See Sarah Run

I’m flying down the straightaway into the setting sun. No, wait, rising sun! I’m so transported by this run that for an instant, I can’t remember what time of day it is. Somehow I’m maintaining an 8 minute pace over 6 repeats of 1200 around the track. This is the fourth repeat and I’ve already nailed the first three well enough to know that I’ve got the whole workout in the bag. I feel fast and strong (and not a little surprised) that I can do this. For a moment, I allow myself to envision finishing a future marathon. Running strong under the finish line arch with crowds cheering and feeling so blessed and joyful.

Track work is new for me this training cycle. As of June 1, I had run on a track about five times in my life. Now, most Tuesday mornings, I can be found at the university athletic center, running around in a circle, trying to go nowhere very quickly. At first, the track made me nervous. It feels very official and runner-ly. (It probably doesn’t help any that we generally have to jump the fence). As Teacher Runner pointed out yesterday, when you’re on the track, you’re staring down the lane in a way that feels antagonistic. The track is not a warm and fuzzy place. But, I’m getting used to it and most of my nervousness has faded. Plus, if you want to get faster, track workouts work.

Every lap around the track is the same. I start running and cross the starting line, pressing the button on my watch. Coming into the first curve, I’m always faster than I’m aiming to be, but I can’t help it. I’m still so excited and nervous. On the first straightaway, I try to settle. Check my watch, find my pace. Rounding the second curve, I keep the pressure on. Second straightaway, let it out. I’m back where I started, but I’m not the same. I’m more tired, but stronger and a little braver. I am finding courage on the track. Who is this person I am becoming? I don’t know for sure yet, but she is amazing.

I don’t much care for tempo runs and I was nervous about the one I had to do today. But I totally turned things around over the course of the run so I thought I would write about it. The planned workout was 6 miles. First half mile of every mile easy, second half mile of every mile fast, with a goal of 3:50-4:00 minutes for the fast half mile. That is a 7:40-8:00 minute pace! I had done a similar workout before, but only for five miles and I died on the last half mile.

Snarky Girl is my go-to person for these tempo runs but she has deserted me for Alaska with some lame excuse like her sister having a baby??? So, I was on my own. I started later than usual and even later than planned because I can procrastinate like nobody’s business when I’m running alone. Finally I got outside and warmed up. Then the saga begins:

Hmmmm, it’s hotter than I thought. My mouth feels dry. Is that heat or am I nervous? I go back inside to fetch my water bottle and walk to the top of the driveway. Hmmmm, it’s much sunnier than I thought. Fast Friend says it’s good to wear sunglasses when it’s sunny. I go back inside and fetch my sunglasses. I go back outside. I can not justify Gu for six miles so I am out of excuses and I have to start running. Shoot. I make the last minute decision to listen to my half marathon race play list, music normally reserved for racing only, but today, I think I’m going to need it.

First half mile is slow. La, la, la. Hip is not bugging me, yeah. Knee is a little funny, but the kind of funny that will wear off once I am warmed up. Where is this first half mile going to end? There is a hill. Will I have to go fast up the hill? Buzz goes my watch, signaling the end of the first slow half mile and the beginning of the first fast half mile. Ugh. Down the hill, up the hill, crap this is hard. I probably need a full mile warm-up and then I would also be past this hill. This is sucking. I can’t do this. It really is too hot. I’m so worried about my son, his sickness, starting school, missing the end of summer entirely, all of that crud bubbles to the surface like the crap that comes off when you boil beans or lentils. I wonder if I will just have to bail entirely on this run. Buzz: 4:07. Not target pace, but could be worse. I walk some of the recovery half mile and immediately decide that I will just walk the first part of recovery if I have to. It IS hot and real recovery is the only way I am going to hit these intervals.

Buzz. Time to go again. C’mon, you can nail it this time. Faster turnover, faster turnover, faster turnover. Plus, this is a great stretch of road, Long Lane headed back toward campus. You have a tiny downhill helping you here and it’s shady. This is the end of a lot of our runs. Amby Burfoot and Jeff Galloway and Bill Rodgers all used to run here. Pace is finally below 8:00. At least get this one damn interval. Buzz: 3:52. YES! Walk some until heart rate comes down a bit. Lots of construction near campus. What the heck are they doing?

Buzz. Time to go again. This is number three. When it’s over, you are halfway done. Past the athletic center. Turn right to dodge construction. Left again, right again, stay on it, this is not 8:00 pace, you are going to blow this interval. How are you ever going to PR at Surftown? Even if you do PR, it will be so miserable that it won’t be worth it. This is awful, aren’t I done yet? Start counting down. (I count to myself when running gets hard.) Buzz. Finally. 4:08. Crap. Walk up the hill. Try to pull your head together. How many of these do you want to hit today? Can we say at least half? Can you focus, please?

When watch says 3.45 miles, start speeding up. Keep it light. Buzz, ok go! Down Long Lane again. You love this street. Stay in the shade. Shoulders back, relax your hands, fast feet, relax your face, watch says 7:45 pace, just hold that. This is not so bad. Just stay on it. Relax your body, move your feet, start counting, you’re almost done. Buzz. 3:56. Yes! Change of route. Instead of looping athletic fields, reverse course to dodge construction. Two more intervals to go. If you nail the next one, you’ve hit half of them. Also, psssst, you focused on your form that time and it worked.

Watch at 4.45, speed up, keep it light. Buzz, go! Down Wadsworth Street. It’s sunny, but you’re fine. Faster, there’s 7:45, now hold it. Britney says if I want a Maserati, I’d better work, bitch. Screw you and your Maserati, Britney. I just want to walk. When is this going to be over? Watch says 4.88, so count, count, count, you are almost done. Buzz. 3:56. Yes! One more to go. What if I get this one too? I am running on Pine Street, a good place to fly. Titanium comes on the Ipod shuffle. A good song to fly to.

Watch at 5.45, speed up, buzz, go! Pace is at 9:00, speed it up. You are Titanium! You are bullet proof! Ok, but those dump trucks will actually kill you if they run over you so don’t lose sight of traffic. Pace at 7:45, 7:35! Hold it there! Mileage is 5.79, can I start counting? Yes, just count! Down route 17, mileage at 5.90, just run to that sign! Buzz. 3:54. YEAH! I hit four out of six intervals on pace! Even on a hot day. Just as important, I turned this run around mentally. Run home to I’m on Top of the World, hey!

I’ve just finished the first three week block of building in my training cycle for the Philadelphia Marathon. I honestly expected to feel excited, thrilled to be back at it, happy to be running more structured runs instead of just jogging about, thinking about the race, etc. And there has been some of that. But it’s also been more of a mixed bag than I had hoped. This is going to be a quick summary of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Some of the good:

I’m starting to get the feel for what this training cycle will be like. Coach Cowboy is kicking it up a notch. The newest thing is the track workouts, which right now I’m doing on Tuesday mornings. Except for the damn mile time trial, which I hated, I am totally into the track.

