Well, my race was not that bad, all things considering. But of course it was not what I wanted. I have to keep reminding myself to take a step back and look at what my last two months have looked like (sick and very little training), and what the last year looked like (awesome long-distance triathlon season - could not have asked for better quarter/olympic, half and full ironman races). I know I cannot have it all, and that I have to rest sometimes, whether I planned for it or not, but it is also hard to see some people transition from triathlons to running or vice versa seemingly effortlessly. Several who raced IMFL went on to pop out PR's in the half and full yesterday. I hobbled and gasped my way to a less than stellar race and am pretty bummed out about it. But I have to realize the last good run of any kind I have had was over a month ago, at the Jingle Bell run, and even there I had the beginnings of an asthma attack halfway through.
I had run 11 miles total in the two weeks before yesterday. Each of those 11 miles were plagued with high heart rate and breathing issues. Yet somehow I expected race day to be magical and for my legs, lungs, and heart to magically perform with no real preparation. I am frustrated that I seem to be where I was exactly a year ago - far from 100%.
Oh well. It certainly is not the end of the world, but I do miss being able to run well. However, I would not trade the year I had last year for being able to run well right now so I guess I just have to accept it as it is. I also have to figure out how to get better once and for all. Running around half steam ahead for nearly a month and a half now just has not been any fun. I tried taking time off and laying low last week but that did not really help much. I know regardless I'm back to heart rate training for a while - as in nothing strenuous (over 85% max) until the Austin half at the soonest (four weeks). I think my heart rate had been slowly creeping up over the last month or two but I did not really notice. I was having some pretty good runs before I got sick, but the most recent ones were awful. I had planned to jump into a speedwork program as soon as I was recovered from this race, but I realized yesterday I have far more to recover from and need to get a better base under my feet before I try to speed anything up.
I won't bore everyone with a full blown race report, but here are a few "highlights":
- I started in the front corral for the half, maybe a few hundred feet back. I thought if anything I may have been too far front. WRONG. Wow. People were walking within a few minutes of starting. It was unbelievably crowded for the first 2-3 miles. I ran a 9:30 pace until almost mile 3, not because that was what I wanted, but because that was what the thousands of other people right in front of me were doing (turns out I didn't average any faster than that, but was down to about a 9:10-9:15 average pace through mile 8 or 9 and then it all went to hell).
- My resting heart rate was 94 when I was lying down inside at the Houston Center Club before the race. It was in the 120s when I was standing at the start line. Both should have been a good 30bpm lower than that.
- I saw some high school friends cheering on some other high school friends out on the course. I'm glad to see more of my peers are finally "mature enough" to dedicate a little of their time to this stuff - it is good for them - and I'm not the only crazy one anymore!
- Kelly kicked butt. Surprise? 3:38:03. Yes, Boston with almost 3 minutes to spare. This was her 3rd marathon, her first being Houston last year with a 4:06, and second being San Diego in June with a 4:00. She's a freak and we think she's missing any and all pain indicators in her brain, but I also know she worked hard for this and certainly deserves it.
- I rode 8 miles on my mountain bike to look for/cheer on/support Kelly after I finished my race and I never saw her. Not once. I felt like the Keystone cops with my parents on the phone trying to find her. I also almost died several times trying to ride muddy trails covered with people, small children running in circles, loose dogs, and me on my phone. Kelly pulled her typical "well, I felt good at mile 22 so I just ran hard for the last 4 miles, they were all 7-something pace." That might have messed up my estimates a little bit. I still cannot figure out how I missed her but I about killed myself trying to find her. I stopped just inside downtown around mile 25 and looked and looked and looked as I watched the time on my phone click away. At 10:39 I started to get sad and think she had not met her goal. Then I get a nice text message alert saying she had finished one minute ago at 3:38. Whohoo!!! I completely missed her again! At least then I breathed a sigh of relief thinking obviously she did just fine without me!
- Not to my surprise, Jon kicked butt. He PR'd with a 1:33:51, which put him in the 3rd percentile of the half finishers. Gees that is up there! We got to see each other as I was nearing mile 8 and he was nearing mile 10 which was nice too. I saw he was running with someone else we knew and he said after he was really glad to have the even-paced company.
- Ummmmmm ya - the men's full marathon winner came across the line 2 seconds after I did. Granted, he had a whopping 1.5 minute head start, but ya. He ran almost twice as fast as I did, twice as far. His pace was 4:52 min/mile. It was a course record so that should make me feel better, right?
- My parents and Kelly's parents were there to watch. It is pretty cool our families have lived across the street from each other since 1982 (or 1983) and still get to do stuff like this.
- The awful shoulder blade pain I have from biking (that I always assumed was from being in aero) reared its ugly head yesterday on my mountain bike. Odd, but safe to say I am the problem, not my tri bike/fit.
- Three years ago I would have killed for a 2:05 half marathon. Two years ago I ran a 1:56 on a very tough Austin course. I feel like I'm already a "has been" when it comes to running!
So my plan for this week is to do some very light running and hopefully some time on my bike. I will try to focus on eating and sleeping well - other than that, I'm not sure what else to do other than pray I slowly get better and back to normal. Sitting in the wings while everyone else is out having the performance of their life is no fun, but I know everyone has to have their time off stage.
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