Glenda's World

ITU Duathlon World Championships

After a long, hot summer of training, I was finally in Edinburgh, Scotland for the ITU Duathlon World Championships.  Suellen & I flew from Newark (with her coming from Rhode Island and me from Austin) on Wednesday night, arriving in Scotland on Thursday.   A bit of excitement for the flight as we were delayed 3 hours in Newark, but finally took off at 1am.  A lot of sleeping later, we arrived in Edinburgh.

The weather this week was gorgeous, and a little atypical for Scotland (i.e, no rain!).  Mid 60's for the highs, lots of sun, and only a bit of wind.  After the normal pre-race prep (getting my bike put together, going to the Team USA meeting to find out any peculiarities about the course/race), things were pretty well set for Saturday morning.

My wave didn't start till 11:30am, so there was a lot of killing time before heading over the race site.  The race took place in downtown Edinburgh, next to Holyrood Palace (where the Queen of England stays when she's up this way!).  Holyrood Park is next door, and contains a ancient extinct volcano, named Arthur's Seat.  Historically they built fortifications on Arthur's Seat as far back as 2,000 years ago.  There is a road that climbs up and around Arthur's Seat, then dives back along the back of the hill to form a loop.  Our bike course would complete that loop 5 times, plus a mile of out and back through another part of the park.  The run course was a 1.5 mile out and back (.75 each way), that ran up about 130 feet of Arthur's Seat, then turned around and came back to the start.  We'd do 4 loops (6.2 miles) the first run, and 2 loops (3.1 miles) the second run.  With of course that 5 loop, 26 mile, ride round and round the mountain in between. The ITU had said this was possibly the most challenging World's course ever run. 

Team USA had the second most number of athletes, behind Great Britain, and there were at least a couple other people from Texas.  Anne, from Houston, who I'd met at some Austin races, was in my age group and we kept each other company getting warmed up and ready to start.

After getting Suellen stationed at a good cheering spot (along with Anne's husband and father & mother), we got settled into the starting corral.  Our wave had women ages 40-54, about 125-150 athletes.

It was a quick start and we ran off between rows of spectators.  Between friends & family, and locals out to cheer, the crowds were great.  While the multi-loop course could get a little boring, it was great for the spectators (we went by the start/finish a total of 11 times). 

It was hard to devise a race plan for such a challenging course, but after talking with my coach we decided to hold back on the first 10K run, try to ride the bike as even an effort as possible, and let loose with what was left on the last 5K.  My original plan was to go out around 7:30/mile pace on the first run, but with the nice cool weather I decided to just make sure my effort felt easy, regardless of pace. 

The run route was very crowded to start, especially as we climbed the hill.  With only about 3-4 feet of space, and 100+ women, it was hard to pass or not get in someones way.  I just ran along, taking it easy, and once we completed the first loop things spread out a little.  My first 1.5 mile loop was at a 7:13 pace, but that felt OK.  The second loop wasn't so crowded, and I hit a nice rhythm, at a 7:09 pace.  I was afraid I might be pushing a little too much, so I held back for lap 3, dropping to 7:21.   Finishing lap 3 I had a brain hiccup, I could't remember how far I'd gone.  Thank goodness I had been hitting the lap button on my watch, so I could look down and realize I had one more lap to go!  The last lap was at a 7:19 pace, which gave me about a 44 minutes for the first 10K run.

Now off to the bike.  I got into transition and didn't have to much trouble with bike shoes & helmet.  After a short flat bit to start, it was time to start the first of 15 climbs (3 major ones per loop).  The first climb was about half a mile, up 150 feet.  The first time up this didn't seem too bad, but I knew I would be revisiting it soon!  After that climb we had a nice downhill by Duddingston Loch, a pretty lake in the park.  After a quick U-Turn, we headed back up towards Arthur's Seat, and then hit the major climb to the top.  The local cyclists called this "a tricky wee hill", and I just called it OUCH.  240 feet in about a half mile.  A section in the middle was steep enough I had to stand on the pedals for a good 50 yards.

The upside to all this climbing was the view.  As I stole a glance now and then, I could see a huge panorama looking out over the city and into the country side.  We're hoping to get back up there (by car, next time!) to take some pictures. 

After finally getting to the top, there was a stretch that was fairly flat, before the descent around the back of the mountain.  The descent was on a extremely narrow (6-8 feet wide) road, with blind corners and S-curves.  They even had hay bales set up on some corners to catch you if you missed a turn and flew off course.  So a hang-on-for-dear-life and ride-the-brakes experience.  At least it gave you some recovery from the climbs, though!

After all that, I rode by transition to complete the first loop.  Whew, only 4 more to go.  

The next 3 loops were uneventful, other than the climbs got harder each time around.  I was a little more comfortable on the descent, and eventually hit 36 mph at the fastest, but my average was still only hovering around 18mph for the whole loop. 

When I started the final loop, the next wave (age 35-39 men) was just starting the bike course, so things got a lot more crowded.  For the most part I was OK, but during the very last climb up the tricky wee hill, I suddenly had guys trying to pass me on both the left and right at once.  It startled me, and I swerved a bit, but held on to slow down and let them pass.  They aren't supposed to do that, you are only allowed to pass on the left.  The guys are always a little too competitive and wound up, they don't seem to care they might knock you out of the race.

But with that excitement past, I finally topped the mountain one last time, and got to ride down to the start.  I breathed a sigh of relief as I negotiated the last turn.  Now I just had 5K to run!

As I jumped off the bike and ran it into transition, I had to haul it up over a curb, and being a bit wobbly I nearly tripped and fell.  I think I was running a little too fast while holding onto the bike.  I stayed upright though and got my bike racked.

A quick drink of gatorade and a swap of shoes and it was off for the final run.  I really felt pretty good, and tried to push the pace.  The hill running out seemed a little bigger than those first four loops though!  As we came to the turnaround, I saw three women in my age group about 20 seconds ahead.  I decided that was my goal- to try to catch them before the finish.

The first 1.5 mile loop was a 7:05 average, so I was going well.  I passed one of the other women at the end of the loop, and gained on the next going up the hill.  We hit the turnaround and I knew it was downhill & flat all the way to the finish.  I picked it up as much as I could, passed a couple people not in my age group, and closed in on the last woman I was chasing.  I came up to the turn off to the finish, about 10 yards behind her, and didn't think I'd have enough room to catch up.  Then she turned off to do her second loop instead of going to the finish.  Doh!  I was actually one loop ahead of her :)  I ran it in to the finish, right next to another Team USA woman who was in the 45-49 group.  No need to sprint, which was nice.  

I hit a 6:57 average the last lap, and ended up with a time of right around 2 hours and 35 minutes.  After the unofficial results were posted, I placed 15th in my division, and 68th woman overall.  I was happy with that, on a very challenging course against tough competition.  

Now we have a couple days to relax and tour the Scottish highlands, before we head back home.

Here's a pic before the race:

 

Du Draper - long course duathlon national championships

Last weekend we took a road trip up from Austin to Oklahoma City for the USAT Long Course Du national championship race.  I mostly did this race as part of training, since it was something close enough to get to without flying (easier to transport the bike). Plus, I'd never done a long duathlon, and this one (10K run, 43 mile bike, 10K run) fit the bill.