I’m back to the hill runs and last week’s went really well. I got back from the top of the last hill repeat in 29:13. Any time I break 30 minutes on that, I’m pretty pleased.

We’ve got a great crew coming together for Philly. So far Teacher Runner, Swifty and Snarky Girl are all on board. Ok, Snarky Girl may not have actually registered yet……We’ve also got a new member of the crew who is running the half. She still needs a super secret blog name. And a bunch of folks from sub 30 are also coming including my good friend Nicole from Running While Mommy!

Some of the bad:

My knee made a very unpleasant clicking noise at mile 9 of the 14 mile run last Saturday. It hurt for a couple of days after that too. I’m seeing the Maestro today.

Even though I really really want my hip/back issue to be completely resolved, it isn’t totally. It flared up some toward the end of last week.

The ugly:

I came back from the long run on Saturday to a very sick Aidan. He and I have been home this week instead of on a planned vacation with extended family. He’s had a pretty high fever, some vomiting, coughing and extreme exhaustion. It’s clearly the same virus Rose had a week or so ago and with her, it turned into pneumonia.

Sunday was a planned rest day and I took Monday off as well because I couldn’t leave Aidan alone. I also just didn’t feel like it. Monday morning I was ready to shelve the entire marathon. I was worried about my knee and my hip and most of all worried about my son. If someone had said, hey, the city of Philadelphia has decided on a big construction project and they canceled the marathon for 2015 but you get your money back, I would have been somewhat relieved. I’m writing this Wednesday afternoon and I’ve felt like that a few times since Monday morning.

This afternoon Aidan played on his play station with a friend on his own play station in his own house. Sometimes this digital stuff is awesome. Two days completely off was probably a great idea for both my knee and my back. Neither are perfect, but both are better. I missed some kind of crazy track/cross-country combo workout that my running gang cooked up yesterday and I actually felt sad about missing it. The Maestro said I have medial meniscus irritation and it’s not a big deal, so I’m feeling better about that.

Coach Cowboy said not to stress, that this is what cutback week is all about. So, I’m backing off, way way off, for a few days and hoping to come out of this week mentally and physically in a better place. My friend Chris has a saying, Family First, Triathlon Second and this has definitely been a week of Family First, Marathon Second. Sometimes that’s how it is.

Not Your Typical 5K is the name of the race that happens every July in Middletown. Not typical, because who plans a course like this? Why run from Main Street, up the hill, back down again, back up again, around campus and down again? Why run in the evening in July in Connecticut, where temperatures are almost guaranteed to be over 80 and and humidity is likely to be through the roof as well? Well, why not. The race is a big event and all the local runners compete.

I’ve run this race four times and it always gets under my skin. There’s something about running down Main Street with a bunch of running friends and hoofing it up that hill. It’s a race that encourages you to go out too fast and pay for it later, with half the town watching. I actually think I might get more stressed about it each year and this year was no different.

The day before the race I did a mile time trial on the track. I’ve been running pretty well since coming back from my injury and I had high hopes for this time trial. My best timed mile is 7:19 from the East Hartford Memorial Mile and I thought I might even come close to beating that. I figured I could hold 7:30 for a mile or at least 7:40. Nope. 7:52. Ouch. A great time, but well below expectations. My legs felt weak and just wouldn’t move. Not a great pre-race workout.

Then Wednesday morning, my daughter Rose complained her stomach didn’t feel good. She didn’t want to go to camp. It seemed like general 7 year old shenanigans, but then I took her temperature and she had a little fever. She was bitten by a tick a month ago and because of Lyme disease, we are on the lookout for minor fevers. I kept her home from camp and made a doctor’s appointment for an evaluation about possible Lyme disease, which could involve a blood test. A blood test is not going to be fun for any 7 year old, but I know Rose. It would be hell.

By the time I walked into Innovative to work out with Tough Guy Trainer, I was a mess. He took one look at me and asked what was wrong. I let him know and we went ahead and did the workout, which of course did help me feel somewhat better. At that point I didn’t even want to do the damn race. I wondered if it would be my first Did Not Start and thought, well, whatever. Who cares. Not a great attitude for a 5K, a race that involves inflicting a whole lot of pain on yourself if you’re going to do it right. Boy, was I not not not in the mood.

Gratuitous picture of me at the gym, taken by Tough Guy in a sneaky moment!

But, then at Rose’s doctor appointment, they said she didn’t have enough symptoms for the Lyme test. Yeah! We celebrated with frozen yogurt and I went to work for awhile. I also attempted and mostly failed to get my head on straight for the race. My thoughts went something like this: 5Ks suck and this one sucks more than most. Why did I even sign up for this thing? Given the crap mile from Tuesday, I could look forward to public humiliation. Of course I completely realized the ridiculousness of all that, as surely no one cares but me what time I run in the damn race. Even Coach Cowboy said, the worst outcome here is that you get in a good workout. I still managed to get myself worked up into a pretty good tizzy about it, though I felt somewhat better knowing we were at least off the hook for the blood draw.

In my obsession with improving my time, I looked at the dreaded pace calculator. I have run this race faster each year so I also looked up my previous times.

2011 – 29:46
2013 – 29:27
2014 – 28:03

Of course those three seconds from last year were totally annoying. I was pretty sure I could get under 28 so I looked up average paces for 27:30 (8:51) and 27:00 (8:41). An 8:45 pace throughout this race sounded uncomfortable, but manageable. I would be totally happy with 27:00 or even 27:30. I just wanted to survive this thing and somehow I was still worried I wouldn’t.

Finally I talked to Coach Cowboy on the phone and he said two things that helped. First, run the race tonight and you never have to run this damn race again. Thank goodness. In my head I committed to volunteering next year. Then I could still be part of the action but not run. Whew. Second, we broke the race up into segments. It’s only a 5K, but the course is complicated so we had five segments.

Segment 1: From the start, down Main St, up the hill on William, to the corner of College and High.

Segment 2: Down the hill on College and the second straightaway on Main.

Segment 3: Up the hill on William again [yes, this is a course from hell!] and back to the corner of College and High.

Segment 4: The loop around Washington Terrace, Mount Vernon St, down Wyllys back to corner of College and High.

Segment 5: South on High St, down the hill on William, long straightaway on Main into the finish line.

Suddenly the race seemed do-able. Five very small pieces. Not Five Easy Pieces, but small ones. I went home, ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and gathered the kids, then drove back to town.

I handed the kids off to the Incredibly Awesome Mervus. Our fabulous dance studio owner is also a runner and she gave us the keys to the studio when the port-a-potty line was too long. Seriously, the whole town goes to this race. Coach Cowboy and I had also worked out a warm-up so I found a place to do that. Even the warm-up felt a lot better than that damn mile the day before. There’s no chip at the starting line of this race so starting position matters. I had been tempted to line up alone so I didn’t freak myself out by standing near my fast friends, but there was my gang all together so of course I joined them. The gun went off and it was finally time to get this show on the road.

Waving for the camera in my Sub30 Women’s Club shirt!

