I was hoping it was fluke last week when I woke up at 5am to get back into going to Masters swim.. but to my complete disappointment it was even darker this morning and raining. It was almost like the middle of winter (except that the window was open). So it has started we are loosing daylight hours. And it is not just in the morning last night I finished my run in the dark and it was only 8pm. It seems it is time to start getting used to training in the dark again- dig out the reflective stuff and the blinky lights and start drinking MORE coffee I guess.
It was an weird masters swim for me. Since it is a recovery week I appropriately feel kind of tired so I did not expect much in the pool this morning. I got there and actually did the full 700 yrd warmup (I never do the warm up) and since the first set had kicking I offered to lead (I love kicking - all those years skiing help). It was something like 6x150 with evens 50 kick, 50 drill, 50 swim, odds 150 stroke, 150 swim. I was surprised I felt pretty good and pulled away from everyone on the kick and then managed to hold them off the rest.. By the 6th one though I felt tired so I asked Greg to lead for the first 400. But 300 in he pulled off and told me to go ahead.. oh well the draft was nice while it lasted. Next up was 2 x 400 fast.. No one jumped at the opportunity to lead so I went with the warning I'm horrible at counting and not sure how fast I would be. I have no clue where it came from but I pulled away from the others and felt really strong. And of course I lost count and found out that we did 450 oops. oh well. I'm not sure I could call the second 400 fast but it was at least I stayed focused and kept the intensity up and pulled away from the others. The rest of the workout was kind of the same..
I guess I am kind of shocked I have never pulled away from anyone in the pool especially at masters. Maybe it was just the Via and chocolate milk but I drink that before all my morning workouts. Well and to be honest a few of the usual people who lead where not there this morning but they have also been moved to another lane a lot lately. But fingers crossed I can keep it up and it was just not a fluke.
Showing posts with label seattle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seattle. Show all posts
Aug 12, 2009
Jul 19, 2009
Seafair Sprint Triathlon 2009
On July 19 a huge group of the Pauole Sport team came out and did the Seafair Sprint Triathlon. So of course Kyle and I did it as well. The weird thing was is as it got closure I really was not that excited about dealing with the logistics and racing such a short race.. But once we got there on race morning with so many people we knew I had such a great time.
The racked the bikes by bib number which must have been based on when you registered because Kyle and I were right next to each other. At least I knew who to blame if all my stuff was tossed everywhere lol
I only brought 1 pair of run shoes and since they close T1 I had to get my :15 warm up run in before they shut it down even though I started almost a full :30 after the start. The warm up went well as always and then I got in my wetsuit and headed to the lake to watch the elite wave start, then Kyle and finally get in the lake myself. It was chilly and I could not help shaking uncontrollably while waiting to get going.
Finally my wave got started. For some reason most of the pack seemed to swim way left and round but I just went straight so I did not really get much of a draft :/ but at least I did not swim extra. I did however forget to kick lol and about half way I had to remind myself this was a short race and I should pick up the intensity a bit and actually kick a little more.
I came out of the water and headed into T1 and got the wetsuit of fairly fast and got the helmet on with no issues and was out on the bike. Not to bad for only my second transition this year... and first with a wetsuit..
The course is pretty much flat compared to all the rides I have done this year and since flats are not my strength I was not really expecting much. But I managed to pass a ton of people and more importantly only got passed by a few of the relay cyclists who were all decked out in cycling kit. I made sure to try and drink at least half my bottle of gatorade and had a gel half way so that I would not have to eat or drink anything on the run.
In no time I was heading back to transition and out onto the run. It was kind of weird I felt really dizzy on the 1st mile of the run which has never happened to me before. It also felt kind of hard and I did not get why until my garmin told me it was mile 1 and I had run it in 7:40.. hmm yeah no wonder it felt hard. I managed to find a good rhythm and not really slow to much till the hill.. Stupid hill more like it. I'm glad I ran the course a couple days before and found out about it because it was steep. I tried not to completely redline it but of course I kept at it.. But once I reached the top I picked it up as much as I could on the way down and did my best to maintain that momentum and effort all the way to the finish.
The last half mile I ran in 3:20 which is a 6:40 m/mi pace :) and my heart rate appropriately reached 190 bpm.
Final times
1/2-mile Swim 0:16:03
t1 1:49
12-mile Bike 0:38:05
t2 1:27
3.1-mile (5k) Run 0:24:46
Overall 1:22:10
Age group 16/124
In all I am pretty happy with how the race went and how I finished in my age group and such. Not to bad for not doing much speed work lol.
After the race the team all got together for a team photo... check out all the orange. It was so much fun racing and seeing so many people from the team out there.
