Ernesto's group (5th season) - Closed (Page 93)

Congratulations Tay and Jordan, great job on your first triathlons!

Chris, seems like the weather is going to be nice and cool for your race tomorrow, enjoy it! 

Martian Half Marathon Race Report - April 13, 2013

Time: 1:46:10
Overall: 310/1953
Gender: 244/907
AG: 35/139

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/297245450

Race time was 8:45am and was about 30 minutes away in Dearborn, MI.  Race course was planned to be on a road that is notorious for being flooded, although the race has never been impacted in the past.  This year it rained all week so of course the course was flooded and instead of an out and back it was an alternate course through neighborhoods that was meandering and a bit hilly.

I was up by 5:45 and had a bagel with humus at about 6:00 with some coffee that I took in the car.  The Marathon went off at about 7:15 and I arrived about that time.  Used the facilities, got my race packet and went back to my car to change and rest in the heat of the car before the race.  It was mid 30's and breezy with some gusts.  Light rainy/snow.  Raced in shorts, compression socks, under armour tee with a race tech long sleeve shirt and cotton gloves. I had a stinger waffle at about 7:45 and a GU Roctane at 8:30.  Hydrated as well.  Used the facilities one last time and got in the corrall right before the planned start time.  Didn't realize they pushed the start back 10 minutes due to the alternate course.

The race starts with a short steep hill and then meaders through Dearborn, heads out of town and then wandered all over neighborhoods for about 7 or 8 miles before the course straightening out for the home stretch.

My plan was to run mile 1 at 8:20, mile 2 at 8:00, miles 3 and 4 at 7:50 and then see if I could hold 7:40s for the rest of the race.  My legs had been very tired and sore as of late and my HR has seemed to be elevated as well.  I was surprised how strong I felt at the start and ended up ignoring my plan [DUMB?].  I felt strong for the first half and then the wheels started to come off.  HR seemed too high and also experienced some abdominal cramping around 7 where I walked for a short period to get HR down.  Tried to slow it down and keep a decent pace but in the last few miles I just got tired.  Had additional abdominal cramping around mile 9/10 and bit dizzy at one point.  I knew I wasn't going to beat my time from last year and accepted defeat during mile 12.  Still mad at myself for mailing it in at that point.  I had no desire at that point to deal with the hurt and walked quite a bit of that mile.  I picked up the pace for the last mile and finished strong.

Nutrition wise I had 16 oz of GU Electrolyte Brew in bottles on my fuel belt and consumed 2 GU Roctanes during the race at miles 4 and 8.  I trained with the GU Eletcrolyte Brew and GU gels.  Wonder if the Stinger waffle was just a bit too many calories prior to the race.  Have never had nutrition at the 1 hour point before a race before and this is the only race where I have had abdominal cramping.  This is also the first race where I consumed energy in liquid form throughout the race - wonder if difference in calorie cosnsumption when running at easy pace versus race pace.  Calorie summary as follows:

6:00am - 420 calories
7:45am - 160 calories
8:30am - 100 calories
During Race - Energy Drink 100 Calories, 2 gels at 100 calories each -> Total 300 calories

So, unsure if I impacted myself with the extra nutrition.  Certainly went out faster than I should have, especially given the windier conditions.  I felt strong and thought I'd go for it.  Guess that didn't work out so well.

Time to get back at it and train for the next race.  Thanks for listening Team.

WTG Tay and Jordan!

I finished my first tri for the year. Key learning: now matter how short a Tri is, doing one without proper training is never a good idea Who knew?????

Due to sickness/injury, my tally for the last month was 2 runs, 2 rides, and 1 swim session. Good news: I finished in one piece. Bad news: it was a suffer fest from the beginning (my first surf entry race did not help matters). Is it bad wanting to stop running after only 1/3 of a mile? And yet, as always, enjoyed every single minute of it.

Next stop a visit to the ART to see what the recurrent hip pain is (think is a hip flexor strain but want to make sure). Did not bother me during the race but its acting up now. Next race is a tough Oly in June 1 (tough as in as in June heat and humidity in FL). Will not even attempt that one without proper training so hopefully will get healthy and motivated.

Way to go Chris, well done and look forward to your RR.  Thanks for sharing Jackie!

WTG Chris. Must have been the outfit! Congrats!

Thanks, Jim!  Relieved to hear he is ok.  Sick to my stomach still. 

Me too. It is very disturbing.

Congratulations Chris!

I can't believe what happened there... just watching the morning news. Sick people. Sick to the core.

It takes a lot to make me angry, but I am pretty angry that anyone would do such a thing with a complete disregard for human life.

X2, very glad you are fine and really sad/pissed off about the events that happened today

X3 ^^ So true and sad. Wish you all the best Chris, and we pray it wont effect you in any way.