Segment 1: Down Main St and up the hill. I saw Mervus and the kids right after the corner onto Main. Gave them a wave. This is one of the most adrenaline-fueled stretches of racing I’ve ever done in my life. Nothing like running down Main Street of your hometown. It’s very easy to go too fast here. Swifty was gone like a shot, as I expected. Maple Leaf Trail Runner also was lost in the crowd. That left me next to Teacher Runner. I expected her to leave me behind quickly but thought, well, maybe I can hang with her through the first hill. We sped down Main St together and I glanced at my watch. Something like 7:30s. Previously that time on my watch would have caused panic, but I’ve been seeing 7s down there sometimes now so I figured it was ok. Up the hill was of course a little slower and I can stick to Teacher Runner on a hill so we were still together at the top. Down High St, got my breathing under control after the hill and suddenly Segment 1 was over.

Segment 2: Down College. I was telling myself, it’s ok to run fast down this hill. You probably lost time going up and you can make it up here. Watch says 7:45 or something, but again, that is ok. First mile marker clicked off at 8:18. Ok, oops. That is faster than intended but I’m not dying yet. In fact, I’m still here at Teacher Runner’s shoulder, which is kind of my running heaven right now. So, I hung with her a whole mile. Good. Down Main St again and keep the power on because the hill is coming. Segment 2 done.

Segment 3: Up the hill again. Coach Cowboy frowns on water stops during a 5K but I just wanted something cold. I grabbed a cup, opened my mouth, and threw the water at my face. I’m not sure any got in my mouth, but it felt good. I was VERY happy I didn’t grab Gatorade by mistake. Up the damn hill. Still hanging with Teacher Runner. On to High Street again. 9:30 on the watch, but ok, that’s a big hill. The race leaders go by on the opposite side of the street. The local running celebrity who wins this thing almost every year is in second place with a sheepish look on his face. He knows he’s not winning this year. Past the corner on College and High. Segment 3 done.

Segment 4: Down the rest of High St, left on Washington Terrace. I am still next to Teacher Runner as I realize this is part of our standard long run route. She and I have done this path together many times in the past few months and this is where we pick up the pace. Amazing how geography gets in your blood. I remembered feeling strong in mile 8 of those training runs right here on this road and it worked, I felt strong again. We turned left onto Mount Vernon. There’s another hill here that I sometimes forget about and have sometimes walked up, but not today, not even close. Mile two clicks by in 8:48 and I think, I’m still under goal pace and I’ve got something like 30 seconds in the bank. I’m apparently not dying because I’ve only got a mile to go and this is when I should really turn it on. I wonder if that’s possible and now Segment 4 is done.

Segment 5: We past the corner of College and High, for the third time, going the opposite way now, south on High. This is going well and maybe I will run this race again next year. Or maybe I’ll run it with Aidan, my son, or maybe I’ll volunteer to go with someone running their first 5K. But I’m also thinking, damn, this is going well enough that I’m probably running this stupid thing again next year. Then I’m not even thinking, or counting, I’m just running. It’s possible I’m drooling. We turn left onto William downhill at last and less than a mile to go. Now Teacher Runner turns on her kick and I can’t stay with her so she runs away from me at last, but I don’t even care. I know I’m well under 27:30, under 27:00 and probably in PR territory not just for this crazy race, but for an overall 5K PR. Down the hill and now I’m counting, but I can’t think enough to get past about 30. People are passing me, but I’m passing other people and I wonder if any of them are women aged 40-49, the only people who count right now, ha! Then the left onto Main Street and far far away is the finish line. I can’t read the number after the 2 and I think does it say 28:xx? Or 26:xx? Wow, my eyes are getting bad! But this is silly because I can see my watch just fine and I know that clock says 25:xx, as unbelievable as that is. I use all my willpower to get my feet to turn over faster and move down that street! This stretch of road seems SO. LONG. But finally it ends. They call my name as I cross the line and I get out of the way and put my hands on my knees to catch my breath. Segment 5 done. Race done.

Teacher Runner coming into the finish. I hope she beat that kid!

Me coming into the finish. Not sure why I’m looking down?

Teacher Runner came to check on me and we got water and ice pops. Every race should have ice pops! I grabbed some for the kids, becoming coherent enough to think, just get everyone the same flavor so they don’t fight. Then I found Mervus and the munchkins and get plenty of high fives. I was SO happy this had gone well and I went to get to the results tent to find out the actual time. I started to laugh when I saw my name on this list: 26:15. One second slower than my overall 5K PR. I couldn’t stop laughing. I texted Coach Cowboy the result and then he called. I still couldn’t stop laughing and he’s laying into me because I was such a basket case all day and then ran a great race. Between the race noise and my laughing and his yelling I could hardly understand a word he was saying, which was probably for the best until I finally asked if he was actually mad, which of course he wasn’t.

Teacher Runner, Swifty, Maple Leaf Trail Runner and me, happy to be done!

I went back and found my family and friends. I love the post-race scene. Swifty and Early Bird both placed in their age groups so we watched them get their hats. Then Teacher Runner and her son joined us for pizza and drinks at First and Last Tavern. I love this race as much as I hate this race and I’m probably running it next year. Sigh.

If you like triathlons, central Connecticut is the place to be. It turns out all summer long, there is a sprint tri every Thursday at one of our local lakes. It alternates between two locations, but one is at Cedar Lake in Chester, CT. Cedar Lake is gorgeous and some years we have purchased a summer pass to swim and picnic there. It’s got a beautiful sandy beach, a nice gentle entry into the water, a snack shop where, as Aidan will tell you, they used to sell excellent homemade onion rings until the ownership changed and they switched to some lame frozen variety. And every other Thursday, a triathlon.

Cedar Lake beach

Swifty and Teacher Runner did the first one a fewf weeks ago, but that was three days before Mystic and I didn’t feel like working that hard right before the race. They came back full of tales of hilarity and fun. They had to rack their bikes in a bush, Swifty wore her bathing suit for the swim (the only person to do so!), Teacher Runner’s bike chain came off during the race (Swifty rescued her), they laughed a ton and Teacher Runner came home with a shiny new 5K PR. Yes, at the end of the sprint tri.

So this week it was my turn to be the newbie while they showed me the ropes. We got there in plenty of time to use the actual bike racks and get signed in.

Bikes are racked!

We got our numbers written on our arms in sharpie. How badass! One woman parked her bike near us and asked if we were wearing our wet suits or not because it was pretty warm. We just laughed because none of us owns a wet suit! Finally it was time to get in the water.

Swifty, Sarah, and Teacher Runner

That buoy looked mighty far away……

The men and the relays start first and then the women follow with a two minute delay. I thought, “Wow! I’m doing a triathlon! This is a very surprising development!” Teacher Runner yelled out “You can’t see underwater!” Right, because it’s a lake. Ha ha. But a lake I have swam in many times and I’ve spent a lot of time in lakes, so no problem, I thought. Coach Cowboy advised staying near the back of the pack to stay out of the mix. Fine with me. Everything started off ok. Stroke, stroke, breathe, check buoy. I was churning along. Near the back, but that’s fine. Then I actually started gaining on someone. Unexpected, but okay. I started to head around them to the right and at some point got a mouth full of water. Also, I suspect all the adrenaline was building up because suddenly I couldn’t get my breath at all. It was like the one time I panicked in the pool and thought I might not make it to the edge except I was not even halfway to the buoy yet. Not even close.

