do a wheel-barrow race down the beach for some prizes, there was more water competitions - people went in fully clothed! He's a funny guy and got the crowd rambunctious. Quite entertaining.

Post-Race Day: A 50-mile bike ride

My friend, Brad, showed up to see me finish as planned, and we headed to Cantina to grub after the show was over. Cantina was excellent as always. Nice and full, Brad and I decided to get in a solid bike ride. I knew I still needed to get in training mileage since the sprint was only about an hour workout, and Brad was in the same boat. So, we set off from La Jolla, up PCH, swung right in Solana and headed east on Del Dios Hwy, eventually turned around and back to PCH, and then my favorite: a nice long trek up Torrey Pines to finish up the ride. Love that hill! Killer. While I was riding up, a dude with his age written on his calf passed me. Had to ask - yes, he had done Tritonman, too, and was riding back from pizza/beer at Pizza Port with his friends. He said he was pretty buzzed. Ha! I think I would have died if I were him!

So, pretty cool day. Started off coollldddd, but ended up being gorgeous. Just one of those picturesque San Diego days.... Hope things stay nice for the Tour of California Sunday!

Oh Yea...

Oh, and speaking of cold, I was offered the opportunity to do some writing for a really cool triathlon website, www.amateurendurance.com. Check out my first article here! (It's on cold-weather training.) This is a great site geared toward newbies, but there are tons of resources that any level of triathlete can find useful and informative.