The racked the bikes by bib number which must have been based on when you registered because Kyle and I were right next to each other. At least I knew who to blame if all my stuff was tossed everywhere lol
I only brought 1 pair of run shoes and since they close T1 I had to get my :15 warm up run in before they shut it down even though I started almost a full :30 after the start. The warm up went well as always and then I got in my wetsuit and headed to the lake to watch the elite wave start, then Kyle and finally get in the lake myself. It was chilly and I could not help shaking uncontrollably while waiting to get going.
Finally my wave got started. For some reason most of the pack seemed to swim way left and round but I just went straight so I did not really get much of a draft :/ but at least I did not swim extra. I did however forget to kick lol and about half way I had to remind myself this was a short race and I should pick up the intensity a bit and actually kick a little more.
I came out of the water and headed into T1 and got the wetsuit of fairly fast and got the helmet on with no issues and was out on the bike. Not to bad for only my second transition this year... and first with a wetsuit..
The course is pretty much flat compared to all the rides I have done this year and since flats are not my strength I was not really expecting much. But I managed to pass a ton of people and more importantly only got passed by a few of the relay cyclists who were all decked out in cycling kit. I made sure to try and drink at least half my bottle of gatorade and had a gel half way so that I would not have to eat or drink anything on the run.
In no time I was heading back to transition and out onto the run. It was kind of weird I felt really dizzy on the 1st mile of the run which has never happened to me before. It also felt kind of hard and I did not get why until my garmin told me it was mile 1 and I had run it in 7:40.. hmm yeah no wonder it felt hard. I managed to find a good rhythm and not really slow to much till the hill.. Stupid hill more like it. I'm glad I ran the course a couple days before and found out about it because it was steep. I tried not to completely redline it but of course I kept at it.. But once I reached the top I picked it up as much as I could on the way down and did my best to maintain that momentum and effort all the way to the finish.
The last half mile I ran in 3:20 which is a 6:40 m/mi pace :) and my heart rate appropriately reached 190 bpm. Final times
1/2-mile Swim 0:16:03
t1 1:49
12-mile Bike 0:38:05
t2 1:27
3.1-mile (5k) Run 0:24:46
Overall 1:22:10
Age group 16/124
In all I am pretty happy with how the race went and how I finished in my age group and such. Not to bad for not doing much speed work lol.
After the race the team all got together for a team photo... check out all the orange. It was so much fun racing and seeing so many people from the team out there.
Mar 15, 2009
St. Patrick's Day Dash - 2009
-Meryl Schenker/Seattle Post-IntelligencerKyle, our friend Cynthia and I braved the snow and rain to run the annual St. Patrick's Day Dash. they changed the course this year so we did not get to run across the viaduct but we did get to run with 7,000+ other crazy people out running in the cold. Kyle and with the help of my very creative mom dressed up a little bit. She made me a skirt from a old t-shirt she found that said "Feeling Lucky" and she made Kyle a custom running kilt (in 2 days!).
I'm glad it was a short race because I pretty much did not do anything right. Well I prepped correctly but once we got to the event with the crazy weather I did not do a real warm up, forgot to eat a gel right before the start, went out to hard and spent the 1st mile and half recovering from that. The last 2 miles were ok sub 8 m/miles but my legs felt stiff. I barely even kicked into the finish and then jogged straight for the clothes check - I was soaking wet and cold.
Final numbers
distance: 3.75 miles
time: 31:04
pace: 8:17
overall place: 753 out of 7233
division place: 36 out of 755 - not bad for such a big race :)
gender place: 154 out of 3813
That being said I had a great time getting out and running in such a big race with so many people all dressed up. At least I now remember all the things to do pre race so I can do better next week on a longer race.
Nov 30, 2008
Seattle Half Marathon 2008
Both Kyle and I decided to run the Seattle half marathon a couple of months ago even though we were doing the World Championships 70.3 only a couple weeks before. I am not sure about Kyle but I think the main reason I registered for the race is that my employer paid most of the registration fee. I know not the smartest reason by hey why not. My other motivation was to beat my time from 2 years ago when I ran it as my 1st half marathon ever and I ran a 2:01 when I wanted a 2:00. Last time I felt the course beat me and I wanted to get that ghost out of my head.
Anyway we got up early I ate a slice of pumpkin pie for breakfast along with some nuun (yes looking at this now it seems like the strangest pre race breakfast). Then we drove to the start and got there nice and early, got good parking, took our bag of dry clothes to the drop area. Then it was of to the porta potties and low and behold it was early enough to have no line. After chatting with a few friends we went off to stretch and do a short little warm up run. These are all the reasons I like getting to races nice and early...