I stopped for a second to try to catch my breath. Then I did some breaststroke with my head up. That generally calms me down. I tried to swim again, no go. I decided to try backstroke. I’m not bad at backstroke and you can breathe the whole time, a distinct advantage. However, my backstroke is ridiculously crooked and within four strokes, I was wildly off course. No good. I switched to sidestroke for awhile. That was better. I felt like I had no power in my arms at all, but at least I was moving forward. Then I switched back to breaststroke. The nice lady on the boat came up and asked if I wanted to hold onto the boat for a minute. That seemed like defeat and also, honestly, I was very unsure I would be able to let go of the boat and start swimming again, so I said no thank you. She asked if I was injured. I laughed in my head and said, no, I’m fine. I’m just kind of freaked out. I just kept at it with my slow breaststroke. By now everyone was way ahead of me. Actually, one person still seemed to be behind me and I decided to just try to stay in front of her.

The advantage of breaststroke with your head up is that you can sight perfectly so at least I was efficient. SLOW but on course. My arms still felt pretty useless and I kept thinking, oh triathletes are supposed to swim with their arms to save their legs! Oops! But really, there was nothing I could do about it. Every now and then I thought, just try freestyle again. Just one stroke. One stroke to tell Chris about when you finish. Right, left. But, whenever I went to lift my right arm out of the water, panic set in again. Ok, breaststroke was the way to go.

I finally rounded the buoy. Oh damn it was going to be a long, long way back to the beach. Chug, chug, chug. I finally got to the buoys that mark the swim area and tried again with a little freestyle. Just lift that right arm, Sarah! Nope, not happening. Ok, just swim until you can touch and then walk it in. Fine. Everyone on the beach is cheering Go Number 27! Go! You got this! Well, not everyone. The grown-ups. The kids had long ago become bored and were back to playing. No matter. I smiled and just thought, thank goodness that is over.

I truly have no idea what happened with this panic attack. I’m used to swimming in lakes and in this lake in particular. I know I can swim 500 yards though I don’t usually do it without pushing off a wall. I didn’t feel tired. The water wasn’t too cold. You could easily walk right in. It was just a total freak out. I think next time I will borrow a wet suit. I think before next time I might have to go practice one of the open water swims they have down at the lake. Next time I will definitely get in the water and swim around a bit before the event starts. Apparently I’m truly insane because I’m already saying “next time.” I have heard of many people panicking during open water swims and I have not understood it. Now I have had that happen myself and I still don’t understand it. I did not believe this could happen to me and it absolutely did.

When I got back to the beach, I managed to run, sort of, over to the bikes. This time I remembered that hurrying is actually allowed in transition. I stared down at my shoes for a second, realizing that I had to somehow get them on my feet. Sat on a towel, brushed off feet, socks on, shoes on. My Gu was right there, so I had a Gu. Helmet on. Walked (quickly!) to bike exit. More cheering and off I went.

On the bike, I really felt my tired legs. I had done a pretty serious track workout on Wednesday (the day before) and then had a session with Tough Guy Trainer where he got more serious with the squats. Coach Cowboy and I had already decided track and trainer were not happening on the same day again and we had considered pulling the plug on the tri, but I really wanted to do it so, here I was. Ten miles to go on the bike. I rode off alone crossing my fingers that the course was well marked and that the police had not decided to go home yet. It occurred to me that if I got off course, I was completely screwed. I did not have my phone with me. Even if I had had it, who would I call? In any case, thank goodness, the first turn was marked and that gave me hope that the rest of the turns would be as well. I even remembered to start my watch about half a mile into the ride.

I like biking. I have close to zero experience racing on a bike, but I used to do a fair amount of cycling in high school and college and even grad school. It was never a competitive thing, but I’ve ridden in the bay area so I have done my share of hills. Yes, my bike is funny looking but I’m comfortable on it and that counts for a lot. This ride felt similar to the bike leg of the Shamrock duathlon in that it went on a long time. Very pretty countryside. Some hills though nothing too awful. It was on the bike that I thought: crap, that swim was SO bad that I am really going to have to do it again. But I also thought, even in a situation of complete panic, I didn’t give up and I feel pretty good about that. It reminded me of being in front of a lecture hall unprepared, and just thinking, okay, in five seconds, words need to come out of your mouth. These words should have something to do with political science. Mostly I am prepared for class, but standing in front of a large group of people and speaking is a situation that scares a lot of folks and I have a great deal of practice doing it. I think that swim might have been one of the first times I felt like my professor life paid off in my athletic life because generally it is the other way around.

I actually passed a couple of people on the bike. I passed two guys! I think one of them might have been disabled and the other his helper. But still. I passed guys! I passed one woman. I was second to last out of the water with a much older woman behind me. She came zooming by me on her bike, ha ha! Go speedy old lady biker go! I actually enjoy the bike portion of these events because I am pretty unworried about it. If I’m going uphill or flat, I am usually trying pretty hard. If I am going downhill, I am generally going as fast as is comfortable to me. That is totally okay. It’s kind of a no worry zone as long as I don’t get lost or crash. When I got to the end of the bike course and there was a big sign saying “SLOW DOWN” I thought, yes! I am happy to oblige!

I got to the entrance to transition and the nice people said “Dismount please!” Oh right. Get off the bike. I actually walked quickly with the bike to the rack. Took one look at the rack and thought, screw that, and threw my bike on the ground. There was plenty of space and basically every other bike was already in the rack. I grabbed some Gu again and remembered to take off my helmet. Yeah me! I took my hand held water bottle and set off back to the gate. Which, it turns out, was the wrong gate. Runners leave via a different exit. Oops! I found the way out and off I went.

There were plenty of people running here, though all the opposite direction on the out and back course naturally. But everyone was really friendly and cheering me on. I have often cheered for people near the back of the pack and I totally appreciated it though I still was kind of wishing not to be at the back.

I had that same weird feeling from the duathlon of being disconnected from my legs. I can often guess pretty close to my pace without looking at my watch but when running off the bike, I’m way off. Plus, with the track workout and the weight lifting session on Wednesday and that terrible swim and tired legs on the bike, I figured this will be the time I look at the watch and it says 11:30. Nope. 8:45. What the hell? How could that be right? Stranger still, I tried to slow down and I sort of couldn’t, but I was pretty sure I also couldn’t run a 5K at that pace. I finally got my pace to 9:20 and just tried to hold it there.

