Things can only go up from here, right?

I'm standing on the side of the road waiting for a ride with nothing to do so figured I'd blog. Why am I here? Because my bike broke! :-(

Luckily I didn't fall. I have no idea how I unclipped in time. I was totally thinking "here I go again, this is going to hurt". And then somehow I was straddling my bike with both feet on the ground. 

Now I'm thinking "this is just my luck". I had grand visions of a 25-mile ride followed by a short brick run and instead I'm going to miss my workout and have to take my bike in for repair. I only got a little over three miles out. 

Cycling just doesnt seem to be my sport. 

I'm dreading how much this is going to cost me too. I may not understand much about bike mechanics but having something completely snap apart has got to be bad. 

In other news, since my ride still isn't here, I fixed my flat tire yesterday. I even found the hole and patched it. The whole ordeal took me two freaking hours but I did it. So that's something I guess.

Catching up, injuries and triathlon

After six months, I've finally got the urge to blog again. It's been a roller coaster since my marathon last fall. At first I was all set to jump right back in and even had big plans to train toward a half marathon PR in January. Then a trainer at the gym noticed my KT tape one day (for my right achilles) and suggested that I shouldn't keep trying to run through an injury. Since I've been battling achilles tendinitis for a couple years now, I decided to take the rest of the year off from running to see if that would help.

During my hiatus from running, I started going to spin classes at the gym and bought a bike trainer for riding at home. I also took some basic swim classes at the local pool. Obviously, this was all in preparation for my first triathlon which will be in June.

When I started running again, my achilles wasn't magically healed, but it wasn't too bad so I started to build up my mileage again. In early March I ran a local half marathon in 1:46:35 to kick off my marathon training. In April I ran the Birch Bay Road Race 30k and was extremely happy with my 8:04 pace. That's right where I needed to be if I was going to chase a BQ.

Finish of the Run For The Honeywagon 1/2 Marathon

But after that high point, things started to go south. I stupidly ran a 5k in rain and snow without properly bundling up and then stood around in my wet clothes for almost an hour waiting to get my 3rd place award. In hindsight I should have just skipped the award since it was just a lame unisex cotton t-shirt in large. The next day I went out for a 22 mile run and got soaked again. I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise that I came down with an awful cold after that.

I was also dealing with some left knee pain that appeared sometime between the half and 30k. I went to a physical therapist who diagnosed it as ITBS. In the 5 years that I've been running, I've never had knee pain or ITBS so it's really frustrating that it's happening now. Anyway with the cold, the knee pain and other assorted aches and pains I ultimately decided to skip the marathon and just focus on the triathlon instead. It wasn't a marathon I'm dying to check off the list and I didn't want to lay out a few hundred dollars just to run it "for fun". I need that money for my foray into the triathlon world. Oh yeah, plus I just started seeing an athletic trainer/massage therapist to try and work through my injuries and get my body back to feeling good for racing.

So now, on to my triathlon adventures. I may or may not delve more into what I'm doing as far as triathlon training in a later post. But for today I want to rant talk about cycling. I thought that swimming would be my weak sport, but I'm more frustrated with cycling right now than swimming. I guess maybe I had my expectations too high, but it seems like everyone I talked to said I HAD to get clipless pedals for the triathlon and that I'd notice an immediate improvement in my cycling. But instead of getting faster, all I've been left with is a series of bumps and bruises to the point where I'm almost scared to get back on my bike.

The first two falls happened in my driveway. I was clipped in with one foot and waiting to cross the street (so I could ride with traffic). Somehow I last my balance... twice!... just standing there. The second fall skinned up my knee so I didn't even get out for a ride that day. That was three weeks ago and I didn't take a photo until last night so it's mostly healed now, although every once in awhile I feel a twinge of pain that I'm hoping is a result of the fall rather than another new injury.

I had a few good rides and then last Sunday I toppled over again getting off my bike at the end of my ride. I'm still not sure what happened, if I was tired and off balance or if it was the wet ground. I got some surface scratches but luckily it wasn't too bad.

Last night's ride just plain sucked. I was with one of the coaches from my training group and we pulled over to the side of the road because she thought my seat was a bit too high for me. After she adjusted the seat and we were about to take off again, I didn't have enough momentum and fell over onto my right elbow and palm. I had gloves on so I didn't break any skin on my palm, but it hurt like hell the rest of the night. Even though I didn't tear the fabric of my jacket, I was sure I skinned my elbow, but with the coach waiting for me I didn't stop to check since we were at the back of the pack now. I'm not sure if that ended up being a good or bad decision. Good because I kept going with the workout, but bad because if I had stopped then I would have avoided some of the troubles that were yet to come.

