STEPH SPRINT FULL Let's do this thing! StephSprint group FULL! (Page 27)

Yay! 

I finished a 5.25 run this morning in 57:08!  A personal distance record for me!  My June goal was to make 6 miles, but I miscalculated- next week can add an extra loop to make up.  I ran 5 minutes, walked 1 minute throughout- running through one of the walks midway when I was feeling strong, and walking the final .25 miles home.  

Erin- you go girl!  I'm rooting for you!!

Skibummer- my husband is a natural swimmer, and is helping me with my swimming this summer.  He thinks nothing of swimming to a nearby island from shore ("it's only a mile or so") Hoping he can help me find my natural buoyancy.  

It was a sad day today...missed out on a 5K race today due to my ankle.  Aundrea, my jogging partner did great.  She made a PR today.  Her time was 31:47.  Proud of her.  It was an amazing race.  This was a big club event sponsored my the Calumet Striders...alot of top notch runners were there.  Wow were they great.  The winner finished a little over 16 minutes!  Dang, considering I am at like 14:40 a mile lol.

The race pumped me up.  I couldnt believe how bad the feeling felt after they fired the starting gun and all the racers took off, and I was left standing there with all the other spectators.  I have hated running all my life, and now I am in love with it...go firgure huh.

Well I will be back on the street Monday...next race is July 7th!  I cant miss this one, the profits of this race goes to help save our cities dying zoo.

Good luck to everyone who is racing this weekend, and to everyone else have a great weekend.

Also, I will try and put some new pictures up of my last race later tonight.

Okey

I ran the SkirtChaser 5k today in crazy 102 temps (record breaking here in CO!) and did it in 34:30 (no PR for me, but I was just glad to keep running in that heat). It's a weird race where the men start 3 minutes after the women (who are mostly in skirts from Skirt Sports) and then...the guys skirt chase. Literally.

It was a little disappointing every time a guy passed me. All I could think was, "I have a 3 minute lead on you!" But really, everyone was feeling the heat. We may be ok with altitude, but we are wimps with heat. Running in the skirt though? FANTASTIC! I've been looking for running shorts that don't chafe, and I am SO not a skirt girl, but I wanted to try one, and this was absolutely the miracle I've been looking for. No chafing. Zero. Zilch. It was fantastic (the skirts have light compression shorts underneath). I came home and began looking online to buy more!

Hope you had a good one Gary. Were you on Key Biscayne at all?
-----
"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
Beverly Sills 

Not at all. I am finished being sick and over the ankle problem for the time being. I signed up for the Mack International distance on 9-9-12 on the key so i start the training tomorrow. So looking forward to getting back in the grove and ready to run.

Skirt chasers, sounds like a fun one.  My friend loves her skirts.  I keep saying I need to get one and try it out. 

I did my Oly relay today. It was fun, but weird to be at the race and have nothing to do after the swim.  We managed to come in 2nd in the women's relay! No thanks to me though.  My swim was just awful.  Despite having done quite a few tri's I still manage to have panic attacks in the swim.  It's my specialty. So after calming down with some breast stroke I was able to get going but It really killed my time. Thankfully, my tri buddies are awesome and pulled us up from the dungeon. We are doing a half iron relay at the end of July so I have some work to do.  Must get my butt in the open water more frequently.

Hope all had a great weekend!

Great posts everyone!! Hope you all have some nice weather this week to get out. Just like everywhere else, we had a big heat wave last week. It seems to have cooled down some now. 

Little tired after this weekend's work. Didn't get as many hours as I planned, but that is OK cuz I'm exhausted. Managed to swim on the race* pond both Sat and Sun before work. That was very nice and I think I have just about conquered my OWS nerves. But I still kinda suck at swimming.

*My scheduled tri was for 8/15 and I heard they are thinking of canceling it because of lack of interest. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrumble!!!

sounds like everyone is having a bit of issue with heat at the moment??  Thankfully we have great weather (mostly) all year round, although does get quite hot December...

I finally did my first race yesterday - just a 5km run, but I was happy with it.  I actually got to see the start of both the olympic and sprint tri as well, and check out the whole transition area side of things, so that was pretty cool.

So, I guess with it being my first race, it's an automatic PR?  35:44 for the 5km was my official time... given I'd set myself a goal of running a 5km under 35 minutes by the end of the year, I was stoked!  Came in 43rd for my age group (Female Open) out of 112 competitors in that category, so was nice to know I wasn't last!

Lots of fun, and looking forward to the next one!

suzanne

Awesome! Sounds like you're gonna need a new goal because you're gonna tear that one up!!! Whootwhoot!

Zbridget

Awesome job on the long run. Another goal completed! Did you get that 6 miler in?

Oak

Hows is the ankle feeling?  Try not to push it too much.  Your next race sounds like it will be a great course to run.

Amy,

Congrats on your race.  Running in that kind of heat is not an easy feat.

I love the sound of a skirt chase.  Call me what you will but chasing a buch of lady's in skirts sounds like how all races should go.  I have noticed a couple of women at the gym are starting to wear workout skirts and I give them all two thumbs up. So if any of you out there are wondering if you should switch to skirts, yes, yes you should.  :-D

Suzi,

Nice!  Second is awesome.   I find open water swims a bit scary myself.  My mind begins to wander, the imagination begins to run and bizaar thoughts fill the mind. I just figure more practice is needed.