Leading up to the race things were a bit stressful.  I took my front race wheel in to Jack & Adam's because the valve had been cranky and was hard to get a seal when filling with air.  They had to remove the tire and re-glue it, to put on a new valve stem.  No big deal, I thought, I'd do a test ride Thursday afternoon.

Thursday morning I checked the wheel, and it was flat!  Back to the bike shop, to get a completely new tube glued on.  Now I wouldn't have a chance to ride the wheel before the race, unless we got out to the course Friday afternoon after the 6+ hour trip from Austin.

The drive up from Austin was interesting- rain showers after noon all the way from Dallas to OKC, alternately pouring down and then skies bright and sunny.  Things cleared up by the time we got to OKC, so we hoped it'd stay clear long enough to do a quick test ride.  After picking up my packet we headed out to Draper Lake, the race site.  Despite some ominous clouds in the distance, I had enough time to get a quick 10 minute ride in, and everything looked good.

The race course started from a parking lot by the lake, with the run climbing up the first half mile, going along a flat road for another mile, then coming back the same way.  We'd do the 3.1 mile course twice, each run.  No shade or trees at all, so it was going to be a hot one!  The bike course was a 13 mile loop all the way around the lake, with a couple climbs and several rolling hills.  Three loops of the bike course would get us through that part of the race.

Race morning was here before we knew it, and by 6:30 we were out at the lake setting up.  The rain stayed away, but it was literally 100% humidity.  Visibility was about 100 yards, we could barely see the road as we drove in, just a fog/mist of water hanging in the air.  I don't think I've ever seen humidity like that.  Add that to the 72 degrees, and it was already pretty warm.

The race was relatively small, only 100-110 people and about 30 women.  But there was some serious competition.  Since this was the national championships, and spots on Team USA for the 2011 World Duathlon Championship were on the line, there were people from 22 states.  I hoped to just put in a good effort, "enjoy" the race, and try not to end up in the medical tent.

Deciding how to pace the first run was tricky, since I'd never run this distance. I decided to fall back to my old duathon strategy, which is to aim for even splits on the first & second run, and pick a pace I could sustain if I was running for the entire race time.  Since I figured it'd be somewhere between 3:30 and 4 hours for the whole race, that meant treating it like a marathon.  7:45/mile was the pace I was aiming for.

Suellen wished me good luck, and everyone headed to the start line.  After just a brief set of instructions, they fired off a shotgun to start us.  I guess this was Oklahoma after all!

At first the humidity didn't seem to bother me, with the temperature still in the low 70's.  And I felt good up the first hill, although I noticed at least a dozen women take off at a much faster pace right away.  I knew I had to be patient.  If they could run 7 minute miles the first 10K and still do that after the bike, I wasn't going to catch them anyway.

I wasn't quite as successful holding back as I hoped, hitting the first 5K loop at a 7:30 average.  It was really hard not trying to stay up with the women I could see continuing to pull away.  The second loop was a little faster, 7:23, but I didn't feel like I'd pushed too hard.  I just had to hope it wouldn't come back to bite me later!

I ran into transition and waved at Suellen, then momentarily got confused, as I'd miscounted how many racks I had to run past.  Suellen yelled "you're one rack over" just about the time I realized I was in the wrong spot, and I ducked under a row of bikes (thank goodness there was an opening, so I didn't have to run all the way around). Got my helmet & shoes on, and ran out with my bike.  52 seconds for the transition, only a little slow for missing my rack.

The first loop of the bike course I wanted to ride fairly easy.  It would help to know where any bad spots came up, and 40+ miles is long enough I couldn't just hammer away.  The roads were in good shape, and with the breeze from riding it didn't feel too warm.  After a few miles we came to the first climb, and as I approached I saw the road littered with water bottles and other bits of gear that had been flung off the previous bikes.  Sure enough, there was a pretty good bump in the road.  I didn't lose anything, and made a mental note - next time you see lots of stuff on the road ahead, it probably means something bad is coming up!

As I climbed I passed a couple other riders, but it was really fairly spread out the whole race.  A few times I couldn't see anyone ahead or behind me.  The lead women had such a big lead on me off the first run, I figured I wouldn't see them at all on the bike.

Towards the end of the first loop, they had a water bottle handup.  I knew it was coming, so I refilled my aerobottle and pitched my empty bottle.  As the handup got closer, I was dismayed to see the water bottles weren't normal bike bottles- they were just bottled water like you buy at the store.  Slick to hold onto, and probably too slim to fit in my bottle cage.  I grabbed for one, couldn't hold on and dropped it.  I knew it was going to get hotter, and I'd need all the hydration I could get, so I stopped, and a volunteer ran up to hand me another bottle.  When I looked at it, I realized it had no lid.  So even if it fit in the bottle cage, half of it would splash out before I even drank any!  I gave up and threw it away, it wasn't going to do me any good.  Nothing to do but soldier on.

At the end of the first loop I'd averaged about 20.5 mph.  I started picking up the effort for the second loop, made it safely past the sea of bottles on the road at the first climb, and curved back around the other side of the lake.  The hills were starting to feel a little less rolling, and more "climby".  Not a good sign only halfway through the bike!  

Then the clouds that had been so thick all morning opened up, and the sun came out.  OH @#!$.  It was hot.  Hot and sticky.  That's great if you are eating a cinnamon roll, not so much with 20 miles of biking and a 6 mile run to go.  Humidity was still around 80%, and the sun was just beating down on us.

I knew I had to get a bottle this time through the hand up, so I slowed down even more, was able to grab some water, and just planned to pour it straight into my aerobottle.  And wouldn't you know, this time the bottle had a lid on it!  So when I turned it over to squeeze it out, all the water just sprayed everywhere as it hit the lid.  After a bit of wrangling, I finally got most of the water into my aerobottle.

Starting the third loop I felt my legs getting a little tired. I'd averaged 21mph after the first two loops, but just couldn't hold it.  I decided I had to take it a little easy on the downhills, so I had something left for the run.  I drank as much as I could, took some more nutrition and extra electrolytes, and kept pedaling.

With about two miles to go, I came up on another girl from Austin I'd seen at other races.  She was a crazy fast runner, but not as fast on the bike.  It was good to know I'd caught someone in the lead pack, but unless she was having a really bad day I expected to see her on the run in a little while.

Safely back into transition, I was glad to be off the bike.  I'd averaged about 20.7 mph, not quite what I'd hoped, but in the ballpark.  I grabbed my hand held water bottle (I knew it was going to be hot for the second run), and started up the hill.  

I was surprised that my legs actually felt pretty good to start the run.  It was hot, but I kept drinking and pouring water on my head.  About a mile in, the girl from Austin I'd passed at the end of the bike came racing by.  I told her it was no fair she could run so fast, with a laugh :)  

At the 1.5 mile mark, the water stop had both ice and water, and I gratefully grabbed a cup of each, and filled up my bottle.  I'd end up refilling the 20oz bottle every 1.5 miles the rest of the way, using that much water between drinking and splashing on myself to try to keep cool.