You really aren’t allowed to wear headphones in a triathlon, which I find sort of a drag. However, I just kept slogging along, knowing that it would have to end eventually. Also, it was pretty running along the lake. My legs were so tired that it was just force of will to keep going. I sometimes count when I run if I get tired. I think I am counting breaths and I have a lot of rules about it. For shorter runs, I count to 40. For longer runs, I count to 100. No looking at my watch until I finish counting. Any counting mess-ups and I have to start over. Never start counting until I have only about ½ a mile to go. For this run, I broke pretty much all the counting rules. I started counting .8 miles into the run leg. Which means I had 2.3 miles to go. I counted to 100 over and over again throughout the whole race. That’s a lot of counting, but it kept me moving.

I actually passed a couple of people on the run, but I really just wanted to be done. When I finally got near the end, I heard Swifty and Teacher Runner cheering for me. I crossed the timing mat. THANK GOODNESS. Finally, I could sit down. I have rarely been so happy for a race to be over. Swifty got me some water and it turns out that first timers get medals and magnets. I just sat for a few minutes to collect myself.

This was a really tough race for me. Between the tired legs and the swim-induced panic, it was harder than I had expected, even going into it with low expectations. I finished 91/94, surely the closest to last I have ever been. Yet, I found that it actually didn’t bother me. I was happy to be done. I’m eager to figure out what in the world happened in the water. I want to keep improving so I can at least keep up a bit with Swifty and Teacher Runner (who set another 5K PR!). I’m going to be incredibly nervous going into the next triathlon, but I also know there will be another triathlon.

Keeping up with my tradition of very late race reports, I ran the Mystic Half marathon on May 31^st. After missing the Colchester Half and the Middletown Half, I was SO HAPPY to finally run a half marathon in 2015. This was a good one to kick things off with. It’s the first year for this event and the race was great.

My training for Mystic was…..unusual? Inadequate? How about we say, lots fewer miles than I normally run. I’m still coming back from the bulging disc in my back and I’m not yet even up to running my regular maintenance miles. Still, it felt like I probably had enough miles under my belt to finish Mystic safely and I certainly wasn’t in the mood to miss yet another race.

I found it nearly impossible to judge how fast I would be able to run. My mileage has been low, but I’ve been doing a lot of core work for physical therapy. I’ve done a couple of longer runs with Teacher Runner and felt really strong at the end. I’ve had some little bursts of speed that tell me things aren’t a total disaster in runner land. Yet, I had run one 9 mile run as my longest distance since the NYC marathon. I really wanted to get to 10 miles so I did a 10 mile run a week before the race. In 1:44. Hmmm. Yes, that run included stopping the clock for a shoe change (so long beautiful but blister-inducing Brooks….), but still. I wasn’t dying at the end. I started to re-asses my goals. I had been really hoping to come in below 2:20, which is about the time of my slowest half and that started to feel possible. After the 10 miler, I was thinking 2:15 was possible. The night before the race, I sent a text to Coach Cowboy – did he think sub 2:10 was a reasonable goal? Then I went to bed. Woke up at 4:15am (yes, that’s right) to a text saying yes, 2:10 is a reasonable goal, so yeah for that! Oatmeal, coffee, coffee for the road. Ugh, it was so damn early. I jumped in the car to pick up Snarky Girl.

The drive to Mystic was uneventful. Parking was easy-peasy. We saw Nicole as we drove up. Even the line for port-a-potties wasn’t too bad. We ran into Early Bird and said hi.

Nicole, Sarah, Early Bird, and Snarky Girl – ready to race!

Snarky Girl and Nicole

Nicole and Sarah

I had picked up our bibs and shirts the day before but I got to packet pick-up late, right as they were closing. They pretty much threw the bibs and shirts at me as they were taping the boxes closed. They did not throw any safety pins at me, but I figured there would be plenty at the race. Not so, it turned out. I was starting to think I was going to have to carry the bib in my hands. After texting Nicole in a panic, her friend Jenn managed to find some in her car. Whew!

^{“Safety-Pins 29789-480×360 (4816852799)” by Emilian Robert Vicol from Com. Balanesti, Romania – Safety-Pins_29789-480×360. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Safety-Pins_29789-480x360_(4816852799).jpg#/media/File:Safety-Pins_29789-480x360_(4816852799).jpg}

Snarky Girl was running the 10K and going for a fast time so she headed to the front. Nicole was looking for a slower pace group so we all ended up starting separately. The first few miles clicked along easily. The course is really beautiful. We had plenty of time running along the water. Tall ships and pretty houses to look at. I had to work during this part of the course to stay slow enough. I had thought to start at a 10:15 pace, but that was clearly going to make me bat-shit crazy so I tried to hold it around 9:45. It was sort of odd to try to pace off someone by not passing them, but that’s what I did. It worked pretty well and I ran pretty evenly. The sun was occasionally a little hot. I listened to my trusty half marathon play list. Every time I started to feel not so great, I checked my watch and I had inadvertently sped up. At about 48-50 minutes I thought, eh, lucky Snarky Girl. She is DONE. The 10K went right and the half marathoners went left. Up a long, long slow hill only to turn around and come back down that same damn hill. Why?? An out and back up a freaking hill? That felt a little insulting! I did see Nicole coming up as I was going down, so that was fun.

After we finished the out and back we were near the split between the 10K and the half, which was also near the finish line. I know Snarky Girl and I knew she might be lurking around the course somewhere to cheer us on. I have been accused of being somewhat “focused” during races though so even though I was looking for her, when some woman started yelling at me, I was a bit confused. “Nice pace! Get up that hill! You’re looking great!” Huh? Who IS that person and why are they following me? Oh, of course, it WAS Snarky Girl! She stood on the next hill to run us up it. So fun!

Mystic is an interesting course. The first half is nearly totally flat. The second half is pretty hilly. This is one reason I wanted to be sure to start conservatively. After leaving Snarky Girl and the starting area, it was up and then a huge long downhill where I got to see the leaders just finishing. I love when a course intersects like that and I could see that the leaders were incredibly spread out. I also thought, oh crap, this big long hill we are running down – they are running up it. So later we will run up it. Ugh.

Part of this section of the course reminded me of the Celebrate Life Half. Which is not a compliment in my book. That’s one of my least favorite races ever. It felt like running on a sine wave around a lake. Despite the lake being pretty and all, a sine wave is no fun to run on. But this was also pretty and it wasn’t as bad as Celebrate Life. Two funny events happened during the second half of the race. On one of the longer hills, partway up, one of the volunteers was screaming. She was just screaming! Maybe she was saying Go Go Go or maybe just AHHHHHHH!!!! It was hard to tell. But, it was actually quite fun! The second funny event: around mile 10 I heard someone yell “Go Sarah! Go Professor Badass!” Now, I didn’t have my moniker on my shirt. I saw the person but wasn’t sure who it was. It wasn’t Nicole’s friend Jenn. Everyone else I knew at the race was running. Who was my mysterious fan? It was pretty cool to be recognized!

Somewhere in here, that same feeling of pure joy from the duathlon hit me again. I was running and the Imagine Dragons song, “I’m On Top of the World” came on and I just started grinning. I love this so much and I’ve waited for what feels like a long time to get back to it.

