JAPEWANG's GROUP - CLOSED (Page 9)

Phaethon - 2013-04-24 3:53 PM Touching base again! I have a 5k Saturday, my first event of the year. Grats on the PR RZ0, i wish I could run that fast! Early on this year, when the training was going well I had visions of being fleet footed for this event but now not so much. I ran 3 miles around the neighborhood this afternoon in windy, sleety weather and I was close to beating my personal best so I feel good about my chances come race day. Unfortunately that will be around the 29 minute mark; I tell myself I'm all slow twitch now that I've been training. Very slow twitch

Sounds like you are on the verge of a breakthrough. Good luck Saturday!

Congrats on the PR!  Sounds like you're ready for your HIM.  I have a lot of friends racing at St. George so will be following!  What's your bib #?

My bib is 1049. I can't believe how soon it is! I am excited and nervous. I just gotta keep my head in the game and trust all the training.

Hi gang, Finally checking in again. I was sick for a bit and then had a slight hamstring issue that kept me from running for a while but I'm back on schedule for a 10 mile run tomorrow and then it's taper week before my first half marathon ever!

Nice work on the 5k PR, Joe.

I did my 10 miles Saturday at around 9:40/mile pace. No issues with the hamstring so I think I'm officially past that injury/soreness issue. A friend of mine ran with me to help me keep going. It felt like the run went by really quick with someone alongside and talking.

My only real goal is to finish the HM, but I'd like to be under 10:00/mile pace maybe even closer to 9:30 pace. I'll probably try to start around 9:30 and see if I can maintain that for the whole race.

Hi all,

Just checking in. Sounds like lots of people are getting into the swing of things...congrats to everyone who has accomplished goals over the last couple weeks!

My training has been going well. I did a couple of long brick workouts over the past 2 weeks, which was a good confidence boost. Yesterday it was a 20 minute run, 2 hour bike, then the same 20 minute run. The second time around I knocked 30 seconds of the run, so I was pretty happy about that. The bikes have been agonizingly slow since my racing bike is en route to the U.S. and I've been working out on my mountain bike. But I figure the time in the saddle and the cadence are the same, even if I'm going much shorter distances.

Thursday I begin a 2 day, 3 continent trip from Africa to the U.S. with a 2 year old and an 8 month pregnant wife, so I'm not expecting to hit all my training for the week. My plan is to do a 2 hour run on Thursday early morning, get on the plane that evening, do 1.5 hours of spinning on Friday at the hotel gym during our overnight layover in Amsterdam, take Saturday off, and then hopefully get a swim an/or bike in on Sunday once we're settled in D.C. Any tips on sticking to a plan while traveling?

With that kind of itinerary, my advice is don't beat yourself up if you don't get all your exercise in. Aren't you worried about jet lag?

Dan, I hope you and your family have a safe trip.

I'm in my taper week leading up to my half marathon this Sunday. Ran 5 miles on Tuesday afternoon and that will be my last run before the HM. Did an open water swim with a friend of mine yesterday evening. We swam across one end of a local lake that is protected from boat traffic. The shore about 1/4 mile accross has a spot with a nice red color to it to sight on and the patch of rocks where we start is good for sighting coming back. A solid half mile workout. My sighting was pretty good, I only had to do minimal corrections and never went wildly off line.

I hope everyone is having some good workouts. Be safe and train smart! 

Laura,

Congrats on the finish at IMSG!  Tell us about it!

Sorry for the delay, we went on vacation right after the race, this is the first day I am back to the grind!

So first, I am so incredibly excited and proud to be a half Ironman I am SO HAPPY about finishing. I feel like I killed it, for me. I finished in 6:29:41. I beat my goal time by 30 minutes!

So the weather was great. Not too much wind, but a bit hot by the late morning/afternoon. The swim water was pretty cold, but not a big deal for me. I had purchased a neoprene cap the week before just in case, turns out it was a good investment. I had forgotten my earplugs in my checked morning bag in my sweatshirt pocket, but fortunately someone in my wave was nice enough to split her wax with me That was a life saver. I got in the water, was shocked as the cold water filled my wetsuit, took a couple strokes before putting my face in and just dealt with it. I knew once I started I would be fine. And I was. I did great on the swim around 36 mintues. I felt really strong, but not like I was pushing too hard. I did get my goggles knocked off my face (first time that has happened), but I rolled on my back, kept kicking and got them taken care of. They never had that perfect seal again, but I was over halfway done so I just kept swimming.