With the downhill at the end of the first loop helping, I ended up averaging about 7:45 on the first 5K. I think seeing Suellen gave me a boost too.   But heading back up the half mile climb to start the second loop I could feel things slipping away.  I had no energy, it was just so freaking hot.  I had to just ignore pace and go by effort- if my heart rate skyrocketed I'd be walking before I knew it.  I passed one really fit local guy who was walking up the hill, who I later saw on the side of the road with two medics, screaming from some really bad calf cramps.  Ouch :(

None of the other runners looked good, everyone was just putting one foot in front of the other.  I hit 4.5 miles, and was down to about an 8:15 pace.  I told myself, get to the last half mile, it's all downhill, and you can pick it up from there and finish strong.

I slogged along, trying to just not push the pace until the last minute.  Coming up to the top of the last hill before heading back down to the lake seemed to take forever.  There was one patch of shade on the whole run, about 10 yards worth.  I wanted so much to just sit down there under the tree.  But I kept going.

With half a mile to go, I was looking down the hill to the finish.  I told myself it was time to drop the hammer, but when I looked in my toolbag there was no hammer to be found.  This was going to be "try to see if you can just hold even pace to the end" kind of race, and not pass out.  Even doing that, with the downhill, by the last 200 yards I was getting kind of dizzy.  I crossed the finish line, and staggered around, until I saw a tent with some shade.  I collapsed on an ice chest, and poured water on my head.  It was a couple minutes before I could even think straight.

Eventually I was able to catch my breath, cool down a little, and find Suellen.  The heat index was up to 100, with the temperature at 90 by the end of the race.  No wonder it felt a little warm :)

I'd finished in 3 hours, 41 minutes and 56 seconds. The second run was around an 8:00 average pace, which actually was pretty decent.  Several of the other woman were more than a minute a mile slower on their second run.

After they posted results I found out I placed 7th woman overall and 3rd in my age group.  It was amazing to see how the masters women did- 5 of the 7 top finishers were over 40, and the top 2 were over 45!

I earned my spot on Team USA for the 2011 Long Course Du Worlds, although we still don't know when/where it will be held.  And I got to do a long course duathlon for the first time.  Not sure I want to do another very soon, especially in that kind of heat!  But it was "fun" in a crazy kind of way.

Madison Half Marathon

Suellen and I had originally registered to do the Madison Marathon in 2009, but for various reasons, Suellen ended up doing the Green Bay marathon that year instead.

Luckily, we could roll over our registrations for Madison to the next year, and we decided to just do the Half.  Suellen is having knee surgery in a couple weeks, so she couldn't race, but we still wanted to come up to see family and our granddaughter, Maeve.  

It's my offseason, so I just wanted to do this race for fun.  I figured I'd run it hard, but had no big expectations.  I'd hoped to have a nice cool Wisconsin late Spring day, but the hot weather followed me from Texas.  Race morning it was 68-70 degrees by 7am, and 80% humidity.   The only good thing was that I'd been running in the heat in Austin, so it didn't feel as bad as it could have.

The only "goal" I had for the race was to see if I could average 7 minute miles or faster.  The Madison course had two big hills and some rolling parts in between, and some flat sections along the lake. Not a crazy fast course like the 3M half in Austin, but not too bad.

The race started at the Capitol building, and there were about 4,500 runners doing the half.  Surprisingly it wasn't too crowded at the start. I got in the very front of the corral, because I really didn't want to dodge people.  The fastest pace group they had was 1:45, and I was hoping for a 1:30-1:35.

The start was quick and uneventful.  A nice broad street that went straight on a downhill for a half mile or so before the first turn.  I didn't want to go out too fast, so planned to run 7:05-7:10 the first 3-4 miles, then pick it up to 6:55 as long as I could hold it.

We ran by the Univ of Wisconsin football stadium, and up into campus.  Even though it was humid, it didn't feel as hot as I thought it might.  The first three miles went by at 7:03, 7:02, and 6:50 (a bit more downhill here and I got carried away).

Then we hit the first big hill, going up Observatory Drive.  I definitely observed that it went up a big freakin hill!  There was a gorgeous view from the top, out over one of the lakes.  I kept a pretty good pace up the hill, then picked it up going down the other side, to still do mile 4 in 7:10.

Now we left the campus and hit some small rolling hills going north.  When driving the course the previous day it seemed flat through here, but running it there were noticeable ups & downs.  I still tried to increase the pace a little, according to plan.  6:56 for mile 5, and then I got to see Suellen cheering for me as we passed back by the Capitol.  

6:55 and 6:50 the next couple miles, til we hit a park where we turned onto a bike path to head back towards downtown.  This was were my granddaughter, Maeve (she's 2) was going to be with her parents, Josh (Suellen's son) and Aurora.  Sure enough, after I turned the corner, there they were!  I gave a shout out to Maeve, and waved.

We followed the bike path to some more residential streets, with a few more small rolling hills.  I wasn't feeling too bad, but the humidity and rising heat were getting a bit uncomfortable.  Miles 8 and 9 were 6:59 and 6:55.

Back on the bike path we ran by the convention center, and along the lake.  Unfortunately there was no shade here, and the sun was bright and warm.   I really hoped I could pick it up the last 3 miles but decided it was best to just try to hang on.  7:03 and 7:02 the next couple miles, and I was fading a bit.

Right around mile 11 we ran through the neighborhood Suellen's mom had a house in for several years, and her mom had come down there to cheer.  This was one of the coolest parts of the race (literally!), with a bit of shade and 4 or 5 people with garden hoses spraying runners with water if they wanted as they ran by. I took advantage of every one of them!

7:02 for mile 12.  By now, I wasn't thinking straight, I couldn't remember if I had 1 or 2 miles to go.  Thank goodness the last water stop had a sign that said "1.25 miles to the finish", so I knew I didn't have far.

The last mile+ was one of the most cruel finishes I've ever seen.  We were running back up the long straight street we'd start on the first mile.  So you could see the Capitol from quite a ways away, and it was uphill the whole way.  With a even steeper climb the last tenth of a mile.  I poured it on as much as I could, and still could only hold a 7:06.  Even after you made it up the last steep hill, you still had to take two more turns, with one more slight uphill, before the finish.  I sprinted it in, glad to be done.  It really had been hot those last few miles. I didn't envy anyone doing the full marathon today!

When I was done, I checked my watch, and I think the course was a little long.  My GPS said 13.26 miles, meaning my final time of 1:32:40 was good for a 6:59 average.  I was very happy with that in the heat.  That time was my fastest half marathon (outside of 3M), by a couple minutes.

I found Suellen, had some gatorade and part of a bagel- plus some cheese (yep, it's Wisconsin, they had little packages of string cheese at the finish :) ), then we went to look for the results.  I thought I'd done fairly well, and was a bit surprised to find they said I was 22nd overall, 3rd in my age group.   Not that it was bad, but a little lower than I guessed.  When I got back to the hotel and checked the web, I found out they'd had glitches in the results, and when the correct ones were posted, I ended up 7th woman overall, 2nd overall female masters!  That was even better than I hoped!  And afterwards we had a bbq with the kids, Maeve, and Suellen's mom. A perfect day in Madison.

