Sprinting into 2nd...

I had really put my legs through a lot this week between 11 miles of trails on monday followed by a swim, 33 miles cycling on tuesday, track, and then finals for my 2 summer courses this week to top it off.  I had planned on going to Folsom triathlon as a spectator to watch my boyfriend tackle his first official triathlon.  However, a friend ended up having a free entry up for grabs so I decided to race and just have fun with it.

Nick and I loaded up the car and headed for Folsom.  I already wasn't so sure about the swim since I knew this would be much colder than what I was used to, so I kept focusing on the fact it was only half the distance.  I set up my transition area, headed out for a warm-up run and stuffed myself into my wetsuit.

The Swim: So I decided to go sleeveless to cut down on transition time and sure enough I did.  Although my swim was atrocious, as usual, I did get the fastest T1 out of the whole lot of women!  This was the most aggressive swim I've done, I had to dodge kicks from every direction, praying my goggles wouldn't get knocked off.  Although I may have some bruises in the morning and managed to get hydrated on the swim I finished with a 16:49.

The Ride: I headed out confident that if I'm going to catch anyone I need to do it here, this is my sport (well at least out of the three).  Unfortunately, I would also to have to overcome my bad luck of flat tires in order to make it to the run.  I decided early on that a flat tire would mean DNF this time.  Fortunately, this didn't happen, I made it around all the turns and past the debris without a flat tire or crashing, but there were quite a few close calls.  I dismounted the bike with overwhelming excitement which I would later find out was a 43:09 ride.

Now my T2 was not as great as T1, it was faster, but I'm a little nervous about unstrapping my tri shoes while riding is a little nerve racking for me.  So I took the extra 20 seconds to take off my shoes and slide on my Zoots.

I had hardly anything in my legs by now, but I just kept saying, "3.1 miles is not that far, you can do it, you won't die."  Although I was in pain I started to notice there weren't very few women on the course.  I ran into Nick on my way out, gave him a big high 5 as he headed toward the finish and I conquered the  very warm run course.  I have to say the trail running is paying off, because I made it up and over the hills, around the turn around, and past a few girls out on the course.  I cheered all the women I did pass on, "Great job, way to go!"  I even cheered on the few female athletes in front of me and of course the FOMO crowd.  I used the last bit of energy I had to sprint toward the finish...End time 1:25:14

After all was said and done, I secured 2nd place and 10th in my gender, Woohoo!!!  Turns out Nick and our friend Eric made it to the podium as well, so we all collected our victory wine bottles and headed home!  

Trying to get in the fast lane

I used to think I was just a slow runner, I mean ever since I was in middle school I only remember running 8 minute miles and thinking I'm just not athletic.  Turns out I was wrong, there are actually ways to get faster it just takes INTERVAL training!  There are a couple of different ways I feel people do intervals:

First of all there is the TRACK:  For instance yesterday's workout I ran 1.75 miles to warm-up followed by 3x800 (2 laps) at 10k pace and 3x800 at 5k pace with 200 recovery in between (half a lap).  Now if you don't know your pace times there are a few ways to look it it up.  I usually look up times on http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm You just plug in your most recent race time and the distance you raced.  I use my Garmin to keep track of laps and according to this calculator I should be about 3:38 to 3:43 for my laps according to my half marathon race time.

Then there is TREADMILL INTERVALS:

During the school year I can't hit the track as often, especially since food and speed workouts don't agree with my stomach.  I'm big on treadmill intervals!  I will often do whatever I have planned for track on the treadmill, this one sometimes gets hard because I have to do math in my head, but it still does the job.  I find these often break up the monotony of the dreadmill.






You can also do HILL REPEATS!

I actually love these, but my piriformis doesn't so much.  Usually there is a certain amount of time you will run up the hill i.e. 90 seconds and a certain amount of sets you will do i.e. 4.  Your recovery is usually the downhill, but be careful of your knees.




Then there is the FARTLEK:

I'm just starting to get these into my routine.  A Fartlek is a combination of sprinting and jogging during a run.  This means that you might run 2 minutes hard (after you warm-up of course) then 2 minutes easy about 5 times or so.