The fall caused some problems with my chains and shifting (I don't know all the technical mumbo jumbo to describe exactly what happened) and several miles down the road the chains locked up and my bike came to a stop and I fell over AGAIN! Luckily this time I fell on a patch of grass and plants and didn't get too banged up. But I was definitely feeling anxiety about clipping in again. If the coach hadn't been with me I think I would have just sat on the side of the road and cried. Especially because I would have had no idea what to do with the chains. But I put on my brave face and we kept going.

The chains locked up one more time but I was able to get unclipped that time so I didn't fall. The coach said it was because I was in the wrong gears and crossing chains. The thing is that I know I've accidentally done that before but instead of locking up usually I just hear a noise that tells me I need to shift out of that combination. So I guess I need to take my bike in for another tune up to make sure it's okay after all of my falls.

This is dragging on, so I'll try to wrap it up. The icing on the cake was that after we'd already cut the ride short since we were so far behind the rest of the group, I got a flat tire. GRRRRRR. It was maybe a five minute walk back to our cars but it felt like forever after such a crappy ride. And then I got back and discovered that I did indeed skin my elbow.

I knew there would be a learning curve in switching to clipless pedals, but I guess I didn't expect it would take this long or be so painful. And I don't think I'd mind the falling so much if I was at least seeing some kind of improvement but my average speed on my rides is the same as it was before switching. I try to keep reminding myself that it took me awhile to get faster at running too. But I don't feel the same level of excitement with cycling as running and I don't think I'll ever like it as much. There's just too much "stuff" to deal with and I don't have a mechanically-oriented mind. I can't get my mind wrapped around all these gears and chains and levers and things that need to be tightened and adjusted and lubed and who knows what else. I'm a frugal person, but I'd almost rather pay someone to change my flat tire than try to do it myself, but I know I need to learn how. If only there was some kind of AAA roadside assistance for bikes. Hey, that's actually kind of a good idea!

Anyway, that's about it for now. I guess I should go run, mainly to burn off the thin mints I ate earlier. Then maybe I'll go wrestle with my flat tire. Actually first I need to find some kind of "how to" guide.

Any cyclists out there? How long did it take you to get comfortable using clipless pedals? Also any tips for changing a flat tire?

Tri-Cities Marathon Race Report

Before I start recapping the actual marathon run, I just want to jot down some background.

I started training for my fall race in August, which would have given me about 16 weeks until the Seattle Marathon at the end of November. When I decided on the Tri-Cities Marathon for my fall race instead, that cut down my training to 12 weeks. I ended up not following any type of written training plan, but in my head I knew I had to run 3-4 times a week with a long run on the weekend. I averaged about 40-45 miles per week. I also mixed in at least 1 session of strength training, cross training, and yoga per week.

My goal for the marathon was to run a 3:50. There's nothing special about 3:50. It just seemed like a good target since my previous PR was 3:54:27. Going into the marathon I knew I could cover the distance, I just wasn't sure if I could hold the pace. On one hand I felt like it had been a good training cycle and my long runs had all gone well. But on the other hand I was worried that without following a plan I hadn't gotten in enough purpose-driven runs focusing on speed. Anyway, by marathon day there was nothing left for me to do but run.

Okay, so now let's get to race morning. I didn't sleep well for both nights before the race so it was good to have the race starting right at the hotel so I didn't have to wake up crazy early. I left the room at 7:45 and the race started at 8. I used that time to fuel with GU Chomps and do some leg swings and other light stretching. I lined up maybe a third of the way back, and before I knew it we were off.

The first mile was on the road, getting us from the hotel out to the river. Then in the second mile we ran up a hill, across the I-182 bridge, and back down. None of the "hills" on this course were difficult and I ran up with ease. Mile 3 was back on the road. My legs felt good right from the start and I was just trying to run comfortably rather than trying to stick to a pace, although I did glance at my Garmin to make sure I wasn't doing a completely crazy 7 min pace or something like that.

Mile 1 - 8:36

Mile 2 - 8:14
Mile 3 - 8:31

To run a 3:50 marathon, that's an average pace of 8:46. I like to factor in some wiggle room since my Garmin is never going to read exactly 26.2 at the finish line. So that meant aiming for an average 8:40 pace. I was slightly on the fast side those first miles but close enough, and in my mind it's better to be under than over.

