Cary Duathlon

It's only a week later, but the Cary Duathlon already feels like it was ages ago. I think it's all due to having too much to do in too short a time. Everything just seems to go by so fast. Before I knew it, it was the night before the race and I was still recovering from a hard workout that I'd had on Wednesday. I thought about just not going, but that's not my style so I set the alarm for 6:30 and went to bed. No special preparation or anything. I went into like it was just another training day.

When I got to the race site I noticed that there were really only a handful of athletes. This was going to be a small race making it even harder to get motivated for it. The race went off at nine, starting with a 5 mile run through the Thomas Brooks Park in Cary. It was a 2-loop out and back with a couple of steap hills. Since we all went off together my efforts to stay at the front of the pack were ineffective and after about a mile I fell back to about the top 1/3. I wanted to save something in my legs so I pushed it, but not too hard. I haven't done many bricks yet this season so I didn't know what my legs could handle.

The first leg of the race went well. When I looked at my watch as I entered the transition zone I realized that I'd run a sub-8 mile for 5 miles. Oh crap, was my first thought. Had I gone out too fast? Getting on the bike felt good though and I quickly got into a rhythm and pushed out the 30 miles with little sweat, while averaging 17 mph. It was great. I passed a couple of women who had passed me on the run although I can't say that I was too optimistic about the final 5 mile run that was coming up.

My legs felt sore getting off the bike and it took me a little while to find my running legs again. I had a lot of teammates from the Elite Triangle Triathlon team cheering me on so I kept pushing myself despite the difficulty breathing and complete lack of energy. I started picking off girls one by one as quickly as I could, making it through the final loop on pure adrenaline. I had estimated about a 3:20 finish considering my shape at the time and preparation so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw 3:08 on the clock as I crossed the finish.

Great race, great day, and I met some great people! Thanks guys!

Azalea Triathlon

I know my race report for Azalea Triathlon comes a little late, but better late than never, right? Well, with a race that short there isn't too much to report unless you end up having a race like Paul with a flat and a re-start. I can't say my race was quite that eventful. I finally fet warmed up about 45 minutes into it, and finished about 15 minutes later. Overall the race went well. Good points: (1) it was over in an hour (the whole thing was shorter than the swim of my last race) and (2) it was great for gauging my speed development so far this season. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Sick and tired...

I had to drag myself out of bed and to work yesterday. Initially I blamed it on the fact that it was Monday. The Monday blues always hit harder after a beautiful weekend that involves little more than fitting in workouts between sleeping in late and meeting friends for a cup of coffee. It was no wonder I didn't really want to go to work.

But as the day wore on it was evident that something more was at play. My coworker had been out of the office for 3 days after having come down with the flu. No amount of caffeine or water seemed to make my headache subside and if my phone would just stop ringing I could easily curl up under my desk and fall asleep. This was definitely more than Monday blues.

It's that time of year when the viruses make their attack on already compromised immune systems. But you've got a workout in the evening - the same one that you skipped last week - so what are you going to do? It's often tough to balance work, health, life, and training. There has to be a happy medium between all of the forces at play in order to maintain overall happiness and health, which will result in a better athlete anyway.

After 5 years of balancing training and life I've come to find that you just have to get your health back before the training can continue. For those highly competitive athletes out there, I realize that it's not always easy to leave the running shoes in the closet and pick up the remote instead. But you've taken off just one workout and can hopefully fight off whatever you've got before it gets worse. Imagine if you did go out on the run and compromised your health even more. Then you end up bed-ridden with the flu. There's goes a week of training and another one will be used just to get back to where you used to be. Sometimes taking off one day is just what the doctor (or coach) ordered.

Coach Bubba 20k - training run...

Friday morning and my legs were still reminding me that they moved an entire apartment of furniture and "stuff" (it's amazing how much stuff can accumulate over a year - and how well I can hide it so that I don't even realize how much stuff I have) the weekend before. I had skipped my long run that weekend in place of carrying boxes up and down stairs and loading my car up with all of my precious treasures that I hadn't seen since I put them away and probably wouldn't see again until I moved once more. Nonetheless, it was like the workout of workouts and 5 days later I was still sore.

So the Coach Bubba 20k on Saturday was going to be a training run. Just a nice relaxing run to get my long run in for the weeekend. I got to the Durham Bulls Stadium nice and early to pick up my race packet, which contained my number and my chip (and some nice coupons for local restaurants that I probably wouldn't go to otherwise). Normally at this point I have the pre-race jitters that come from not knowing what to expect in a race. But they hadn't kicked in yet. I headed to the start line and still nothing.