Congrats on your first race. First race, middle of the pack is a great accomplishment.  I am sure you will beat your goal of under 35.  When is your next race?

Due to my less than stellar performance in Sunday's swim, I have been persuaded to go to the Master's swim class on Tuesday evenings with one of my tri-buddies.  UG.  I am in for a butt kicking workout for sure.  Plus, it's at 8:00 pm.  That's late for me and  I am usually quite tired by then as I get up early.  And the water is cold at our club....Listen to me, complaining and I haven't even gone to the class yet.

Catching up -

Suzanne- congrats on your PR!!

Amybecca - cool race theme.  Great that you were able to enjoy it despite the heat.

Susie- congrats on your relay finish!  I volunteered at the race and that was a LLOOONNGG swim.  Great job.  1/2 iron next? Wow. You totally rock. Enjoy masters class.

Terri 

This is long, sorry in advance, but had to share.

So on Sunday I volunteered with a girlfriend at a local race.  (Missed the opportunity to meet Susie ) We started the day helping set up the water station inside transition, and then quickly got moved to the bike mount line where no one was stationed (??). 

The first competitors to cross our post were the para-triathletes.  Moving, inspirational, amazing athletes.  Doesn’t begin to describe it.  Then came the leaders.  Wow.  Flying mounts on incredible bikes and it was ON.  Then the masses started to come and the bike mount line became a bit of a cluster___.  Slipping bike shoes, penalties for helmets not fastened, ipods(!!)  and mounting too early.  A couple of crashes, and one guy had such wobbly legs from the swim he knocked over a section of fencing! Chaos!!

As the leaders started coming back in on the bike, many of them had already started their dismount, only to learn that the dismount line was another 100 yds away!  Several were really upset.  More/better signage would have been helpful. 

Transition was nearly empty of bikes, so we moved to our next post which was a turnaround area on the run course.  We ran the ½ mile and on the way saw a few swimmers still finishing the course.  On the run course, we could see that some runners were not following the course correctly – a few were cutting off entire sections! – so we posted ourselves to give clearer directions.  The aid station (the only one?) was nearby, and some runners were leaving the Olympic course to go back for more water, so I tried to set up a supplemental "aid station" closer to that section of the course, mostly to try to support the runners doing the longer distance. I figured, if I were running the race I would probably appreciate the extra shot at some fluid since the temps were starting to climb.

Well, it seemed like a good idea in the beginning, but when the number of runners multiplied, I ended up being the worst aid station EVER – could hardly do anything fast enough, practically pouring water to order.  Yikes. Probably upset a lot of athletes who were hoping for more water and ended up SOL due to the dismal efforts of that overly ambitious volunteer.  Oh well. 

As things thinned out, we started cleaning up the discarded cups and other trash on the course.  When that was done, we still had not seen the sweep vehicle with the last athlete, and every few minutes a lone runner would happen by.  A race coordinator finally came by and said that the last competitor was walking the course and was probably about 10 minutes away.  My friend & I and the other volunteer who stayed decided that we were not going to leave a lonely table with a few cups of water for the guy.  When he came into view, we cheered him on and let him know that we would be waiting for him when he came back around after the turn.  He was a 55 year old seasoned sprint triathlete, but knee replacements ended his ability to run, and an Olympic distance tri was on his bucket list.  When he came back around, we all  picked up our stuff and walked with him the last mile and half to the finish line where his friends and family were waiting (making sure we got out of the way for his finisher photo).   

Best

Race

Ever. 

So awesome! I love these sorts of tri stories. We're part of the coolest sport. Great job supporting the athletes all the way through!

Terri, sorry I missed you at PP last Sunday.  After my swim I was waiting in transition watching the bikes come back in.  Wow! The elite racers are incredible.  Flying up to the dismount line and seamlessly dismounting the bike and into a run without slowing down.  Then there were those who didn't quite have the knack yet.  Saw a couple of crashes.  One poor women came flying in and then both she and her bike fell but both kept on sliding across the pavement. Ouch!  Her knees where in bad shape.  One guy who fell almost caused a pile up behind him. 

I heard the swim was long (over1500) did you here about that?  If true, makes me feel a little better about my time, although I still was the last out of the water.  

I have to admit that the Master's class was actually not bad. I'm actually going to sign up and go every Tuesday. Very challenging, but I liked it because it kept you moving.  Very short breaks between sets and when it was time to go, it was time to go.  I will post the workout in my log. 

Have a great Wednesday!

Since we share our successes here, I thought I'd share mine. I've lost a lot of weight getting ready to do this tri thing, which I had hoped for! But I've gained SO much more than I lost...and I wrote about it on my blog today, along with a before/during picture (because we're not at the after point just yet!). So, if you want...  threecatsandakiddo.blogspot.com

Monday- ran 4.16mi in 47 min

Tues- fun run for free beer- 3.1mi in 32min- trouble sleeping after run, legs, joints ached- better with aleve!

Today- my legs felt achy- went to spinning class in the morning- flush out the DOMS

Tomorrow- TRX class at the Y

Friday- run or spin?  can't decide which

Awk1987- love the race story- everyone, keep the race stories coming!

Amybecca- I was doing weight watchers for a while, I stopped since working out with the tri people- I didn't feel like I was getting fueled well enough.  I'm losing slower now, but I'm not starving, and I have the energy to work out longer.  

You look fantastic!!!!  Congrats - your hard work has really paid off.  And you are right, this tri thing is so much more than just about a number on the scales...

Suzanne