After mile 3 we moved onto a paved path that ran along the Columbia River and stayed on the path for several miles. From here I started to look around and enjoy the scenery. There was the river on one side and some very nice houses on the other. With so few people around me, I felt like I was out for a fun run and not in the middle of a race with over 20 miles to go. I felt light on my feet and thought about a phrase I heard on the Runner Girls Podcast recently... I was "running like a ninja on eggshells"! Or at least in my mind I was. I'm not sure where the lightness came from because I sure don't run like that during training.

I had been running behind "gray shirt guy" for awhile but caught up to him and we had a brief chat. He'd run the race before and mentioned something that I'd also read online... that there can be a bad headwind on the later part of the course when we head back along the river to the finish.

Mile 4 - 8:19

Mile 5 - 8:27

Mile 6 - 8:30

I slowed down slightly to take my Clif Shot at mile 6 and gray shirt guy pulled in front again. I stayed close behind and used him as a pacer. I saw the average pace on my Garmin was about 8:25 and had a fleeting thought that I was running too fast, but then I decided that I as long as I felt good, I would go ahead and bank the time for the second half of the race. I know that you're supposed to aim for negative splits, but I didn't have enough confidence in my ability to run strong in the later miles and I was concerned about the potential headwind slowing me down during the second half as well.

Miles 7 and 8 were still on the riverfront path, then mile 9 took us over the blue bridge into Columbia Park. I liked that the bridge crossings added some variation to the otherwise flat course.

Mile 7 - 8:22

Mile 8 - 8:27

Mile 9 - 8:14

I was still following gray shirt guy and around this point I started noticing "green shorts lady" and "green shirt lady" slightly ahead of him. They made nice bright targets to keep within eyesight.

This part of the course was an out and back and I got to see a lot of the other runners which made for some good people-watching. There were also more spectators here. I took a GU at mile 11.5. 

Mile 10 - 8:15

Mile 11 - 8:22

Mile 12 - 8:31

Mile 13 - 8:25

I was behind gray shirt guy at the halfway point and then I must have zoned out because I realized I couldn't see him anymore. I could still see the green ladies so I figured he picked up some speed and passed them.

The course went past the blue bridge and continued on this side of the Columbia River to the third bridge of the race. In this stretch between bridges, which was miles 15 and 16, I noticed that my right hip was starting to feel tight. It wasn't painful, it just felt "off" to have one side of my body feel differently than the other. Kind of like when your shoes aren't tied at the same tightness. Speaking of which, my shoes were starting to feel loose even though I had double-knotted them. With 10 miles still to go, I decided it was worth it to take a short break to re-tie my shoes and there were some handy benches along the path. I did one shoe first, ran for a bit, then stopped for the other shoe. I also tried to a little stretch for my hip but it didn't really help. During this time I lost the green ladies but the gray shirt guy passed me during my second shoe stop. I don't know how I ended up ahead of him for a bit. The path across the cable bridge was a bit narrow, so I held back and saved my energy rather than trying to pass anyone here.

Mile 14 - 8:25

Mile 15 - 8:37

Mile 16 - 8:44

After crossing the cable bridge, it was a straight shot along the river, then one final bridge crossing and the last mile to the hotel. I don't remember too many details about this part of the race. Based on the course map, I guess I came down the bridge and then took a GU at mile 17. I passed gray shirt guy again and didn't see him again the rest of the race. I think I also passed a couple other people somewhere through here. Luckily the headwind that I was concerned about never made an appearance. I really lucked out with the almost perfect weather conditions for this race.

Mile 17 - 8:13
Mile 18 - 8:29
Mile 19 - 8:30
Mile 20 - 8:45

At mile 20, I remember saying to someone, "just 10k left" but I don't think I got a response. I wasn't feeling as light on my feet anymore, but overall I was feeling great considering I had already run 20 miles. My average pace was still under 8:30 here so I was pretty confident I was going to make my goal. I started thinking about if I might even be able to come in under 3:45. But at the same time I was wondering if I was going to hit the wall. Did I go out too fast in the beginning? I wasn't going to purposely slow down now so all I could do was keep running and see what happened. I took my final GU at mile 22.

