Building My 2013 Triathlon Race Calendar

Hey, friends!  Can you believe it’s Thursday?  This week seems to be flying by—no complaints here!  I think we’re in agreement about the “healthy” Girl Scout cookie news.  If you try it, please let me know what you think!  Anyway, after publishing yesterday’s post, I found out that registration for my hometown triathlon opened (which caught me off guard because the original date advertised was my birthday, Feb. 5!), and I didn’t waste any time: I officially signed up for the 13th Annual Cazenovia Triathlon!

More on that in a minute—today’s eats first!

Breakfast

I’m feeling stuffy and congested today, so I opted out of my planned morning yoga class.  And plus, Andrew told us to take today completely off after yesterday’s butt-kicking indoor cycling workout.  I slept in until 7:20 a.m.—glorious!—enjoyed two leisurely cups of coffee, and then made an egg-white breakfast sandwich.

I finished the spinach earlier this week—grocery shopping needs to happen today—so I added roasted mushrooms and red peppers instead.  This combo packed more flavor, and I’ve become a huge fan of Udi’s Whole Grain Bread.

Lunch

I wanted a warm meal for lunch, so I heated up a spinach, turkey, and pepper jack cheese tortilla in the oven.

Plus some carrots on the side.

13th Annual Cazenovia Triathlon

Even though I’m locked into the Nautica South Beach and New York City Triathlons, my 2013 race calendar hasn’t been completely finalized. (I’ve talked to Andrew and nailed down potential events, and I plan to share my official schedule once I register for each event.) Unfortunately, Full Throttle Endurance will not take a team trip to Central New York in August, but I knew signing up for the Cazenovia Triathlon needed to happen.  It takes place in my hometown, and it was also my first official swim-bike-run race; completing this sprint event got me totally hooked on the sport, so I have an emotional attachment to this race, too.  Plus, triathloning is all about finding your limits and pushing past them, so I want to kick butt, take names, and see how much I can improve—aka blow last year’s time out of the water.  It’s all about progress!

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Speaking of progress, there’s been some already.

That’s right—no longer a swimming novice! (Since the 2012 race was my first true triathlon, I opted for the novice swim start.) Hey, remember that time I swam in the fast lane? (Too soon?)

Anyway, I registered last night, and this afternoon, I saw this post on the CNY Triathlon Club Facebook group page.

Does it surprise you that I was one of the first people to sign up?  Type-A at its finest, ladies and gentlemen.

Is there a certain race or event that always makes it on your calendar?

NYCRUNS Hot Chocolate 10-K Recap

On Sunday morning, I accomplished two firsts—my first official 10-K race and my first New York City running event!

Held on Roosevelt Island, the NYCRUNS Hot Chocolate Run offered both 5- and 10-K courses, and as soon as I heard about this best-of-both-worlds race (running and drinking hot chocolate—need I say more?), I knew tackling the 6.2-mile course would be the way to go.  Not only would it be the next step up from running the 3rd Annual F-M Turkey Trot 8-K, but it would also serve as a confidence-building and peace-of-mind event:  Looking ahead to the 2013 triathlon season, there’s a good chance I will become very familiar with Olympic-distance events (1,500m swim; 40-43-K bike; and 10-K run).  Even though running 6.2 miles off the bike will be completely different, it was important for me to complete a “straight up” 10-K.  At the very least, I could tell myself I’ve run the distance before in a sanctioned event.

Anyway, after going to the Open House at Random House with my mom Friday (recap coming soon!), we headed to The Running Company for race bib pickup.  It surprised me when I didn’t have to provide ID, which set the tone for the event itself; it seemed like a relatively low-frills race.  Another surprise included this mug.  I anticipated a long-sleeved tech t-shirt, but the mugs seem much more fitting, right?

[Instagrammed after the race, of course!]

Around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, I took the subway to Roosevelt Island.  For those who regularly go to races in larger cities, this won’t seem like a big deal, but I found it really cool to be riding public transit with other runners.  Everyone made small talk during the commute, and once we arrived, I couldn’t believe how many people were there!

