National Harbor OWS

I didn't have to coach gymnastics this week, so I took full advantage of it and decided to test out swimming at the National Harbor. These open water swims are put on by Wave One swimming and are held every Thursday. Of course I coach every Thursday so I was excited that I could actually go to one!

We (Jason and I) arrived with plenty of time before the swim start. It was a super relaxed set up and they just gave a short and sweet overview before we could get in the water.

 

The course was set up at a 300 meter triangle and you could swim much as you wanted for an hour or until the sun went down. The water felt clean and was the perfect temp at 74 degrees. I was glad I decided not to wear my wetsuit and get in some last minute open water training in before Raleigh. I swam 8 loops in who knows how long?? I always forget to wear a watch to these things. The buoys were a little hard to sight as they were small, but you can't really get lost when you are swimming in a circle.

 

Overall it was a great experience and I am sad I can't make it to any more of these as my open water swimming and my swimming in general is not the best.

 

Happy Friday and have a great weekend! 

Raleigh 70.3 Goals

IM Raleigh 70.3 is this weekend and I am getting excited!

 

I used the same 20 week training plan that I used last year, which is from trifuel.com. I know this is just a generic plan and is not catered toward individual athletes, but it seems to work out ok for me and it's free! True specific workouts are not given, only time, but it wasn't too hard to know some of these workouts needed to be interval, hill, or speed work days. Overall I think training went well, even though my motivation was pretty low in Jan and Feb. Slowly but surely I got more into training and am excited to race this weekend :)

 

I registered for this race the same day it opened and am looking forward to hopefully a traffic free 4 hour drive to Raleigh. I don't know why though that I didn't think there going to be a heat wave in NC in June. I don't race well in heat. Actually I am horrible runner in the heat. We have had a cold spring this year and I was hoping it would continue through the first weekend in June, but no so such luck. Race day weather as of today: 89! But I am trying to stay positive here - we can not control the weather, so I just have to make the most of it - it could be worse - like rain and high winds. So I will not complain.

 

I started to get nervous thinking about the goals I have set for myself and how the heat might be in the way of my goals...ie death march on the run...

 

swim: around 35-37 minutes.

Not sure how much a wetsuit actually helps you, but my time at kinetic last yr was 36 minutes, so just hoping to do the same. Also hoping I don't panic in the damn water. I always seem to do this. I would also like to put forth an effort on the swim instead of just floating along at a comfy zone 1 pace. 

 

Bike: around 2:55 (give or take)

The bike course looks to be rolling hills with an adorable 1200 ft of climbing over the 56 miles. This seems like it should be a fast course? I really have no clue. I just want to ride smart, take in my calories, and save some of my legs for the run. As Karen says, "drink your drink, eat your snacks."

 

Run: ??? wildcard

Umm...usually the run is my strongest leg, but this is the leg that I am really nervous about. Like I mentioned I don't run well in the heat and my body really hasn't had a chance to get to used to running in the heat since it's been cooler. I have been running high 7s to low 8s off the bike and my original goal was around a 1:45 half. I don't know if this is reasonable anymore or if I am just being a wimp. I guess I really will not know until I'm running out of T2 as to how the day will go. I need to stop working myself up about this stupid run.

 

Transitions:

Get the hell out there as fast as I can and don't BS around like I usually do.

 

Hmm...lets see...other than being a little nervous I think I am ready to go :)

 

Happy Wednesday all :)

Capitol Hill Classic 10k Race Report

I have always wanted to run the Capitol Hill Classic, but this is the first year I was actually free the weekend of the race and could run it. The course itself is just an out and back with a little running around RFK.

When I first registered I thought it might be a stupid idea to do a race after riding the Casa River Century the day before. But as it turns out, it was a good idea!

I have never really raced raced a 10k and didn't really have any goals going into this race besides run and have fun. The race starts at Stanton Park which is just a short walk from our house over by Lincoln Park. Walking to a race = the best thing ever! We left our house at 8 and met up with Rachel around 8:15 for a 8:30 start time.

The race was delayed 15 minutes which wasn't too big of a deal and we squeezed our way near the front as no one was seeded correctly.  So we knew there was going to be rage rolling right at the start line.

Mile 1 : 6:50

As soon as I crossed the start line my goal was to find some free space and get around the slow people who should have not been at the front of the line. I didn't want all the zig zagging around people to slow me down and didn't realize how fast I actually ran the fist mile in. My watch beeped: 6:50. Um. I just did a 6:50 mile but hey it didn't feel all that bad. So for whatever reason my new goal became to finish the 10k with a 6:xx overall pace. I don't know I always just make up goals in the middle of my races, but every time I do I am just let down.

Mile 2 & 3: 6:56 - 6:53

As I was trotting along down East Capitol Street I spotted a guy that was running about the same pace as me and decided I wanted to keep up with him. As my watched beeped after each mile I looked down and thought wow I am actually going to do this. I am going sub 7. I only have 3 more miles.... how hard can it be to run 3 more miles at this pace......

Mile 4: 7:05

By this time in the course we were running what seemed like zig zag circles in the RFK parking lot. Even though it was boring, it was flat. My pace slowed down a little and my pacer was slipping away from me. I wasn't too worried about the 7:05 and thought I could pick it back up the last two miles.

Mile 5: 7:36

WTF Hill and WTF legs. My legs felt like death as I struggled to maintain a faster pace. My brain really wanted to run faster, but my legs did not. Ugh. There goes my made up goal.

Mile 6: 7:16

I was really struggling the last mile and as you can see I ran this race way to fast the first three miles. I tried my best to bring my pace back down but just couldn't do it.

Mile .3: 2:02

My watched ended being ahead just a little bit but I tried to kick it into high gear for the last .3 (6:46 pace). I was happy to be finished and cross the finish line.

Total Time: 44:38  which landed me 18th out of 1288 women and 8th in my AG.

Thoughts ~ I couldn't be happier. I ran this race on tired legs from the day before and still had a great day. I wasn't expecting much coming into the race and ran way faster than I thought I would. I don't even know what my other 10k times are? Maybe 52 minutes. So I got a big PR. True I didn't go sub 7 but I don't even know where that goal came from. I certainly wasn't training to do that so I can't be upset. Overall it was a great day and brunch afterwards was so much fun.

Happy Tues All :)