Duathlon Nationals race report

This weekend was the big race I've been training for since December.  The USAT Duathlon National Championships in Richmond, Virginia.  For duathlon, the nationals were an open event, you didn't have to qualify to compete.  But there were tons of fast people, since this was where the slots were awarded on Team USA for the world championships in Edinburgh, Scotland, in September.   

The race took place in downtown Richmond, and was  5K run, 40K bike (about 24 miles), and 5k run.  The run was on streets downtown, and through a park.  The bike course was an 8 mile loop we did three times, part of which went through downtown, with four crossings on bridges over the James River, and an out and back section through rolling hills in neighborhoods along the river.

I flew into Richmond on Thursday, got my bike assembled at a local bike shop, and had a day to kill before Suellen came in Friday night.  She originally was going to do a shorter "sport" race they were also holding on Sunday, but a hamstring injury meant she'd just be cheering this weekend.  And dealing with my freak outs :)

The main freakout was the weather. Forecasts for the last two weeks pointed to rain, and sure enough it rained on and off all day Saturday.  I did a single loop of the bike course on Saturday as a warmup, and on the wet roads it was white knuckles on every turn.  Because the course was partially downtown, there were LOTS of turns. 

When it was clear it was going to be slick for Sunday's race, I finally (at Suellen's brilliant suggestion) called back to my local bike shop, Jack & Adam's, to get some advice on getting ready for a wet race.  They gave me some great tips on the best air pressure in my tires to get the most grip, and a few other pointers.  That helped ease my mind a bit.

My goal for the race was to place in the top 18 of my age group, which would guarantee me a spot at Worlds.  I really hoped I'd have a good enough race to place in the top 10, and my super-secret goal was to hit the top 5 in my group.  I revised these goals after riding the wet course the day before- I really thought it'd be all I could do to stay upright on the bike and not crash, and just hit that top 18.

Sunday morning at 6am we were up and heading down to the race site, after a small breakfast.  They started the race in waves, and my wave (Female 40-44) started at 8:35. So I had time to kill, but needed to be there early enough to make sure everything was set up.

It had rained all night, and drizzled a little as we set up Sunday morning, but it did look like we'd get a break from the rain after the race started.  The roads would still be wet, but they'd be drying a bit as we went further into the race.  After a short warmup run, I took my spot in the starting chute, a couple rows from the front. After a countdown and an airhorn, the 55 women in the 40-44 age group were off!

The start of the run went down a huge hill, took a turn and then down another hill til we were running by the river.  It was really hard not to go too fast, with all the downhills.  I glanced at my watch and saw I was running a 6:22 pace, way faster than the 6:55 I'd planned.  But I just went with it, figuring I'd slow down in the flats.

At the start, I was about 12th place, but passed a few others over the first mile.  We hit a couple sections of cobblestones that must have been from the civil war.  It was some rough running, and I could just see myself twisting an ankle!  Some careful steps and I made it through.

After the first mile we headed into a park beside the river.  I was in a pretty good rhythm, right around a 6:45 pace, and passing a few other women.  At 2.5 miles, we turned up a hill to head to transition.  With mostly downhill & flat for the first part of the run, the last uphill was mean!  It definitely got my heart rate up.  Finally I could see transition, with all our bikes.  As I ran in, a volunteer was counting people in the age group, and it turned out I was 6th or 7th!  I just had to hold on to that place through the bike & second run.

I ran into transition, and 42 seconds later I was out the other side with my bike.  Got on the bike and rode up out to the street, and up the first big hill.  We actually then rode down the hill we'd started the run on, and with the wet streets I was just too nervous to let it go.  I rode my brakes on the way down, then settled into my aerobars as we crossed the first bridge.

The bike course was a figure 8 loop, so we actually came back by transition twice per loop.  That was cool because I got to see Suellen several times.  It was uncool because it meant even more turns.  On the first loop I really took the turns slow.  It was pretty congested with bikes from the previous waves, and I spent a lot of time dodging slower cyclists.  Another trip across the bridge and  we headed out on the section through the neighborhoods by the river.  The good part about this section was it was almost covered with a canopy of trees, so the road wasn't as slick.  But it was a narrow two lane road, with cyclists coming & going.  We hit the first few turns and hills and it was a madhouse.  You had people trying to pass going 30mph next to people struggling along at 15mph.  And other cyclists coming in the opposite direction at 30mph.  I let at least two people in my age group pass me, I just wasn't willing to push it that hard with so much traffic.  

After the end of the out & back section we hit the bridge one more time to finish the first loop.  I was feeling better about the bike at this point, even though it was slick my tires had good grip.  And the crowds thinned out a little, so there wasn't as much dodging slower cyclists.  I waved at Suellen as I passed transition, and headed up & down the hills downtown.  The second time I was able to open it up a little more, still cautious on the 90 degree turns but better on the more gentle curves.  And I was able to get into a smooth rhythm as we went out along the river this time.

For part of the second & third loops I spent a good amount of time playing leapfrog with another girl in my age group.  I'd pass her on the straights, she'd pass me on the curves.  We finally joked each time we passed each other "Tag, you're it!".  It's so nice that even competing in the same group there is enough camaraderie to have fun and laugh during the race!

Two loops down and I was getting more comfortable with the course. It was still rough (I saw at least a dozen people on the side of the road with flats) and a little wet, but I knew which turns were safe now.  Up until this point I'd purposely not looked at my average speed. I just didn't want the pressure, given the conditions.  But I finally glanced down, and saw I'd been averaging 21mph!  That was great, given the roads.  I'd figured 20 or 20.5 if I was lucky after the wobbly ride on Saturday.

Midway through the third loop I finally was able to let myself believe I was going to make it through the bike not only upright, but with a good time.  I mentally started getting ready for the second run.

After a quick wave to Suellen at the finish of the third loop, I dismounted and ran down to transition.  A pretty good 44 second transition and I was out for the final 5K run.  After running through the park a bit, we hit the road down to the river.  At this point we joined up with the more casual "sport" race that had just started.  So it was now impossible to tell if I was passing anyone in my age group, as I dodged all the new runners doing their first run.  Nothing to do but try to hold my pace and run strong.

My legs were tired.  I was around a 6:50 pace, and even though I tried to pick it up, I realized it was probably going to be the best I could do to just hold that.  Over the cobblestones, out of downtown, and into the park, I kept rolling along.  As I hit mile 2, I started singing "Loch Lomond" in my head - "You take the low road, and I'll take the high road, and I'll be in Scotland afore ya!" :)   That was my inspiration.   If I just held on strong, I was sure I'd finish in the top 10 and punch my ticket to Edinburgh.

With about a half mile to go, we had to go up the big hill to get back to the park where the race was finishing.  At that point I wished I could take the low road- this high road was killing me!  I slogged up the hill, turned into the park, and gave it everything I could the last quarter of a mile.  I ran down the finish chute and saw Suellen there cheering for me.  After I crossed the line, I was pretty wobbly, I'd definitely left everything on the course.

After a hug from Suellen, some gatorade, and a couple slices of pizza, I went to find the results.  They had a great system where they could print out a little slip of paper with all your times & placing.  The final results were:

Time: 1:51:45

Run1: 21:08 (6:48 pace), Bike: 1:08:14 (21.1 mph), Run2: 20:59 (6:45 pace) 

Age group place: 5th!