I am horrible in transition, I really need some practice there. It took some serious work to get my wetsuit into the transition bag (clean transition). I also dry off so I can get on some sunscreen. 30 seconds is not worth it to me to be miserable for the next couple days on top of being sore. Then onto the bike. I felt GREAT on the bike. I passed people, and LOTS of people passed me....more like flew past me. It is impressive to see people and how FAST they can go. But I must say, I rocked the downhills and flew past a lot of people. as long as they weren't hanging several wide and blocking the passing lane. The last mile of Snow Canyon was just as awful as I remember it being, though the first part of it was not as bad. The downhill was smoking and only one really awful wind gust, but I saw the bikes before me get hit so I held on tight, tightened my abs and got through that section. I followed my nutrition plan, and added 2 half bananas at aide stations 2 and 3. I watched someone crash right in the aide station right in front of me. You kind of feel awful and want to help, but you don't know what to do, and at least there were volunteers right there for him. The nice long downhill was thrown a wrench with a bike path with crazy turns and a nice little uphill near the end, but then a nice gentle downhill to scream through towards transition. 3:09 on the bike! Super happy with that.

Off the bike, into T2, changed shoes, sunscreen, bathroom, off on the run. Which was awful. It was constantly up or down. I managed to run the first 2.5 until the killer straight uphill, and when I looked up I saw just about everyone else walking too, so I didn't feel that bad. By mile 5 my stomach felt awful, I couldn't follow my nutrition plan. The thought of Gu made me want to throw up more. I dumped my awful tasting gatorade and filled it with water. I took some pretzels. Pretty much the whole run I had a screaming headache and stomach was quesy. But I knew it would only be over faster the faster I got to the finish line. So I ran EVERY single downhill and kept the momentum up the uphills as long as I could. I walked through each aide station to drink water, get sponges, dump some water/ice on me and then get going again. I was that girl who literally had to motivate herself outloud, but it worked for me, so I went with it. It even got some other people to start running at the same time with me.

So the last 4 miles is generally downhill, thank God, until right before mile 11. They stick this evil little super steep uphill in there. Fortunately, I saw my husband and kids right at the beginning of the hill and then at the bottom of it and my husband yelled, "GO FAST!" Everyone laughed, but I knew what he meant. Get it. It is only going to be over when you get there, so I turned my feet over as fast as I could for the last 2 miles, which seemed to take forever. As I turned down the shoot, a girl my age passed me, and I started sprinting (or what felt like one at that point) to catch up, which I did not, but I am pretty sure that is how I beat 6:30. And when I finished I thought I was going to throw up from the sprint.

I was elated when I finished. Althought not as elated as I should have been, since I felt like I was going to throw up. I eventually felt better. It was not until I checked my time that I felt those tears of pride. When I saw 6:29:41, I almost cried. I was so proud of myself. I still can't believe that I made it under 6:30.

It's funny how the mind works, though. Immediately after the race, I said that was fun-awful, but fun, but I think it was my only one. By the evening I was thinking about how I can improve. A week out, I am looking for the next half. I know there are many things to work on, first of being my run. I am slow and I have to get better at that. Next being transitions. I just lose a couple minutes in there compared to everyone else. I have to get quicker.

The goal now is to keep racing Olys for fun, to get quicker and more efficient. I would like to drop 10-15 pounds. And then find another half. No matter what, the course can't be as tough as St. George! I have an Oly this weekend and I was thinking about doing the ShowLow Dueces Wild half on June 2, but I am not sure if that is too soon? Regardless, I am going to do Soma Half here in Tempe in October.

It was a great experience, and I will probably do HIMSG again. I have to improve on this year's time. And best of all, now I am a half Ironman, and not a lot of people can say that.