1st duathlon!

Yesterday I raced my first duathlon...it was hard, but a lot of fun!

Pre-race
I did not know what to expect from myself at all because my training since soccer and school started has been so inconsistent, so I set a very conservative goal of 1:50. We live near the race and I've actually ridden the bike course many times...but that was last year pre-baby! So Saturday afternoon I asked Drew to drive the bike course with me and I had forgotten how hilly it is!!!! My plan was to hammer down the hills, push it on the flats, and pray that the hills didn't get me. My plan for the run was to average 10 minute miles - in the 9's on the first 2 miles and in the low 10's the second 2 miles.

Drew and I loaded up AC early Sunday morning and headed up to the race. I got to talk to Kona-bound Joy and meet fellow blogger and triathlete Damie! It's always fun to meet and talk to fellow female athletes and bloggers. Joy gave me my chip and Damie helped me get marked up.


1st 2 miles - 16:58
I am fairly certain the course was about a tenth of a mile short. I felt good, but there is no way I was running 8:29 miles!


T1 - 1:20
I've never done a transition before...kinda weird trying to run in my cycling shoes to the mounting area.


15 mile bike - 57:12 - 15.7 mph
This is exactly what I what I wanted to hit - between 14 and 16 mph! The bike wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I stuck to my plan and just pushed as hard as I could. My only issue was on two huge hills towards the beginning I could not get my bike to shift into the small ring!! I got passed by two girls going up these hills and I was ready to cuss. I finally got it to shift later on, but I really struggled up the first two because of the gears.


T2 - :57
Again, weird trying to run from the dismount area to my transition area. This next picture is me coming out of T2 to start the run my legs felt so funky! Drew was laughing at how I was running!



2nd 2 mile run - 19:10
The first 4 minutes of the run were rough! My stride was short and my calves were cramping! They finally loosened up and I was able to stretch out my stride. My goal was to catch the two girls who passed me. I caught the first with about a mile left and the second with about a tenth of a mile.



Final time - 1:35:35!!
Overall I had a lot of fun...I enjoyed the entire race and I'm really glad I did it. I wish there were more duathlons near us! Drew and AC were such troopers cheering me on. I was so excited to see them at the finish line and apparently AC had had enough...


That picture just cracks me up! Drew said she was awake the entire time but passed out about 5 minutes before I finished. I grabbed a quick bite then we had to head home to feed her and get her to bed.

Happy running!

2nd 5K!

My second race with AC was similar to Harbortown with lots of ups and downs! We decided our second race was going to be in the morning and closer to home since the last one was so crazy with her. We ran the Ultimate 5K at 8am this past Saturday and it was the hardest 5K I've ever done!

AC was great - this was her pre, during, and post race face!

She was great - nothing like the last 5K, so she had a nice time. But her mom, on the other hand, struggled bigtime! Two words - hot and humid. I felt like I was running in butter! And I'm not exaggerating when I say the heat index has been over 100 for a few weeks now. Here are my mile splits - 9:19, 10:05, and 10:48. I really, really struggled during this race. Drew ran with us the whole time and if not for him I would have probably gone even slower. Summers in the south are yuck with this humidity.

But since Drew ran with us he would run ahead and take some action shots of us!


And since it's been so hot during the day I've had to adjust when I run. AC has been sleeping later and even at 7:30 it is so hot - over 100 heat index! It's super hot for me to run and even hot for her sitting in her carseat. I'm going to keep running twice a week with her in the mornings just to keep her used to it, but my other runs I'm going at night. I'll feed her at 8:00 and Drew will put her down and I'll go run and it feels so much better at 8:30pm than the am.

I've also decided to start running five days a week instead of 4. The 5th day will be a Sunday night long run. Last night I ran 5 miles and next week I'll go for 6!

Happy running!

Harbortown 5K!

Friday night AC, Drew, Michael, and I headed downtown for the race...here is AC getting pumped up for the race...


It was a night of ups and downs for everyone! We got there super early because I had to nurse her in the car before the race and I wanted to make sure I had enough time to do that and get us both ready for the start. We had plenty of time to spare, so we ended up standing around at the start for about 20 minutes, which AC did not like at all - she was getting super fussy standing around...that baby likes to move! It's a pretty big race with over 2,000 people and I was a little nervous about maneuvering the BOB through the crowds, so I decided the best course of action for us would be to start behind the fast kids, so we lined up on the start line. People could run around us instead of us running around folks and it ended up being a pretty good plan.

AC cried/screamed for the first 500 yards and then she just passed out. So I ended up going a little faster than I thought I would the first mile. I think the nerves, adrenaline, and her crying got me going and I hit mile 1 at 9:29 - much faster than I thought I would!

My thought at that point was wow, that was fast - should I slow down or just keep going? I felt good, so I just kept at it. AC and I cruised to mile 2 in 9:28...we were going to come way below 33:00! My secret goal going into this was to break 30:00, so I stayed steady until AC caused me to have a burst of speed with about .3 left. For those of you who don't know what Harbortown is, it's a neighborhood downtown and during the race people stand in their yards and cheer, hand out things like jello shots, and spray the runners with hoses. AC and I had managed to avoid the hoses for the first 2.8 miles, but we got nailed! I saw the guy and I yelled, baby, baby! And he looked right at me and sprayed. AC started screaming hysterically, so I took off as fast I could to get us finished! We hit mile 3 in 9:22 and ended up crossing the finish line at 29:39 - beating my public and secret goal!

It took about 20 minutes to find Drew and start to leave and AC was just cranky. We finally made it to the car and she screamed the entire way home - 35 minutes! And that is not an exaggeration. Michael and I sat in the back trying to entertain her to no avail. And she was so worked up she woke up twice in the night and she has not done that is a long time.

Two sidenotes...
- I saw three people I went to high school with and they all looked at me and AC and said, is that yours?!?!?
- There were some major problems with this race and the biggest being that the pace car took a wrong turn and all the fast people ran a 2.6 mile course - Drew and Michael are included in that. You should see some of the times posted...it's ridiculous. But AC and I being further back we got all the mileage we paid for!

More pictures...

The family

Me and my training partner


Michael


AC's race face


Our next race is closer to home - the UPS Ultimate 5K and it's early in the morning. I think AC's overall experience during this first race was not the best, so hopefully one closer to home and in the morning will be better!

Happy running!