Cause I’m on top of the world,
I’m on top of the world,
Waiting on this for a while now
Paying my dues to the dirt
I’ve been waiting to smile,
Been holding it in for a while,
Take you with me if I can
Been dreaming of this since a child
I’m on top of the world.

I just totally love doing this.

The race plan had been to pick up the pace after five miles and again after nine miles, if I felt good. But the course was getting hillier and it was getting hotter. I experimented with a bit faster, but mostly felt pretty good right around 9:30-9:45. I ended up running even splits for most of the race. I did the first half in 1:04, and the second half in 1:03 (even though the second half had the hills! Go me!). My mysterious fan had been at mile 10 and I hadn’t found that huge hill yet. I figured mile 11 would be uphill? But no, it wasn’t. Finally at the beginning of mile 12, the uphill started, but it didn’t end up being nearly as bad as expected. Half a mile up and half a mile down for my fastest mile of the race!

At some point I realized that 2:10 was more than likely in the bag and, in fact, faster than 2:10 was possible. I really kicked it out that last mile or so. I finished and knew I was under 2:08! Turns out I finished in 2:07:21! SO very happy about that! I completely didn’t expect it, but I’m thrilled. I really credit a lot of the core work I’ve been doing for letting me run that quickly so fast after injury on so few training miles.

Happy Sweaty Sarah

Three Amigas!

The finish area was fun. I got the beautiful medal and some water and talked to Coach Cowboy. Then went to wait for Nicole to come in. The woman next to me was screaming for the runners and I started screaming too. I love cheering! I asked if she was waiting for someone and she said no, she had just come to volunteer. In fact, she was the screaming volunteer from halfway up that hill! At that point I gave her a huge and probably disgustingly sweaty hug. How cool!

I saw Nicole come in just under 2:30 and we found Snarky Girl. She not only ran just over 48 minutes for the 10K, she took 1^st in her age group! Nicole had found someone great to run with on the course. We all went and grabbed some post-race treats. The Hartford Marathon Foundation has these bars as a post-race treat right now. The Truebars. WOW, those suckers are good! Made locally too! We stood around in our post-race glow for a bit, did a little foam rolling, and headed off to brunch. Post-race brunch with this crew is becoming a tradition along with post-race mimosas! I would definitely do this race again.

Super Speedy Snarky Girl earns some cool bling
  Look who we ran into! Yes, that’s Amby Burfoot!

Post-race celebration

CHEERS!

I’m a bit slow with this post because the end of the semester gets crazy, but what a great race this was!

This was my first race with a biking component. I did the two indoor triathlons this spring, but outside biking is a whole different deal. So much fun!

But, let me back up. I’ve wanted to do this race for the last few years, but I could never fit it in. Or, I simply didn’t bother to get on my bike to train. The bike course is hilly so I didn’t want to just do it without ever biking. Anyway, one of the benefits (or maybe I could say side effects) of getting hurt is that I have done a lot more cross training this spring, including some spin classes. I’m not even sure when it occurred to me that this might be the year for the duathlon, but at some point I realized it would probably work. I started going to spin class more regularly and also started working on my friends. Snarky Girl and I even did a couple of practice mini-duathlons by getting up even earlier than usual, running 2 mile to the YMCA for spin class, and running home afterwards.Why is it fun to go ride a stationary bike in the basement of the YMCA? I have no idea.

Snarky Girl and I

The day before the duathlon, I got some exciting mail!

Does this make me official?

Also the day before the race, I decided I had better practice an actual transition. The race had kindly provided a fantastic Frequently Asked Questions document and I pretty much followed their directions. I got to practice drinking out of my water bottle [cue foreshadowing] and running and biking and then biking and running. Twice I forgot to take my helmet off for the second run, but that’s why you practice, right?

Practice transition!

On race morning Snarky Girl and Teacher Runner came over bright and early and we loaded the bikes up. It was easy to find the start because everyone on the road Sunday morning with bikes on the car was heading to Glastonbury high school. We were all a little nervous. We got the bikes ready. We got ourselves ready. Went to the bathroom. Did a little warm up. Went and lined up.

Snarky Girl!

Teacher Runner!

My bike has a bib! So official!

Playing it cool. Except maybe for those handlebars…..

Ready to race!

The gun went off and we started running and I teared up. I didn’t expect that. I was just so full of joy to be back doing this. This thing I didn’t know about until after I turned 40 but which it turns out I completely love. Even though I had already done a couple of races this year, this felt like the first real race. Warrior Dash wasn’t timed and the Middletown Four Miler was a great race, but I had had my heart set on the half marathon. So, this was the first real race of the season for me.

We all ran together for a mile or so and then Snarky Girl pulled ahead. No surprise there. Teacher Runner and I ran on together. I’m trying not to be such a watch hound but I did look at my watch pretty often. My plan was to run a 29-30 minute 5k. My watch said 9:45, 9:20, 8:45. Hmmmm. That’s a lot faster than 29 minutes. Back to 9:10. However, it felt pretty good. I didn’t feel like I was going to explode. I was working hard, but not dying. I really prefer to run with a friend and I adore running at Teacher Runner’s side. I remembered her leaving me behind at Surftown last fall and how demoralizing that felt and I thought, well, pace be damned, I’m going to see if I can hang with her. If it blows up on me, it blows up on me. But it felt pretty solid. We arrived back at transition together.

I found my bike and it wasn’t the last one left on the rack, thank goodness. Just like in practice, I had a Gu, drank some water, put my (unworn) headphones down, got the helmet on. Figured out how to unrack the bike. WALKED the bike out of transition. Time to ride.

Riding in a race is a whole lot different from what they put in the rule book. So, for example, the rules say, ride three bike lengths apart and you have 15 seconds to pass someone, and they then have to drop back three bikes lengths behind you. But at the beginning, the paces of the riders were wildly different so everyone was passing everyone all at once. Then the woman in front of me DROPPED HER WATER BOTTLE! Fuck! Ok, it’s not a family blog anymore, but that’s what I yelled. I ran right over her water bottle! Shit! I thought I was going to crash for sure! However, I didn’t. I just kept riding. She stopped to get her bottle. Teacher Runner and I kept on. At some point she passed me, but then I passed her and didn’t see her again until much later.

The bike ride was great but also a bit never-ending. I looked at my watch for the first time around 13 minutes. Um, 13 minutes? This ride was going to take me at least an hour. I wasn’t even a quarter of the way through it! Then we went up a big hill. Up, up, up, but guess what? I passed people on the hill! Amazing! I used to live in the San Francisco bay area and I’m pretty sure I had a “secret” gear installed at that time. Ok, it’s not a secret, but it is a somewhat larger gear on the back wheel. Those bay area hills are nothing to sneeze at. My bike looks a bit ridiculous at this point. It’s 30 years old. It’s got upright handlebars. It has a kickstand, which is what makes other people chuckle. But, underneath all that, it’s not a bad bike. And, to be fair, I’ve got some fairly strong legs. Thank you Tough Guy Trainer and your millions of squats.