When it was time to line up we saw another friend that we met in Clearwater who has recently joined the Pauole Sport Team. We all lined up together but both her and Kyle had faster goals that me so I just did my own thing once the race started. Since we were not very far back in no time at all I was across the start line and off and running.
The first couple of miles through downtown were uneventful other than that with in half a mile the gloves were off, then the arm warmers. Of course I dropped an arm warmer and almost got run when I went back to grab it off the ground. Luckily I survived and kept running. I was almost surprised as the miles went by and all of a sudden I was running into the tunnel completely over heating. I contemplated pouring water on myself but remembered I was not in a triathlon and it was sort of cold out.. So I just kept running though the tunnel/sauna sweating like crazy. Luckily there was a very slight breeze when I ran out of the tunnel to help keep my temperature in line.
I kept my pace very consistent and mostly just had fun with it - no stressing allowed. Monique had mentioned one of her friends would be running and she was going to meet him at mile 5ish so I looked to see if she was still around. She wound up seeing me first and joined me. She was not sure where her friend was but lucky for me she ran with me while she looked around for him. I saw my mom and Jerry cheering on the long hill on Madison (I think) and made sure to smile for the camera since I was alittle to honest in Clearwater.
Monique ran with me and chatted for the rest of the race. It was a good stuff - I did not really feel tightness in my hips till the very last little roller half a mile out from the finish. Even though she kept trying to test me and see if I wanted to run faster or could run faster... but not today which I was ok with it since I still don't feel 100% recovered from Clearwater and the rest of the very long season.
In the end I was happy with my time especially based on not really pushing it to hard and most important I had fun and stayed very positive. It was the perfect ending to my very very long season.
Kyle, my Mom and I.
Monique and I after the race.
Overall finish time 1:50:42
mile splits - 7:57, 7:47, 8:24, 8:13, 8:21, 8:12, 8:31, 9:01, 8:22, 9:19, 8:14, 8:11, 8:18, 1:46
some other funny data is that my average heart rate was 188 bpm - totally normal for me but my max was 201 bpm - always find that funny how high it can get.
Anyway we got up early I ate a slice of pumpkin pie for breakfast along with some nuun (yes looking at this now it seems like the strangest pre race breakfast). Then we drove to the start and got there nice and early, got good parking, took our bag of dry clothes to the drop area. Then it was of to the porta potties and low and behold it was early enough to have no line. After chatting with a few friends we went off to stretch and do a short little warm up run. These are all the reasons I like getting to races nice and early...
When it was time to line up we saw another friend that we met in Clearwater who has recently joined the Pauole Sport Team. We all lined up together but both her and Kyle had faster goals that me so I just did my own thing once the race started. Since we were not very far back in no time at all I was across the start line and off and running.
The first couple of miles through downtown were uneventful other than that with in half a mile the gloves were off, then the arm warmers. Of course I dropped an arm warmer and almost got run when I went back to grab it off the ground. Luckily I survived and kept running. I was almost surprised as the miles went by and all of a sudden I was running into the tunnel completely over heating. I contemplated pouring water on myself but remembered I was not in a triathlon and it was sort of cold out.. So I just kept running though the tunnel/sauna sweating like crazy. Luckily there was a very slight breeze when I ran out of the tunnel to help keep my temperature in line.
I kept my pace very consistent and mostly just had fun with it - no stressing allowed. Monique had mentioned one of her friends would be running and she was going to meet him at mile 5ish so I looked to see if she was still around. She wound up seeing me first and joined me. She was not sure where her friend was but lucky for me she ran with me while she looked around for him. I saw my mom and Jerry cheering on the long hill on Madison (I think) and made sure to smile for the camera since I was alittle to honest in Clearwater.
Monique ran with me and chatted for the rest of the race. It was a good stuff - I did not really feel tightness in my hips till the very last little roller half a mile out from the finish. Even though she kept trying to test me and see if I wanted to run faster or could run faster... but not today which I was ok with it since I still don't feel 100% recovered from Clearwater and the rest of the very long season.
In the end I was happy with my time especially based on not really pushing it to hard and most important I had fun and stayed very positive. It was the perfect ending to my very very long season.
Kyle, my Mom and I. 
Monique and I after the race. Overall finish time 1:50:42
mile splits - 7:57, 7:47, 8:24, 8:13, 8:21, 8:12, 8:31, 9:01, 8:22, 9:19, 8:14, 8:11, 8:18, 1:46
some other funny data is that my average heart rate was 188 bpm - totally normal for me but my max was 201 bpm - always find that funny how high it can get.
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