Again, bear with me, but it was really cool to see different types of people from various boroughs all pumped to run. (During packet pickup, volunteers said about 700 signed up for the 5-K and 600 registered for the 10-K.)

The 5-K race started at 9:30 a.m., and after the runners set off, I followed the crowd to the 10-K start line.

One of the high points of the day occurred before I turned on my Garmin:  I saw my future internship supervisor, which was a really nice surprise.  This sounds corny, but seeing her at the event further confirmed this publication is a great fit for me.  I met Abby for the first time in real life, and she’s just as friendly, spunky, and down-to-earth as she seems on her blog, and I also met Julie after the race. (Check out her recap here!) So nice finally meeting you, girls!

Like the Turkey Trot, my goal for this event was to practice pacing.  Since I haven’t been running intensely—it is priority number three right now—I knew “racing” wouldn’t be logical.  Plus, since I’m relatively new to the Garmin world, I’m still in the process of assigning concrete times to perceived efforts.  Anyway, I told myself not to go sub-8 minutes until reaching mile four or five, but I stuck to that plan for all of two seconds; I accidently clocked a 7:40 opening mile.  Whoops.  The pace felt good, but I knew going out at this speed could led to a blow up later, aka my worst fear ever.  Also, since I wasn’t 100 percent sure of the course itself—would it contain flats, climbs, rolling hills?—I knew holding this tempo run pace wouldn’t be a good idea.  During miles two, three, and four, my splits fluctuated between 8-8:20; it was difficult to dial into a speed and maintain it.

Overall, the course was a little weird.  Most of it seemed flat, although there were a few rolling hills sprinkled in.  The route itself forced runners to tackle many surface areas—pavement, grooved pavement, grass, and dirt roads.  However, in fairness to race directors, they had to change the course because the original one suffered severe Hurricane Sandy damage.  The most bizarre aspect of the route, though, was the fact that it wasn’t a closed course; runners weren’t the only people allowed on the road.  During miles four and five, I played leapfrog with a guy riding a bike/walking his dog.  He would pass me, but then slow down and pull over to the side of the road, let me go in front of him, and then overtake me again.  Oh, and at one point, there were also two tractor-trailers on the road.  At least there was a police officer directing traffic.

When I hit mile five, I started to pick up the pace.  I had run pretty conservatively, so I had a lot left in the tank.  During the final 400m or so, I caught up to another runner, and we started racing; we both kept speeding up, challenging the other to counter and match the pace.  In the end, I broke away—and he let out a disgruntled sigh, ha!—and finished strong; my final mile clocked 7:20, and my official time was 50:42 (8:11 min./mi.).

OK, some key observations from this race.  First, based on this outing, I definitely enjoy the 10-K distance more than the 5-K.  In fact, when I passed the 3.1-mile mark, I thought to myself, Wow, that went by quickly!  I was really glad I had another 5-K to go because it seemed too short, and I didn’t want to stop running.  Second, even though I’m proud of my finishing time (hello, default PR!), I definitely need to continue to work on pacing.  I started too fast, and my splits weren’t super consistent.  Third, from a mental standpoint, I had a really, really strong outing; my thoughts remained positive, and I didn’t need to use my mantras at all.  There were a couple times that I felt pain, but I acknowledged it, told myself that it was a non-factor and did my best to dismiss it. (Also, the fact that I ran pain-free for basically the entire event means I didn’t push it, which is true.  Even though I wasn’t “racing,” maybe in hindsight I should’ve tried to hold a tempo-run pace.)

Overall, I liked the 6.2-mile distance, and I really loved seeing familiar faces and truly experiencing the NYC running scene; I can’t wait for the next event!

What’s your favorite distance to race?  Do you like big or small races?

3rd Annual F-M Turkey Trot Recap

Before loading up on savory turkey and delicious desserts, I kicked off Thanksgiving 2012 with a local race, the 3rd Annual F-M Turkey Trot.