Before the race I thought I would be bored on the back half of the course since it just looked like a long straightaway. But I actually didn't mind it at all. Running on a path next to a river is so much nicer than running down a long straight road. Plus there were little turns in the path so I couldn't really see that far ahead and that helped me stay in the moment.

Mile 21 - 8:24
Mile 22 - 8:36
Mile 23 - 8:42

By mile 23 I was finally confident that I was running a fantastic race and I wasn't going to hit the wall. My feet were hurting a little, but other than that I wasn't too tired and I think my form was still good. I still had the weird tightness in my right hip but since it didn't seem to be affecting my running I stopped worrying about it.

I could see the green shirt lady ahead of me again, but green shorts lady had disappeared. I caught up to green shirt lady at a water stop. We both stopped to walk through the water stop but I took off first and passed her. The final hill was a switchback and the guy in front of me must have seen me coming because as I went by he said "I knew you were going to pass me". It felt amazing to be running so strong up the hill and at this late in the race... even if it wasn't that steep. I passed a couple more people on the bridge and then flew downhill. Not going to lie, I loved that I was passing people and not the one who was being passed.

Mile 24 - 8:28
Mile 25 - 8:19

I skipped the water stop at mile 25 and decided to go for it and give it my all for the final mile of the race. Oh my goodness, this was definitely the hardest mile of the race. My lungs were burning and I had two thoughts. First to keep my legs moving as fast as possible, and second... where the heck is the hotel?

My boyfriend came out to play photographer for me. I was happy to see him, but would have to wait a few more minutes to say hi.

Mile 26 - 7:52

The last mile was my fastest of the entire race!!!

I could see the finish line over to my right, but that final stretch seemed to take forever since I had to follow the road until I reached the hotel entrance and then turn into the parking lot. With maybe 100 meters to go I saw the finish line clock and couldn't believe my eyes. I knew I had run much better than I planned, but I really had not been anticipating being anywhere close to a 3:41. I made it my final goal to cross the finish line before the clock ticked over to 3:42...

And I did it!

My chip time was 3:41:26. Eight minutes faster than my goal and a freaking 13 min PR! I was on cloud nine the rest of the afternoon.

I hadn't been expecting to place in my age group so when I checked the results I was excited to see I was second. Of course that meant we had to stick around for the awards. I was pleasantly surprised when I actually got called for first in the 24-29 age group... The girl who would have been first in our age group ended up taking third overall female. So that was a perfect ending to an amazing day.

I feel like I'm running out of adjectives to use. The Tri-Cities Marathon turned out to be such an incredible experience I'm still so thankful about how everything just came together perfectly to result in an amazing race.

Tri-Cities Marathon - Race Review

In order to expedite this, I'm going to try and keep things simple with a pro/con list. The next post will be about the run itself.

Pros:

• Terrific course! We ran along the Columbia River and the majority of the race was on a flat, paved path. The only "hills" were the four times we crossed over the river. I liked that we had the bridge crossings for some variety so it wasn't completely flat the entire race. The view of the river was nice too.
• The course support was great with water and Powerade every two miles. I think a couple of the stations had gels too.
• I loved that the race started and finished at the host hotel. It made things so much easier, plus the hotel is in a great location. There's a grocery store, pizza place, and cupcake shop all within a short five minute drive. With the race starting at 8, I didn't get up until 6:30, and I could have slept in later if I was more efficient at getting ready in the morning. The hotel offered a late checkout for a $20 fee which I gladly paid in order to shower and have time to pack up after the race.
• Chip-timing - even though it only took me 15 seconds to cross the start line, it's still nice to have my exact time from start to finish. There were three checkpoints during the race and it's fun to be able to analyze my stats. There were also touch screens at the finish so we could look up our results immediately.
• The medal is nothing fancy, but the fact that this small race had medals puts it in the pro list.
• Free post-race massages!
• There was a photographer at one spot on the course and at the finish. All the photos taken on the course were displayed at the finish line and it was only $10 to purchase the print.

Neutral:

• The registration fee was $70. It feels slightly high to me considering the size of the event, but given how well organized everything was and all the pros above, I think it was worth it.
• According to the results, there were only 180 finishers. I've had other races where I couldn't even see anyone in front of me, but that never happened here, although I would have been fine if it did. I think this race confirmed for me that race size isn't a big factor for me when choosing a race, even at the marathon distance.
• There weren't very many spectators, just those cheering on friends or family. More spectators would be nice, but I didn't need them.