Then the gun went off and the whole hoard of runners surrounding me surged forward. I took off at a comfortable pace. My legs still felt heavy so I took it easy to give them plenty of time to warm up. I knew there were hills ahead.

At the 5k marker I was still at a nice comfortable pace. That was about the last time I was still at that nice comfortable pace. Because a race is a race and although I'd been telling myself all morning that this was just a training run, I knew in the back of my mind that these times would be posted and I wanted to do well. I picked up the pace for awhile despite the feedback from my legs. I hit the hills harder than I planned because I knew 6 miles of flats were ahead. Hahah. Right! By the time I got to the flats, it felt like one long uphill battle.

It was a good run though. All in all, I had a great time. Met some really nice people. Enjoyed my morning. And posted a time that was respectable although not close to where I'd like to be. Now I know where I'm at though, so I'll know what I need to do to get to where I'd like to be!

First Elite Triangle Triathlon Team Group Ride

Being the newest member to the Elite Triangle Triathlon Team has already been a very exciting experience for me! Not only did I get to join in on my first group ride (an experience in and of itself), I also had the wonderful opportunity to pick up trash by the side of the road. But, first thing's first...the group ride.

I pulled into an unmarked gas station/convenience store on a background out by Jordan Lake. When I say unmarked, what I really mean is that it wasn't a Hess or an Exxon or a BP. It was more like a mom and pop shop that had a couple of old-time gas pumps and convenience store that sold bait and tackle for fishing on the lake. Two of the girls from the team were already there setting up their bikes and more members of the team were showing up. They all seemed to know who I was since I was the only one they didn't know...or maybe it was because I was the only one there with one leg. Regardless, it was a warm introduction to everyone and I was looking forward to going out on a nice easy ride with them.

When I say nice easy ride, I really did think it would be nice and easy. We only had about 2 hours before the trash pick-up event so it couldn't be that long. I got into a comfortable pace behind one of the other riders and enjoyed the crisp wind at my face. After a while I pulled up alongside another girl and we chatted for a bit about triathlons, Ironmans and general tidbits about ourselves. We'd been riding for about 30 minutes. I felt pretty good. Then I found that it was harder and harder to chit chat with this girl. I dropped back behind her again to take advantage of the draft and to catch my breath. For the first time I looked down at my bike computer. We'd now been riding for about 45 min. We'd gone about 14 miles. And we'd been averaging about 18 mph. No wonder I was a bit winded. On my own, I normally average about 15.5 mph over a 40 mile bike. By the end of this group ride I kept up the avg of 18 mph, finishing almost 40 miles in just over 2 hours. I guess I'm just going to have to keep riding with a group!

Eating Healthy

You're trying so hard to eat healthy. Tofu, salads, low-fat cottage cheese. Sound familiar? But it doesn't have to be a drag to fit some healthy meals into your day. I have always been a proponent of moderation. That double chocolate chunk cookie can still fit into your diet. I guess I was fortunate enough to grow up around good food. My parents never restricted what I could eat, but I always seemed to gravitate towards the healthier options like fresh fruit, grilled chicken, steamed veggies. Eating healthier doesn't have to be a chore. On the whole, choose grilled over fried, veggie sauces over cream sauces, leave the mayo off the sandwich and ask for the dressing on the side. Enjoy what you eat; just make sure you're fueling your body with the nutrients it needs.

On Working and Racing

Juggling a full class schedule in high school while racing on the varsity cross country team always seemed like a tough act back then. Practice would go until 6 or 6:30 and by the time I got home and ate dinner I'd have just enough time to squeeze in a little homework before heading to bed.

Then college. I took a full load at Duke each semester so that I could graduate early (why didn't someone talk me out of that?) while also trying to race competitively in road races. It seemed like a lot then too, but I realize now how I didn't appreciate the flexibility of school work. I could go for a run in the middle of the afternoon, or whenever I felt like if for that matter. It was great.

Maybe the grass is just greener when I look back on the good ol' days. Now I work 9-5 and am happy if I get to the gym before 6:00 on most days. Squeezing in the workout isn't nearly as easy as it used to be, but training is progressive so I force myself to go. And usually once I get to the gym and start my workout I can muster up a little more energy than I thought I had and put in a good, solid workout. So I train 4 weekdays every week and do my long workouts on the weekend. The only way to do it though is to commit the time to training and put in every workout that you or your coach lays out. It's possible, I promise...although it might not always be easy.