Sunday, July 31, 2016

A 3-month catch-up before blogging reconvenes.

What have I done since that last race report? A lot of running events in May. Then a half ironman I should've trained more for. Helped coach a triathlon camp. Building up our local Team RWB community. Got a new baby niece. Lost my mojo. Trying to find it again...




May 8. Delaware Marathon Relay with coworkers. 47:06 for 6.55 miles. AND, we beat the team we wanted to beat!



May 21. Merry in May 5k, pushing Preston as Team Preston/Team Elf! 2nd female with a 24:22, a chair-pushing PR since it was my first time doing this.


May 26. Fallen Heroes 5k honoring Elizabeth Loncki. 2nd female with a 21:07. Excited with our local Team RWB turnout and being able to relay the flag across the finish line to honor our fallen!



Memorial Day. 500 for the Fallen Relay legs--a flag relay from Massachusetts to Arlington Cemetery to raise money for children of fallen soldiers. We did most of the Delaware legs!



June 4. Beach Goes Blue 5k AKA my father-in-law's 70th birthday and first 5k. First place female...second overall and only NINE SECONDS from beating the first guy! Darn! 21:18.


TEAM NEILL SHIRTS!!!


We did win the biggest team award and even made the local paper (but NINE SECONDS from making the headline! Ugh!).


June 12. Eagleman 70.3 -- I went 5:25 and got 16th in my new 35-39 age group on embarassingly little training. This is 34 minutes slower than my PR but actually a pretty good time considering a) it was HOT AS BALLS and b) I didn't put much work into it.


Do you really want a race report? Here's the gist:



So I had a motivation (or rather self-discipline?) problem following the Coastal Delaware Marathon. We actually switched over to a 4-day workweek starting in May (which is supposed to be 4 x 10-hour days but in reality there have been 12-hour days). I got really sick during the first week of this switchover because I wasn't being good at the recovery stuff. I swam only 4x leading up to the race, distances of 1900m the first time (just so I know I could) and the rest only 1000m. My arms really hurt during the race but I managed to go 41 minutes. With more training, I would typically swim 35-38ish minutes anyway, so that wasn't bad!


I rode my bike outside 3x leading up to the race. And not much on the trainer indoors either. My long rides were 56 miles (4 weeks out), 57 miles (3 weeks out), and 50 miles (2 weeks out). During the race I held back on the bike, because I knew it was going to be super hot and I didn't want to completely die on the run. I still broke 2:45. I know biking is probably the one discipline that I'm naturally suited for and do best in without training much. Coincidentally the bike leg also accounts for 50% of most triathlons! (But I should still train more if I actually want to PR again.)


My run training consisted mostly of all those races I just listed above, Wednesday night runs with Team RWB (3.5 miles), no real long runs, just hoping and praying that I had some residual marathon fitness. HA! My race strategy included running with my signature Camelbak filled with the rocket fuel mix of Starbucks Frappuccino on ice, spiked with electrolytes. I actually ran really strong the first 10 miles, holding 8- to 8:30-per-mile pace and then the heat, dehydration and lack of training hit me in the last 5k in the form of crazy leg cramps.

I know I have better in me. I need to JUST EFFING TRAIN.


June 24-26. 2nd annual Team RWB Mid-Atlantic Tri Camp in Richmond, VA. My second time attending as a tri coach and this time we had the campers do a REAL triathlon on the last day! Only there was crazy flooding so it became a duathlon.




I was granted one of the extra Team RWB entries so I could be like a "race angel" for our newest of the newbies. I ran the first segment with Lois and then stalked her on the bike. She had soaked up all the bike handling and shifting advice I gave her the day before quite amazingly, and then I ran the second segment and finished with Fey. I actually got dead last in my age group (25th out of 25) but did not care, I had the goofiest smile on my face the whole time, because spreading triathlon joy with newbies is really fun!




July 2. Paralympic trials in Charlotte to support Will's athletic endeavors. He didn't quite make it but we are looking at 2020 trials for potentially cycling AND track! We also got to check out some NASCAR stuff with Kevin. Because you know, Charlotte, NC = home of NASCAR!



July 3. 5-year anniversary of the Ironman Korea car accident (a factor in my "retirement" later that year). Incidentally not too long after I started this blog while transitioning away from the Team TBB blog. I have unresolved feelings about all this.


July 15. Kevin's birthday, and we found someone with a tall enough bike for him!


July 16. Baby niece Cara comes into the world!


Big brother Harvey is questionably not impressed.



July 23. Fusion 5 & Dime 10-miler. 1st AG, 3rd OAF. 1:23 = 11 minutes off my PR but it was hot and I hadn't run much in 2 months. It actually went through our neighborhood and passed our street 4x, which I thought would be neat until I realized how tempting it was to go home in the middle of the race and dunk myself in a cold shower. Awesome event by Fusion Race Timing and more Team RWB bonding! #EaglesFlyTogether



July 29. 6-year anniversary of when I landed in Delaware. To help promote the first (and only) USA location of The Bike Boutique (the TBB in "teamTBB"). I got to autograph the wall!




In the meantime, Aero the pup continues to be cute, keeps growing taller, and is learning lots. Tomorrow she graduates from her first puppy class! She did great on her first road trip with me (sleeping most of the way) to Charlotte, but does not like pooping in strange places, like any rest stops... (can't have a good blog without mentioning poop, right?)