Overall women place: 11th!

I was so excited!  I'd earned my spot for Worlds, and even made my secret goal of placing in the top 5.  And 11th overall was completely unexpected.  Time for a little break then get ready for Scotland!

 

Tough Cookies Duathlon

I didn't really intend to race two weekends in a row, but after I signed up for Frost Yer Fanny and Tough Cookies, they moved the date for FYF to a week before Tough Cookies.  Oh well!

I couldn't pass up the Tough Cookies race, it's one of my favorites.  It's a women's only duathlon (not many of those around!) in Copperas Cove, about an hour north of Austin.  It's mostly a beginners race, and has a great vibe.  It's impressive to see every shape & size woman out there, on everything from tri/road bikes to mountain bikes & cruisers.

This was a cherry picked race for sure, but even though I knew it wasn't going to have heavy competition, I still wanted to race hard.  I'd looked at the past results, and the course record for the 1.5 mile run, 10 mile bike, 1.5 mile run was 51 minutes.  So I thought a good goal would be to see if I could if I could beat that, and maybe even go under 50 minutes.

My strategy was to try to do the runs at around 6:40 pace, or 10 minutes each, then bike as much over 20 mph as I could, to make up the extra time.  20 mins for the runs + <30 on the bike, and a couple transitions, and it'd be close but doable to break 50.

The weather forecast had said rain, but when I checked the night before it looked like it would hold off til noon.  It was dry and cloudy all the way up on the drive to Copperas Cove, until about 5 minutes outside of town.  Then it started drizzling, and the roads were all wet :(  Another rainy bike ride was in store for me!

They had a great turnout for the race, 150 registered and around 125 raced.  I got set up in transition, then ran the 1.5 mile out & back as a warmup. Right before we lined up at the start, I did a few strides to get my heart rate up.

I lined up right on the start line, since I thought I'd be towards the lead, fairly soon.  But you never can know who else is there, so I wasn't sure if someone else would drop a crazy fast first run.

After the national anthem, off we went!  A couple girls went out pretty strong, but as I hit my pace I pulled ahead after the first quarter mile.  It was cool to be the race leader so early!

The run went out .75 miles, then turned around and came back along the same path.  I was a little slow on the outbound part, about 6:45, but realized later it was slightly uphill.  On the way back I picked it up, and came up to transition almost exactly at 10 minutes.  I thought the closest person behind me was a minute or so back.

I had a quick transition (29 seconds) and got out to start the bike.  A little glitch as I hadn't set up my pedals like I normally do (just forgot), so it took me a second to get started.  I took it slow out of the parking lot, since the roads were quite slick.  After a couple turns we got on the main highway, and it went straight out for about 5 miles.  I was glad there weren't any more major turns!

I was somewhat pleasantly surprised to see they had a pace car head of me on the bike, to keep the road clear.  I'd never done that in a race before!  I guess in most du's or tri's the pace car is up with the lead men.

The bike course was hillier than I remembered.  And we had a headwind the whole way out.  I thought if I could average 20mph going out, with the tailwind on the way back I'd be able to make up some time.

I warmed up well, although was slower up the hills than I hoped.  And the wind was gusty, really blowing me around the road.  I'm glad I didn't race with my rear disc wheel, I might have been blown into the ditch.

The other hazard I didn't expect was the pace car.  A couple times on the out section he slowed down suddenly, to either say something to volunteers he passed or who knows what.  Unfortunately, both times were coming down a hill.  I'm going 30mph with hardly any brakes (since they were wet), and was scared to death the first time I saw his brake lights and came up within 20-30 feet of him.  Luckily he noticed and sped up again, or I'd have had to try to swerve around.

It seemed like farther than 5 miles, but I finally hit the turnaround.  Another near run in with the pace car as I started back (I don't think he expected me to pick up so much speed with the tailwind).

Coming back was wonderful.  I averaged around 24mph, giving me a total average of 22 as I came up to the couple turns back into the parking lot.  Again I slowed way down, and took it easy.  After surviving the wet course, pace car, and gusty winds, I was glad to get off the bike. 

I figured I'd increased my lead by at least 3-4 minutes, and thought I had a good shot the 50 minute goal with a strong second run.

Concentrating on fast turnover, I was doing a pretty steady 6:45 the first half mile.  At the turnaround I started watching for the other runners, to see how far back they were.  By the end of the first mile, there was still no one.  The next quarter mile went by, and I was approaching the home stretch.  I still didn't see a runner coming out.

Finally I rounded some trees so I could see the finish.  A couple hundred yards from the finish, the path split, one way going to the finish, the other towards transition.  At that point I saw someone running out of transition.  Wow, I didn't realize I'd put that much time on the lead during the bike!

I came up to the finish, and could just make out the clock in the distance, 48:40!  I eased off a little and ran it in, finishing in 49:13.  I'd run nearly identical splits, 10:00 for the first & second runs.

They had bagels and Ghirradeli chocolate at the finish- my kind of post race food!  I cheered for the other finishers for a while, then checked the results when they posted them.  I'd won by 10 minutes!  I knew this was a cherry picked race, but still that was pretty cool.  And a new course record!

Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon

This morning was the USA Triathlon South Midwest regional championship duathlon race, Frost Yer Fanny, in Houston.  It's a big points race for the rankings, and generally attracts some pretty good competition.

Luckily it fit into my training schedule well, so I gave myself a bit of an easy week leading up to it.  It was a little hectic with a lot of family in town over this weekend (including granddaughter Maeve!), but I was able to sneak down to Houston on Saturday night and get back home Sunday afternoon.

The race was a 3 mile run, 15 mile bike, 3 mile run, all within a nice park in Katy.  The only downside to the location & course was the bike course had lots of turns (it was a 3 loop course), so it was hard to get into a groove on the bike. 

The weather cooperated pretty well, early in the week the forecast was for rain, but when race morning arrived it was sunny and clear, although cold (39 around 7am).  At least the sun helped warm things up as we raced.

I did my normal setup, ran into a couple people from Austin, and tried to keep warm for the start.  Did a short warmup run, then back to the starting line.  They started us in 4 waves- 39 & under men, 39 & under women, masters men, and finally masters women (save the best for last!).  The waves were started every 2 minutes, so at least we weren't waiting around forever.

I had a pretty standard du race plan (for me anyway!)- go a little conservative on the first run, push the bike but not hammer, then let loose on the second run.

At the start, about 4 women took off like a shot.  This seems to happen at every du.  I can never tell if they are just really fast runners, and 6 minute miles are a good pace for them, or if they are going out too fast and will blow up.   It takes a lot of discipline, but I just concentrate on my pace, and let them go.

I wanted to do around a 6:55-7:00 min/mile pace for the first run, and while I was hitting right around 7, I felt kind of jumpy and not in sync.  I don't know what it is about the first run of a du, but it's really hard for me to get in a zone.  Maybe I was keeping too close an eye on those 4 rabbits that took off early.

As we hit the turnaround I passed one of the women, and was making up ground on two of the others.  The third mile finally seemed to move along fairly smoothly, and I caught up to within a couple seconds to the two middle girls (the leader wasn't in sight).  I had been pretty much on pace, a 6:56 average.

