Yup! That's me. I obviously have some explaining to do though. Last year I ran the Jingle Bell run just a few weeks after I started back up again after being so sick (later found out it was POTS). I ran there saying I had to keep my heart rate at or below 85% max (170 for me). That produced a stellar run at 12:50 min/mile, with an overall time of 1:03:16. It was so hard for me to go that slow, but I knew it was the only way I could ensure (or at least hope) I was not going to do any more damage, and was the best way I knew to slooooowly come back.
Well, I think my approach worked. This year I ran 21 minutes faster and finished in 42:06. That equates to an 8:25 pace (I actually think it was faster than that - everyone's garmins measured the course long, at 5.1 miles, giving me an 8:17 pace. Doesn't matter for results as everyone ran the same course, just a good bit of info to file away in my brain to use for comparison, etc going forward). The weather this year was also much better. It was probably mid 50's and overcast. Last year it was sticky and humid in the 70s.
My legs still haven't been fully cooperative since IMFL, so I was actually pretty pleased with my race yesterday. Had it been close to two years ago, I might have hoped for more, but I really haven't had much speed at all over the last 12-18 months, so I will take whatever I can get right now. We ran 8:35 pace at the Turkey Trot a few weeks ago and that almost killed me, so I'm happy to see I ran faster for a race 2 miles longer and my legs did not rebel. My lungs, on the other hand, did. I have been sick for almost 3 weeks now. I'm not sure if it was me being sick, or my asthma that I rarely remember I have, or just me pretending to run fast that did it, but at about 3.5 miles in yesterday, everything related to my breathing started to seize up and I started having a very hard time getting any sort of breath at all. My head and chest have been pretty congested and I felt like I just needed to cough to clear everything out, but I was having a hard time. I made it to the finish obviously without dying, but my heart rate was still over 160 a few minutes after when Jon found me. He was trying to talk to me and took a while to realize I wasn't really responding with words but just coughs. So that was a little fun event, but I am not super worried about it because I have been sick and also because that is faster than I have tried to run in a long long long time, so it simply could have been a complete shock to my system.
Jon did not do too bad himself - he finished 6th out of 143 in the M30-39 division with a 33:47. That is a 2 minute PR from last year for him.
2008 v. 2009 Comparison:
Time
2008 - 1:03:16
2009 - 42:06
Pace
2008 - 12:50
2009 - 8:25
Average Heart Rate
2008 - 157
2009 - 180 (ahh...there's that nice reminder of what it is like to feel pain and feel like your eyeballs are going to fall out - for comparison though, my average HR for the Houston Half this past January was 184, for a pace that was 2 minutes/mile slower)
Placement in F20-29 age group
2008 - 165/188 (88th percentile)
2009 - 26/226 (12th percentile)
Overall Female Placement
2008 - 519/607 (86th percentile)
2009 - 74/740 (10th percentile)
So all the number crunching might not be the least bit interesting or impressive to anyone else out there, but it is a good reminder to me of how bad things were a year ago; yet being patient and listening to my body was the right thing to do. It is still the right thing to do, and even though my legs finally felt close to normal yesterday, I still know running the full in Houston is not in the cards. I am not sure if there will ever be a time again like the end of '07/beginning of '08 when I was running well and hitting PR after PR at every running distance out there, but my triathlon performance has skyrocketed (for me...) since then and I think I care more about that anyway. I know my body prefers to be doing all three at once as opposed to just running. Too bad running is the easiest and least time consuming of them all!
Well, I think my approach worked. This year I ran 21 minutes faster and finished in 42:06. That equates to an 8:25 pace (I actually think it was faster than that - everyone's garmins measured the course long, at 5.1 miles, giving me an 8:17 pace. Doesn't matter for results as everyone ran the same course, just a good bit of info to file away in my brain to use for comparison, etc going forward). The weather this year was also much better. It was probably mid 50's and overcast. Last year it was sticky and humid in the 70s.
My legs still haven't been fully cooperative since IMFL, so I was actually pretty pleased with my race yesterday. Had it been close to two years ago, I might have hoped for more, but I really haven't had much speed at all over the last 12-18 months, so I will take whatever I can get right now. We ran 8:35 pace at the Turkey Trot a few weeks ago and that almost killed me, so I'm happy to see I ran faster for a race 2 miles longer and my legs did not rebel. My lungs, on the other hand, did. I have been sick for almost 3 weeks now. I'm not sure if it was me being sick, or my asthma that I rarely remember I have, or just me pretending to run fast that did it, but at about 3.5 miles in yesterday, everything related to my breathing started to seize up and I started having a very hard time getting any sort of breath at all. My head and chest have been pretty congested and I felt like I just needed to cough to clear everything out, but I was having a hard time. I made it to the finish obviously without dying, but my heart rate was still over 160 a few minutes after when Jon found me. He was trying to talk to me and took a while to realize I wasn't really responding with words but just coughs. So that was a little fun event, but I am not super worried about it because I have been sick and also because that is faster than I have tried to run in a long long long time, so it simply could have been a complete shock to my system.
Jon did not do too bad himself - he finished 6th out of 143 in the M30-39 division with a 33:47. That is a 2 minute PR from last year for him.
2008 v. 2009 Comparison:
Time
2008 - 1:03:16
2009 - 42:06
Pace
2008 - 12:50
2009 - 8:25
Average Heart Rate
2008 - 157
2009 - 180 (ahh...there's that nice reminder of what it is like to feel pain and feel like your eyeballs are going to fall out - for comparison though, my average HR for the Houston Half this past January was 184, for a pace that was 2 minutes/mile slower)
Placement in F20-29 age group
2008 - 165/188 (88th percentile)
2009 - 26/226 (12th percentile)
Overall Female Placement
2008 - 519/607 (86th percentile)
2009 - 74/740 (10th percentile)
So all the number crunching might not be the least bit interesting or impressive to anyone else out there, but it is a good reminder to me of how bad things were a year ago; yet being patient and listening to my body was the right thing to do. It is still the right thing to do, and even though my legs finally felt close to normal yesterday, I still know running the full in Houston is not in the cards. I am not sure if there will ever be a time again like the end of '07/beginning of '08 when I was running well and hitting PR after PR at every running distance out there, but my triathlon performance has skyrocketed (for me...) since then and I think I care more about that anyway. I know my body prefers to be doing all three at once as opposed to just running. Too bad running is the easiest and least time consuming of them all!
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