This was my second year trotting on Turkey Day, and it was my first time tackling the 8-K (4.9-mi.) course.  Last year, my dad and I ran the 4-K route, and it proved to be a challenge.  I was a semi-recreational runner—I ran four or five days a week, but I would simply go out and run, so no speedwork, tempo runs, etc.—and I didn’t know what a “cross-country course” entailed; the hills, mud, and roots surprised me!  To top it off, it was my first semi-trail/off-road race, so when I finished in about 24 minutes, I was very, very happy to be done.

Anyway, I knew what to expect this year.  My knowledge of the conditions, combined with my swimming and biking focus and my laid-back approach to running, basically determined my game-plan:  I wanted to take it easy, and even though it was my first time running an 8-K event, I didn’t want to go in with the mental approach of PR-ing; given my training, or lack thereof (just some speedwork and one tempo run), “racing” wouldn’t have been a smart goal.  Instead, I planned to use this semi-competitive environment to practice pacing:  For the first four miles or so, I told myself to stay in the 8-8:30 min. ballpark; for the final mile, if I felt strong, I would “race.”

The race had a late starting time of 10 a.m., I arrived at F-M High School around 9:30 a.m. and had no trouble finding a parking spot.  After picking up my t-shirt and bib, I wandered around a bit and looked for my friend Cathleen.  We played field-hockey together in high school, and we went to the same college (she’s a few years older than me), and it was great to see a familiar face.  And we totally forgot to take a picture—whoops!

After the kids’ fun run, we were directed toward the start line, which was in the middle of a vacant field, and before long, we were off!  Cathleen and I didn’t position ourselves close to the front—we were too busy talking!—so we got stuck behind slower runners; at one point, my watch read 10:35 min./mi.  Luckily, though, the environment didn’t seem competitive, and since I wasn’t racing, it was fine.

I used the first 4-K as a warm-up and slowly increased my pace to 8:07.  However, the second 4-K proved much more challenging than the opening segment:  As I made the turn at the halfway point to continue onward (the 4- and 8-K participants ran together until we reached the start line, which is when the 4-K runners headed toward the track to finish and the 8-K runners continued), I was surprised when the course went into a forest.  In an effort to avoid wiping out, I slowed to 8:20 as I traversed rocks, stumps, and tree roots.  Coming out the clearing, I met a huge hill that appeared to go straight up like a 90-degree angle.  Obviously, my pace slowed there, too.  The remainder of the course contained smaller hills, so I hung out in the 8:07-8:15 range; the pace felt comfortable, so I kept it in cruise control.  However, I did pick it up as I approached the finish line—how can you not?—and picked off about seven runners in the final 100m.  It’s all about finishing strong!

Unfortunately, I don’t have a 100 percent accurate finishing time—there were no timing chips, and most people (including me) didn’t even wear race bibs.  As each runner finished, they had the responsibility of checking the scoreboard for their time. (I also think there was one person relaying times at the finish line, but I was so hyped up on endorphins I didn’t hear anything.) However, since I wore my Garmin, I didn’t bother to look.  That said, though, I started my watch about 15 seconds before I crossed the start line—oh, bottlenecking—and it measured the course as slightly longer than five miles.  My watch read 40-ish minutes, and Cathleen told me my scoreboard time was around 39 minutes. (She’s battling an injury and decided to run the 4-K.) Either way, this ballpark equates to 8 min/miles, which I will totally take, especially for not racing.

Overall, this race signified more than meeting a time goal.  First, I was really happy with how I followed my plan, dialed into the target pace, and held it.  There were segments when I wanted to ease up, and there were moments when I wanted to go faster, but I reminded myself to execute the plan; running really is 90 percent mental.  Second, it’s been a while since I’ve done a “straight-up” (no swimming and biking beforehand) race, so it was nice to have a successful, no-stress outing.  Third, I think this event bodes well in terms of Olympic-distance triathlons.  Right now, I’m simply maintaining my running base, so if I can hold this pace without a ton of training, then maybe it would be a feasible target pace for a triathlon 10-K.  Yes, I definitely have work to do, and I’ll be the first to say running off the bike is completely different, but it seems like a challenging, yet feasible goal.

Did you do a turkey trot this year?  How are you staying active this weekend?