I ran into transition and got my bike helmet on, always an adventure buckling it with two pairs of gloves (my hands get cold!).  After a couple tries, I got it on and ran my bike out to the road.  I'd driven the course the night before, and it was nearly pancake flat.  But there were a couple stretches of potholes/cracks, and some bumps to watch out for.  

On the first loop I wanted to ride a little easier, and not completely hammer.  It worked out well, because there were a few spots on the course that were tricky, that I hadn't noticed in the car.  And I also could tell where you could push harder and where to ease off.  

The course was getting pretty congested, with people of all speeds doing one of their 3 loops.  Mostly this was only a problem on turns, when you just couldn't be sure who was going to speed up/slow down, or turn sharp or wide.

The second loop I picked up my speed, and got in a fairly good rhythm.  I was only passed once, by a guy, and was passing quite a few others.  At this point I had no idea where the 3 other masters women who had finished the run ahead of me were.  I thought I'd beat one through transition, and maybe passed another on the first loop.

The third loop came up quickly, and I had my only scare on the bike, with about a mile to go.  The bike course split a road with the run course for about a quarter mile, so we had a pretty narrow lane.  There was a slower guy riding pretty far left, and I had to go around a cone to pass him.  As I accelerated around him, I hit a bump, and my front wheel jumped about a foot to the side.  Somehow I stayed in control and came down safely.  It definitely made me take it a little more conservative to the finish of the bike though!  No point in crashing this close to the end.

I averaged 22.1 mph on the bike, which was not bad.  I might have liked to push a little harder, but there were just too many turns that ate up my speed. 

I rolled into transition, racked my bike, and decided I no longer needed my two pairs of gloves or arm warmers for the second run.  Stripped that all off, changed shoes, and picked up a quick run pace heading out.  

For the second run I didn't look at my watch at all, just concentrated on fast turnover and strong strides.  I couldn't see any women ahead of me, which meant I probably had passed the other masters women on the bike.  I was feeling great, and running smooth.

About a half mile into the run I looked down and noticed I'd only taken both gloves off one hand.  I still had my thin inner glove on the other hand!  I wondered what the spectators were thinking, if I was crazy or maybe it was a tribute to Michael Jackson to just run with one glove :)  Ooops.  I decided to just go with it, although eventually I took off the other glove and just carried it the rest of the way.

As I approached the 1.5 mile turnaround, I saw the lead woman coming back.  She had a 4 minute headstart on me (starting 2 waves earlier), but I guessed she was more than 4 minutes faster, so I probably didn't have a shot at catching her time.  But you never know, so I kept pushing hard.

Around the turn I only counted one other woman, so I knew I was in 3rd place overall, and the first masters.  The next masters runners I recognized as I was coming back looked to be a couple minutes behind, so I hoped they couldn't catch me.

Coming up the last mile I ran as strong as I could, trying to make up as much time as I could on the leaders.  I hit the finish line in 1:23:14, and averaged 6:44 for the second run!  I'm glad I didn't chase the rabbits too much the first run, it felt good to finish strong.

When official results were posted, I was the overall female masters winner, and 2nd overall woman (I'd caught the second place girl in time, just about 20 seconds faster, but never saw her because of her earlier wave start).  What a way to really kick off du season!

Here's a pic from after the awards ceremony:

 

3m Half Marathon

This morning was one of my favorite (maybe my MOST favorite) races in Austin.  The 3M Half Marathon.  It's a screaming fast course that starts up in northwest Austin, then ends downtown by the UT campus.  Net elevation drop of about 300 feet over the 13 miles, so you can really run fast.

I was racing, but just fit it in to my normal training week since it wasn't a big goal race.  More of a barometer to see how training was going.  I was a little nervous after doing 100 miles biking the week leading up to the race, on top of 26 miles running.  But that's duathlon training!

My last PR for the half marathon was at 3M two years ago, a 1:32.  I felt pretty good about doing better than that, but my big super-goal was to break an hour and a half.  I had some good confidence after the Runtex 10 miler a couple weeks ago, but doing a 6:52 pace for 13.1 miles still seemed pretty daunting.  Even with the downhills.

The weather was weird- lots of wind, sort-of cold (50 or so at the start), but it felt much colder with the wind chill.  After doing a mile warmup then finding a spot in the starting corral, I waited.  And waited.  The race was supposed to start at 6:45.  The announcer said there was a delay.  7:00 rolled around, then 7:15.  Finally they said that the wind had knocked the barricades down that were supposed to block side streets on the course, and the police wouldn't let us start.  Almost an hour later, they finally got everything set back up.  But standing in the cold wind for that long really killed my warmup.

Once we did take off, the first mile was horrible.  My legs felt dead, cold, and tight.  It felt way too hard, and I was barely running a 7:30 pace.  I'd hoped to go out an easy 7:10, then settle into a 6:55 for the first 4-5 miles.  

I decided I just had to push a little harder at the beginning, and finally got moving for a 7:18 by the end of the first mile, then 6:56 and 6:52 for miles 2 and 3.

The crowd thinned out after the first couple miles, and I started to see people I knew, cheering for the runners.  It's such a great boost to hear your name called out :)

Coach Panther ran by me in the first couple miles, and told me "wait til after mile 4, then drop the hammer".  Mile 4 was after we turned onto Spicewood Springs, and where we hit the first really nice long downhill.  

I picked it up a little early, running mile 4 in 6:43.  And then tried to stay quick & smooth down Spicewood, doing a 6:35.  Saw Matt & Amy cheering down that section, and heard the bagpiper who is always right around this part of the race.  That always makes me smile!

I didn't want to blow up early in the race, so I tried to stay controlled for the next couple miles.  Mile 6 & 7 were both about 6:55, and I was finally feeling warmed up.

We turned onto Burnet Rd, and the wind surprisingly was in our face. I thought we'd mostly be running with it at our backs or sides.  Along this stretch I ran right alongside a girl that looked like she ran cross country for a high school (she had a T-shirt on with something about regionals).  We fell into nearly the same rhythm and pulled each other along for a couple miles.  Then she picked it up a little and went ahead.  But it was really helpful to pace alongside someone, it pulled me to a 6:51 and 6:45 for miles 8 & 9.

As we turned off Burnet, we had a couple short climbs, then I knew we'd have 3 miles of mostly flat or downhill to the finish.  I decided to run the next mile as strong as I could, then just let it all go for the last 3.

Towards the end of mile 10 I caught up with a pace group that was aiming for a 1:30 finish. I'd seen them at the start, but lost them pretty quickly.  Since I'd started behind them, and now was caught up, that meant I was definitely in reach of my super-goal!  I chatted with them for a few seconds, then kept pushing.  Mile 10 went by at 6:47.

Now we were in the home stretch.  I ignored my watch, and ran as smooth and fast as I reasonably could.  We went down into the UT campus, and past the football stadium, and then by Waterloo park to the finish.  I was passing quite a few people, and still feeling good.  As we went by the stadium, the wind shifted and it blew right into our faces for about a quarter mile.  It was like running into a wall!   But I knew I was less than a mile away, so I pushed through it.