Then there is the TEMPO RUN:
tempo is when you warm-up and then start running for a certain number of miles at your half marathon or marathon pace (depends on who you talk to about this).  So I may have 2 miles warm-up followed by 4 miles at half marathon pace and 1 mile cool down.  This means during my 4 miles I would try to maintain a 7:28-7:47 pace.  I usually try to find flat areas to do this.

My hope this time around is to bring down my marathon time from a 4:14 to at least under 4 minutes.

What is your speed workout of choice?

Happy Training!

So Fast and Furious...

A member of my triathlon club was diagnosed with ALS a couple years back and instead of feeling sorry for him and sitting idly by trying not to cry some wonderful people tried to do something about it.  What started out as an idea from El Presidente Chris McCrary turned into one of the most awesome and well organized events I have ever been to or been a part of.
Yesterday, on the streets of Pleasanton, California was not only a 5k race, but an elite mile, a kids race, and a criterium including cyclists of all levels to raise money to fight ALS.  Since I had raced last weekend and I hate 5ks I decided to contribute to the event by volunteering, but first Nick and I thought we'd watch our friends compete and get some breakfast.

Michael Stella Tackling the 5k course

The course was a loop around downtown Pleasanton starting on Main Street.  After a quick 17 minutes the first finisher approached sporting his FOMO gear Mr. Michael Parry.  He was followed shortly by a few other male finishers and of course the first FEMALE finisher not far behind was Ms. Tara Carriera!  We cheered everyone on, especially the B-day boy Mr. Michael Meaney.

What race would be complete without a half naked Meaney

After all the finishers crossed the finish line we headed for some breakfast, of course supporting the local eateries, and then went to watch the ELITE MILE.
Now I know most people think they can run a mile, but in order to run this mile you had to qualify and be up against some pretty quick company...no 6 minute miles here folks.

The studette in yellow kicked butt!

Surprisingly one of the runners was my sister's boyfriend's sister (if that wasn't too confusing).  She runs for Sac State, which made it exciting to have someone to cheer on.  The women were up first as we cheered GO RACHEL! on her lap around town.  Unfortunately, she finished 4th with a great time while the turbo 1st place finisher was around 5:02 for her mile time.  

And they are off

Next the men were up and rumor had it that we had a few 4 minute milers in our midst.  They were gone and done before you knew it clocking in at about 4:10, but the most impressive time was a young kid, probably in middle school who ran a low 5 minute mile time...you may see that guy on TV some day!

Next came the kids run, which unfortunately I didn't capture on film, but every kid received a medal for their efforts and even the tiniest of toddlers participated.

Ryan Capes, Don't be fooled he's really FOMO red and white

After the kids run I headed out to my volunteer post for the Cat 5 criterium race.  My job: to keep people from getting run over at turn 2.  Wearing my fashionable orange vest with lovely flag accessory I cheered on the cyclists.  Although I didn't know this at the time, our friend Ryan Capes managed to slide in the Cat 5 race.  After the Cat 5 race came the Men's Cat 4 where we had one of our own out in the pack.  Mr. Jeff Mapes headed the pack for a few rounds collecting prizes occasionally as he raced.

Speedster Jeff Mapes

Next came the women's Cat 3 and 4 race.  Where Ms. Tanya Grossman kicked butt coming in 3rd Place.
After my volunteer shift I headed home to take a cat nap and get some homework done before the pro-races.  Surprisingly upon my arrival back I found the guys at the VIP booth with some prime seating.  To watch the BIG races!

Winner of the Women's Pro race

I got there just in time to watch the middle of the Cat 1,2, and 3 men's race where we cheered on Mike Desubio on the Morgan Stanley team. Next, came the Pro women where team Vanderkitten cleaned house.  However, before the race the girls were led out by Pete Zucker and his wife Monica in a beautiful Ferrari. 

The women's race was awesome!  You couldn't tell the whole time who was going to win it because every round there was a new leader.

Ryan and the Champion from New Zealand

After the women were presented their awards it was time for the men's pro-race.  The teams lined up wearing logos like Yahoo, Webcor, and Cal Giant.  Some looked way younger than me clocking speeds at 30 to 40 mph.  It was intense and so fast that sometimes pictures were just colors flying by.  There are so many pictures I'll post them at the end.  This was an amazing day for an amazing cause and I will surely take on the 5k next year and volunteer for this event!  Great Job Chris McCrary and team!

Of course there needs to be a picture of the Mascot Charlie