The bike ride went on and on and on. It was supposed to be a big hill, then flat for awhile, then another big hill and a huge down. Well, I remember the first big hill. Then it was up and down and up and down and I guess up a lot at some point because then it was a HUGE down. Whoa. That was incredibly fun and just the right amount of scary. But the damn bike ride still wasn’t over! I couldn’t remember when the last big hill was. Nine miles done. Eleven miles done. Fourteen miles done. Finally riding down, down, down. Then the bike course was alongside the second run course for a bit and that was fun. I found myself searching and searching for Snarky Girl. I knew she was ahead of me, but I had no idea how far ahead. It was a bit hard to remember this was supposed to be a race and not just a very long bike ride. Then Snarky Girl ran by and waved!

I finally got to transition. Which I recognized because of the huge sign that said “DISMOUNT”. However, I had no idea which way to go. I may have been just a tiny bit out of it. I yelled out to the volunteers “Which way?” and they pointed me to the bike racks. Duh. Walked the bike in. It occurred to me that some people probably run along next to their bike? No, so not happening. With those jelly legs, I was walking it in. I found the bike rack. Did the whole Gu and water thing. Considered whether I wanted a bite of peanut butter and jelly? No. Remembered to take off my helmet. Yeah! Considered leaving behind my iPod but panicked so I took it with me. Walked out of transition. Oh, with no bike, I could seriously have run, but I still had jelly legs and the feeling that transition was some kind of sacred zone. Apparently a sacred zone where one does not run, either with or without a bike. Then I got to the exit and thought, oh, damn, this is a race, actually! So I started running even on the jelly legs.

I was so glad I had practiced this part. Running after biking (and running) feels very strange. To me it feels as though my legs are not actually connected to my body. It’s like they are numb or something. It feels like I’m running an 11:30 pace and I think, ok, that’s ok, your legs will come back. I look down and my watch says 9:30. What? Ok, but that is just what happened in the practice version so I just accepted it and kept running.

I was worried that the last 5K would be miserable. I expected to be hot and tired and out of energy. Instead, I am full of joy. I cheer on the other runners. I cheer for the bikers. I thank the volunteers and the police officers. When the first mile is done I actually think, damn, only two more to go and then this will be over. Savor it. Feel it. Enjoy it. I almost tear up again. I ran some more. Ok, it was a little hot. But damn, the miles are clicking by. There’s lots to look at. I dump some water on my head to cool off. I see the turn to the left that leads to the finish line and try to pick it up a notch. Wait, the finish is on grass? Ok, whatever. I just keep running. I see Snarky Girl and wave, I’m almost done! I see the finish line and the photographer. I manage what I imagine is an incredible leap across the finish line! However, it is apparently not captured on film because there are ZERO official finisher photos of me.

Unofficial finisher picture taken by Mr. Snarky Girl

I was so happy to be done, but not in that I’m-exhausted-and-wrung-out kind of way. In a joyful, thank goodness I can still do this sort of way. We had some water and some snacks.

Happy Duathletes!

Snarky Girl’s daughter got some stretching advice from the physical therapy tent.

Teacher Runner may have won something…..

I’m already looking at future duathlons!

So many times a runner friend will say something like, “My knee hurts in such-and-such a place, but I have a race in four days that I HAVE to run! What should I do? I don’t want to go to the doctor. He will tell me not to run!”

I’ve heard this often enough that I wanted to write something about it.

I’m really lucky because my first real injury led me to the Maestro.

The Maestro is a gifted physical therapist, but his gift is not really some secret ultrasound machine or the latest massage technique or even that he thinks up really fun exercises to strengthen whatever needs strengthening. The Maestro’s gift is that he treats his patients seriously and with kindness and that he believes he can make them better.

I walked into his clinic the first time teetering on the edge. I was training for my first marathon and I had finished my first 17 mile run on a camping trip with some family friends cycling alongside me. I knew one step post-run that I had done something bad somewhere around my ankle and I called the running store as soon as I got home to ask for PT recommendations. They sent me to the Maestro’s office and I walked in with my marathon dreams in one hand and my two children hanging off the other. Was I a middle-aged mom wannabe runner? Or a future marathoner? I really wasn’t sure. He saw that I could be both.

I worked with the Maestro over the course of several weeks. I took him my training plan and we adjusted it together. He provided the magic ultrasound machine, the heat and the ice and the exercises. I provided the commitment to do what he said to do. I got better, ran my marathon, and my Achilles has never bothered me again (knock on wood).

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was learning a lot more than bird dips and eccentric heel drops. I learned that when I get injured, I can get better again. That insight made me a much braver runner. I started training a lot harder after that first marathon, partly because I was much less scared of getting hurt. Of course, eventually I did get hurt again, but this time I already had the Maestro’s number in my cell phone so I was much less panicked. He fixed up my runner’s knee last spring and he’s fixed a lot of my friends since then. When I finally came up with something he couldn’t fix, he was honest about it and sent me off to find someone else. I found not one, but two, other physical therapists who came up with a new diagnosis and who were confident they could get me running again. One of them did. Good physical therapists are pretty much the bomb.

Which brings me back to my point at the beginning about runner friends who won’t seek help when they are injured. I know I’m lucky that I found the Maestro right off the bat. I know I’m lucky that I have good insurance that covers physical therapy, even for middle-aged mom wannabe marathoners. I’m lucky, but I’m also diligent. I do the exercises I’m supposed to do. I’m lucky, but I also trust my gut and I won’t stick with a care provider I don’t like and trust. I found the Maestro, but I found two other people too. They are out there, those excellent physical therapists.

To me, a physical therapist – or a doctor or a chiropractor or whoever works for you – is a professional runner helper. If you ask me what to do because your knee hurts there or your Achilles hurts here, I can tell you what I did to fix my problem and I’m perfectly willing to share. But if you really want to know what I think you should do, it’s this: Go to your friendly neighborhood physical therapist. They are trained to help you get better and they really want to do that. Once you find that person, be nice to them. Bring them presents (the Maestro likes fancy chocolate). Let them know how much you value them. I’m not going to argue that getting injured has its own benefits. But if it leads you to your own Maestro, you might be surprised at some of the payoffs.

I’ve been pretty loyal to the Maestro and I think he’s a fantastic physical therapist. He wasn’t getting anywhere with this latest injury though, I think largely because we had an incorrect diagnosis. It turns out I have a bulging disc in my lower back rather than tendonitis of the butt. I started to ask around and got a few recommendations from friends. It seems there are quite a few really good physical therapists in this corner of Connecticut and I got started with someone who specializes in something called the McKenzie Method, which seemed quite promising. In the meantime, though, I met Wesleyan’s assistant cross country coach, who is also a physical therapist.