Coming down the last quarter mile I could see the finish, and I kicked it up to whatever gear I had left.  I chased down several more runners, and as I looked up at the big timing clock at the finish, I saw it was at 1:29!  I sprinted across the line, looked at my watch, and saw my time was 1:28:48 (it took me about 20 seconds to get to the start line from where I'd lined up), an average pace of 6:46 per mile.  I couldn't believe it, I'd smashed the 1:30 goal.   My last three miles were at 6:32, 6:28, and 6:30!

I wandered around in a daze for a while, ate a cookie (Tiff's Treats had hot snickerdoodle & chocolate chip cookies for the runners!) and drank some water.  Then I found the results posting, and it said I'd finished 3rd in my age group!  I didn't expect to place, because this race draws so many fast runners from around the country.

I waited around for the awards ceremony (they were going to announce winners of the top 10 overall and top 5 masters, then let us age group awards people pick up our awards).  I was totally shocked when they started announcing Female Overall Masters to find out I'd actually placed 4th overall masters!  I guess the preliminary results that were posted didn't have the top 10/5 pulled out.  So I even got to get up with the other Masters women on stage and get my award :)  

The only downside to the race was that I discovered it's not a good idea to run a hard 13 miles, then eat two cookies and a pepperoni roll (Austin's Pizza also was giving out food to the runners). That didn't sit so well :)  But it was worth it. 

Here's a picture of the award:

 

Runtex 10 miler

As a relatively last minute decision (OK, earlier this week, but that's last minute for me!) I decided to run the Runtex 10 miler in Georgetown.  Suellen leaves for Rhode Island tomorrow, so it'd be our last chance to run the same race while she was down here.

I treated this as a training run, but did want to run it fairly hard.  So I did my normal schedule of running and biking earlier in the week.

The crazy cold spell that hit Austin on Thursday was still here, it was 19 degrees at the start in Georgetown at 8am.  But luckily no wind, and plenty of sun.  My face was frozen after a mile warmup before the race, but I'd dressed pretty well otherwise.  A couple layers on top and tights, and two layers of gloves.

I wanted to run the race at around my goal pace for the 3M half marathon (which is in 2 weeks).  That would put me at 7 minute miles.  Coming up to this race I was a little nervous, that just seemed like a pretty fast pace.  But since I was doing it half for fun, I figured if I blew up before the end it would at least tell me something.

Several of the Riff Raff running group were there, and we hung out inside the high school to stay warm before the start.  As cold as it was, and this being Texas, none of the runners wanted to go out to the start line until the last minute.  When I did my warmup there was no one at all at the start even 10 minutes before race time :)

But eventually we all got out there.  This race had a 20 mile version, which most people were doing, and then 10 miler for those of us not training for a marathon. I lined up about 5 rows from the front, got my iPod going, and went over my mental race plan:

I was going to take the first mile a little slow, at 7:10-7:15, then settle in to my 7:00 pace.  As we started off it was a bit crowded, but thinned out quickly.   The pace didn't seem too bad, and it was a little warmer with people around.  

We wound our way out of the high school parking lot, and on to the rural roads east of Georgetown.  The course was rolling hills, which I liked.  The ups weren't too steep, and there was always a down before or after to gain some time on.  The first mile went by at 7:11, and I started to pick it up.

During the first couple miles I saw a couple women running a little ahead of me, around the 7 minute pace, but it looked like they were hardly working!  The pace was comfortable for me, but not that easy :)  I tried to just run my own race and not worry about them.

Surprisingly the miles just clicked by, and I was a bit under my goal paces, with a 6:53, 6:53, 6:58 and 6:58 for miles 2-5.  I always had some mental barrier about running sub 7's, but seem to have beaten it over the last month.  The pace felt controlled and not too crazy.

At the turnaround I counted the other women who were ahead of me, and saw I was in 4th place.  The two girls I'd seen before were a quarter mile ahead.  I decided to just try to keep up with them, and possibly catch up.

As we headed back I was picking up the pace a little, and it was going smoothly.  A 6:49 and 6:46 for miles 6 & 7, then a 7:01 when we went back up the biggest hill of the course.

By now I knew I was really having a good race and could probably do a sub-7 average. The two girls I'd been chasing separated a bit, and I concentrated on the one who had fallen back a little.  Every mile I was getting a little closer, but the finish was coming up fast.  After a 6:50 for mile 9, I decided to try to pick it up and close on her.  

We turned into the school with less than half a mile to go, and I was bout 50 yards back.  I got within 15-20 yards, but just didn't quite have the strength left to pass.  As we came up on the finish I was about 4-5 seconds behind the other girl, but didn't really feel like trying to sprint ahead of her.  I'd run the 10th mile in 6:41, and finished as the 4th overall woman in a time of 1:09:09.  My average pace was 6:55.  I didn't think I could run that strong for 10 miles!  

That time was also my best ever for 10 miles, by over 2 minutes.  I definitely run better in the cold weather!

After I finished I jogged back a mile or two and found Suellen, who was doing well in her race too.  We ran together to the finish and went for a celebratory milkshake afterwards :)

Hel of a Du

I'm starting my duathlon training for the spring, and decided to kick things off doing a small local duathlon, the Hel of a Du.  I'd done this race its very first year back in 2006.  On Friday, Suellen flew back to Austin for the Christmas holiday, so she was here to drive with me down to Helotes, TX (just outside of San Antonio), to cheer me on.

When I did this race three years ago, it was COOOLD.  35-38 degrees if I remember correctly.  This year it was a bit warmer (45) but a foggy morning with near constant mist & drizzle.  We kept hoping the weather would clear as we drove down from Austin, but after going through several patches of dense fog and bits of rain, I resigned myself to the fact that it was going to be wet and chilly.

When we got to Helotes, we could tell it would be a pretty small race, about 70 people.  The weather probably caused a few of the smarter folks to stay home :)  But I love small races like this, it just feels so much less stressful and more casual.  I was a bit nervous about the slick roads- the last two times I'd biked in the rain, I'd taken a spill.  So I planned to go extra careful around the turns on the bike.

The course was challenging, a 3.5 mile run through neighborhoods with some hills, a 26-27 mile bike with about 7 miles of constant climbing up 700 feet.  Then repeat the first 3.5 mile run.

After milling around the start for a few minutes, we got the "ready set go" and everyone took off.  As usual, lots of folks went out like a shot.  I'll never understand why you'd run til you are out of breath in the first mile, when you've got a couple more hours of running & biking ahead of you!  I tried to settle into a comfortable pace, with my goal being 7:05 to 7:15 pace for the first run.

I was pretty bundled up (arm warmers, two pairs of gloves, ear warmers), so I actually got a little warm on the first run, but I knew I'd be glad to have the protection on the bike.  After the crowd thinned out I found myself running along with a group of about 4-5 guys.  The farther we went, and then up into the hills, the more we got strung out.  I at least could always see a couple people ahead or behind, but it was definitely a quiet race scene!

I finished the run in about 25 and 1/2 minutes, a 7:18 pace.  I might have backed off a little too much, but wanted to have a strong bike & second run.  Coming into transition I saw Suellen cheering, and found out I was the first non-relay woman to come in!  I had a bit of trouble getting my helmet buckled with the gloves on, but eventually got everything set and ran out with my bike.

The roads were bumpy and slick, and I was really jumpy about riding in the rain.  The first turn was about a half mile down the road, and I slowed down almost to a stop, since you had to dodge both a puddle and a giant pothole.  I just hope no one was behind me cursing at how slow I took the turn.  There's nothing like the memory of your bike going one way and you going the other (downwards towards the pavement) to make you a little hesitant to take chances.

Luckily after the first turn we had a long straight stretch. I finally got comfortable in my aerobars and started to get up to speed.  I passed a couple guys, including a 10 year old kid.  I'd get to know him pretty well over the next 6 miles...

We came up to the next turn, and as I slowed down to carefully go around another big puddle, I looked behind and noticed the 10 year was right behind me.  Hmm, I thought, I wonder if he's been drafting off me since I passed him?  Sure enough, I kept an eye out for the next several miles, and he was glued to my rear wheel.  Geeez.  Either he didn't know that was against the rules or didn't care.  It didn't really impact my race, but I could just see him not noticing me dodge a pothole or changing my water bottles, and then plowing into my back wheel.  I figured even with his advantage of drafting off me, I'd drop him going up the hills.

Sure enough, when we got to the seven miles of climbing, I looked back after the first hill and saw no sign of my little buddy.  At least from then on I didn't have to worry about someone taking me out from behind.  

The climbs went on forever!  I'd averaged about 21 mph for the first third of the course, before the climbs, but things were definitely grinding down as I went up and up.  I concentrated on pedaling smooth and knew I'd get a chance to make up some time after the top.

Finally I hit the summit, and had a nice downhill for a half mile. Unfortunately the roads were still so slick I was pretty conservative going down.  Plus, at the bottom we had a sharp right turn onto the highway that took us the last 7 miles back into Helotes.  And I remembered we had one last big hill right after the turn.

That list big climb killed me, even though I knew it was coming.  I was down to 7 mph by the top, and struggling.  But after that we had some rolling, mostly downhill, fast roads to the finish.  I shifted into my higher gear and started flying.  I averaged around 25-30 mph for the next several miles.  Now that was fun!  The only downside to this final stretch was I noticed my right eye was getting blurry from the wind.  As I feared, I'd lost my contact.  So now I could only see clearly out of my left eye.  

Coming into transition, I glanced at my bike computer (with my good eye!) and saw I'd finished the bike with a little over a 20mph average.  With all those hills that was quite good.  And one of the volunteers yelled that I was the first woman to come in off the bike!

As I racked my bike I proceeded to get rid of a few layers - off came one pair of gloves, the arm warmers and ear warmers.  I took off my bike shoes, put on one running shoe, then got all confused and started to put my bike shoe on the other foot.  Ooops!  That wouldn't work so well :)  Finally I got things straight and grabbed my running cap before jogging out for the final run.

It was still cool out, but I was so relieved to have made it through the bike in one piece I was quite enjoying the run.  Without all the extra layers I felt better pushing the pace, and passed a guy I'd been going back and forth with on the bike down the last few hills.  After a few encouraging words I went on ahead.  I couldn't see anyone ahead of me, and it turned out I never saw another runner the entire rest of the race!  It was a odd and lonely run, but it did help me just kind of zone out.  I felt very strong, and was clipping along at a 7:05 pace for the first couple miles.  The steepest hill broke me down a bit, and I really lost some steam, but recovered well on the back side.  Then I was just cruising along, surprised I felt so good after a lot of climbing on the bike. 

Finally I came on to the last street, with the finish about a quarter a mile away. I'd peeked behind as I rounded the corner, and saw no one in sight.  I kept up a strong pace, and before I knew it I was at the finish.  My second run was even faster than my first, just a second over 25 minutes, or a 7:08 pace!  And my total time was about 2 hours and 10 minutes, 12 minutes faster than when I'd done this race three years ago.

I finished as the first overall woman, winning a $100 gift certificate for some new running shoes.   What I didn't realize until one of the race people stopped by to chat was that they also had prizes for the fastest overall woman's bike split and fastest woman's second run time.  It turned out I won both of those, getting two other gift certificates to spend at the local triathlon shop - that was quite a holiday bonus!

Newport Pie Run

If it's Thanksgiving, it must be time to do a race before stuffing ourselves with turkey!  Normally I'm in Austin and do the Turkey Trot, but this year I was visiting Suellen in Rhode Island.

Luckily, there was a race across the bay in Newport, the Newport Pie Run.  A 5 miler along the beach and over a hill in a big loop.  It's called the Pie Run because the age group winners used to get pies as awards.  Now they actually give everyone a little mini pie with their registration.  I got a cherry one, and suellen banana creme.  They made quite tasty post-race snacks :)

 

The weather up here in RI had been rainy most of the week, but today things held off.  It was overcast and about 48.  Very good weather for a run!  It was  pretty humid, but with the weather so cool that didn't really bother me.

There were about 1200 runners doing the race, and it started on a nice wide road by the YMCA.  So it wasn't too crowded.  I lined up about 10 yards from the front, as I didn't need to get caught up in a bunch of guys (and a few girls) running 5-6 minute miles!

This was mostly just for fun, but I still had a goal. I wanted to run a sub-35 minute race, to go under a 7 minute mile average.  I thought if I went out conservatively and was patient I'd be able to hold on for 5 miles.

As was usual with a New England race, there was no fanfare at the start, just a sudden air horn and off we went!  I went out around 7:15 pace, then as things thinned out I got down to 7.  Not too many people out along the route cheering, but the few that were out were enthusiastic.  

The first couple miles flew by, and I was right on pace. 7:02 for the first, 6:58 for the second.  About mid-way through the third mile we crested a hill and I saw we were going to run down the much steeper back side to the beach.  This was an out and back course, so I knew we'd be coming back up the hill in a little while.  I also overhead someone running behind me say "this is the big hill we come up".  So at least I had some idea what to expect.

It was nice flying down the hill, then hitting the turnaround.  The cool weather was great to run in.  The first three miles took me exactly 21:00, so I was right on pace.

Then it was up the hill!  It wasn't super steep, but did go for a while.  I just tried to run smooth and steady.  When I hit the top I could see the road slope away in a glorious half mile of downhill!  I started to pick up the pace.  The mile 4 marker went by (actually a volunteer calling out the race time), and I'd only dropped about 15 seconds up the hill.

I started really cruising down the hill, and this is the point where I zoned out a bit.  For some reason I thought I had 2 miles to go, instead of only 1!  About a half mile from the finish I realized my mistake.  Ooops!  I really started trying to pick it up then, knowing I didn't have much race left.

That last mile was great, I felt really good and was passing lots of folks.  The timing was by tear tag, so I could see the chutes lined up at the finish.  As I sprinted in, they waved me to a chute and I crossed the finish.  34:46!  I beat my 35 minute goal.   That last mile with the downhill was great, I ran about a 6:30 down it.

After catching my breath I jogged back and ran with Suellen to her finish.  Then we feasted on our mini pies on the drive home :)  In the final results I was 3rd or 4th in my age group (depending on whether you counted the #2 overall woman who was in my age group) and 20th woman overall.  The girls are fast up here in New England!