After a couple of sessions with McKenzie Man, I decided to switch to the cross country coach. I’m pretty sure either of them could have fixed my back, but PT Coach is an amazing runner and very focused on getting me back to running as quickly as possible. I’ve been seeing her for a few of weeks now. We do a LOT of core exercises. She’s also got a cool slide board, so I can pretend to be Apolo Ohno while strengthening my hips. At the end of each session, we do some stretching and then she cracks my back. Yowza. That feels weird, but also kind of good.

I’ve been gradually able to resume running. I did a few runs of one minute running followed by one minute of walking. Then a ten minute run, a fifteen minute run, a twenty minute run, even thirty-five minutes! I got to start running outside. The weather is so incredibly crappy still that I don’t mind mostly running in my comfortable if ugly basement. Last week I went to Austin for spring break and got to run outside in the warmth. I even did a Warrior Dash [race report forthcoming]!

The Warrior Dash definitely set me back a bit so on Monday PT Coach did something called “dry needling.” This is somewhat similar to acupuncture, but the needles are inserted at the point of injury or pain rather than along the meridian. Given my feelings about needles, I don’t want to know a lot more than that so I’m attempting to stay away from Google on this one.

She also cut me loose this week. She gave me some guidelines for building mileage back up and a free pass to come back any time I have questions or hit some kind of roadblock. Otherwise, it’s back to Coach Cowboy!

I did a nearly spontaneous triathlon last weekend. That’s a strange thing, but it’s pretty much true. Sure, we had talked about it a little bit. But when you dress up as a roller derby team to do a trivia bee, a triathlon starts to seem easy-peasy, so Teacher Runner, Snarky Girl and I decided to give it a whirl.

I had to get cleared from PT Coach for the bike portion because I hadn’t been on a spin bike since mid-January. But, she gave it the thumbs up so it was full speed ahead. In addition to me and Teacher Runner and Snarky Girl, Mr. Snarky Girl wanted to get in on the fun. And Swifty also decided to do it!

We started texting back and forth already around 7am. Teacher Runner pointed out that triathlons require a lot of gear. Apparently Mr. Snarky Girl wondered what she was talking about, which would come back to haunt him later when he showed up with no workout shorts and had to do the bike and the elliptical in his dress pants!

By 8:15 we were lined up on the pool deck, very excited. The way they work this indoor triathlon is that two lanes are reserved and people start swimming pretty much as soon as they get there. Two swimmers per lane at a time, 450 yards (18 laps). There weren’t many lap swimmers on Sunday so a lane was free and there was a mess of triathletes so Kristin set us up for six of us to start at once. Cool! I had never done a swimming race before!

Snarky Girl, Teacher Runner and I ready to swim. Note leftover Killer Bees tattoos!

  Teacher Runner ready to kick butt in the pool!!

   Mr. Snarky Girl and Snarky Girl – next year’s Christmas card photo?

I had no idea what to expect so I just tried to swim with all the technique I’ve been trying to learn over the past couple of months. I tried not to panic and I was mostly successful. Primary goal achieved! I could see Teacher Runner really booking out of the corner of my eye. I’m so stinking proud of her! And I could see Snarky Girl in my lane struggling with some kind of technical difficulty, but I figured if she were actually drowning, the lifeguard would save her. Turns out her goggles were somehow dumping water into her mouth. Not ideal!

I tried to swim steadily and not go crazy with trying to be fast. This was only the first event and I had no idea how I would feel once it was done. I counted off the laps. Ten laps done, just eight more. Fourteen laps done, just four more. Don’t stop. Also, don’t switch to breaststroke! Just keep going. Suddenly only two laps to go! That is just down and back, no problem! I finished in 8:32! At first I was surprised that it was slower than my time trial a week or so ago, but then I remembered that I had just done 450 yards, not 400. So, yeah, an extra 50 yards takes some time. Teacher Runner finished in 6:36, which was not only the fastest time last Sunday, but the fastest time in the whole indoor triathlon season! Once all my friends were finished, we headed to the showers to clean up a bit and get changed. Yes, “transition” in this triathlon includes the chance to rinse the chlorine off. Not bad!

Next up was the spin bike portion. I was most nervous about this leg because I didn’t know how my back was going to feel. I let Kristin, the organizer, know what was going on and she helped me get the bike adjusted. I let her know if I stopped, it would mean my back couldn’t handle it. Then she told us our “gear assignments”. Men over 150 pounds had to put their bike in a particular gear. Men under 150 pounds got an easier gear. Same with women. Score! Thanks to Tough Guy Trainer, I’ve been solidly under 150 for at least a month.

Snarky Girl, ready to ride!

Mr. Snarky Girl. Note dress pants. Also, pre-victory smile. The man knows his way around a bicycle.

Teacher Runner and I. She doesn’t know I’m about to start drafting off her. Or whatever you call it on a spin bike.

This was the only event that we started together. Kristin started the music, counted us down, said go, and off we went. When Early Bird teaches spin class, there’s some variation. A song spent going up hill or intervals or whatever. This was just the whole way in one gear. At least we had music and every now and then Kristin checked in to be sure everyone was ok. Mr. Snarky Girl on my left was tearing up the “road” on his bike. Teacher Runner was to my right and I decided to lock onto her by peeking at her display. I don’t know if that is cheating or not, but I figured in an actual race you might try to pass someone so maybe this wasn’t so different. So, I just kept trying to stay “ahead” of her, meaning, I had clicked off more miles on my display than she had on hers. Don’t kill me Teacher Runner! Mr. Snarky Girl finished first and he was pretty psyched. Swifty finished second, and as first woman. Her legs were flying around those pedals. I finished in 29:11 and felt pretty good.

After spinning, we headed to the fitness center. Ooooo, elliptical machines are upstairs! That is an evil trick, mid-triathlon! I made Snarky Girl come up to take pictures, ha ha ha! Mr. Snarky Girl really can’t run – meaning, his Achilles flares up whenever he tries. So, he had to come up to the second floor too and we both got set up on the elliptical. Unlike Snarky Girl, Mr. Snarky Girl isn’t a talker so I had my iPod ready. I have practically no experience on the elliptical. PT Coach told me to try to keep the strides per minute at 200 and I had one done one workout trying to do that. This time, I could hardly get above 185 for the first mile, but then I was able to get up to around 195.

The elliptical crew

I decided since this was a race, I was allowed to listen to my race day play list. I also decided I was only allowed to look at the distance elapsed every five minutes. After the first five minutes, I had gone .62 miles or so and I knew if I stayed at that pace, I could finish in under 30 minutes. I thought about my sub 30 friends. I also thought about having to post a time like 30:11 or something and decided I had better bust my ass. NOT LITERALLY since I already did that. I was tired and my legs were a little wobbly, but my biggest issue with the elliptical was still pretty much boredom. I thought about some of my friends in sub 30 who have been injured for awhile and I thought about Coach Cowboy and I just leaned on it. At 25 minutes, I checked distance elapsed and it said 2.80! Just .3 miles to go! I finished in 27:34! Well under 30 minutes!

Happy after surviving first tri!

Post-triathlon we had a lot of high fives all the way around. Future outdoor triathletes???!!!!