Cons:

• The race "website" was really just a page on the 3 Rivers Road Runners website and I found it slightly lacking in information. However, when I emailed the race director he was very helpful and got back to me in a day.
• The race shirts only went down to a small (no XS) and were unisex. They were also bright red with silver printing, which I didn't think was a very attractive combination. 
• This is petty, but I'm disappointed that the age group awards weren't unique. We all got a pint glass with the race logo on it. I know a glass is more functional, but I honestly would have preferred a ribbon that said 1st place - Female 25-29. 

Overall I really thought this was a fantastic race and would definitely recommend it. I'm even considering running it again, despite the 5+ hour drive. I could see myself going back next year to try for a BQ.

Wouldn't change a thing

This post is going to be about documenting the details of things that were under my control so that I can remember what worked and try to replicate it or improve on it next time.

Shoes: I've been running in Brooks Defyance shoes since February and they seem to really be working for me. Both of my pairs were getting up in mileage so I bought a new pair about three weeks before the race, and also started using a new set of custom insoles. At first the new shoes/insoles didn't feel quite right which was weird because it was the exact same as what I'd been running in, just newer. I had several debates with myself whether to wear my old shoes and insoles, the old shoes with the new insoles, or the new shoes with the old insoles. I finally went with all new because it just seemed too crazy to run a marathon in shoes that already had 395 miles of wear. The new shoes had 75 miles going into the marathon and I think it was the right choice. By the end of the race it definitely felt like I'd been on my feet for a few hours, but they didn't feel overly beat up.

Carbo-Loading: I mentioned in my pre-race post that I haven't been a believer in carbo-loading in the past. I guess I should modify that by saying it's not that I didn't think it worked for some people, but more that I didn't really see a need for me personally to put it into practice by doing anything that different before a race. But now I've realized that it really does seem to make a difference in my performance. The important part is to still keep my eating under control and not stuff myself to where I'm uncomfortably full.

I started my carbo-loading on Friday night at Chipotle. I've had Chipotle now before all three of my marathons so I think I'm going to have to make it a tradition. I don't really think of Chipotle as carbo-loading because it's basically rice, meat, and vegetables (I don't add beans, sour cream, or cheese)... the same thing I eat everyday but with Mexican instead of Asian flavors. But this time I also asked for the tortilla on the side and nibbled on it along with my typical carnitas bowl.

For lunch on Saturday I had quite a bit of bread, along with a slice of quiche and a bowl of tomato basil soup. Then finally for dinner on Saturday I specifically searched Yelp for a pizza place. Unfortunately the pizza wasn't that good, but it still did the trick. I guess I should also mention that I had a couple cupcakes on Saturday too, plus I drank a lot of water of course.

Race Fuel: I had my usual cool mint chocolate Clif Bar about 65 minutes before the race start. I like this Clif Bar because it tastes good, doesn't have nuts, and contains caffeine (50MG). About 15 minutes before I had a (sample) pack of strawberry GU Chomps (four pieces).

I carried four gels with me during the race. I could only fit three in the pocket of my capris, so the fourth I pinned onto the waistband. This worked really well and I didn't even notice it was there. At mile 6 I had a chocolate Clif Shot. Normally I don't use Clif Shots, but I think I got it as a sample from somewhere and it was the only gel I had without caffeine. I didn't like the consistency because it was thicker than GU and harder to squeeze out of the packet. But I'm not sure if that's because the Clif Shot was the gel I had pinned on while the other three were closer to my body and therefore warmer from my body heat. Anyway, at mile 11.5 I had a vanilla orange GU Roctane. I haven't gathered any personal evidence that GU Roctane is better than regular GU, but I'm choosing to believe the marketing and assume that it helps. At mile 17 I had a vanilla GU and finally at mile 22 I had a triberry GU.

I can't remember exactly what I did at my previous marathons, but during training I usually don't take more than 100 calories per hour. This leads to me sometimes feeling hungry during a training run, but my philosophy is that it's better to train on less fuel than I'm going to use on race day. During the marathon, there was only one point where I started to feel slightly hungry but I think it went away when I drank some water. I feel like I had a good fueling plan and adding in another gel would have been too much.

I switch back and forth between liking gels versus chews. I used to prefer chews because they're less messy, but lately it seems that GU Chomps are hard to get out of the bag. The gels worked really well for me this time. I had to slow down a bit to take them, but I liked that I could squeeze it out quickly and then focus back on the race.

Clothing: Of course I can't talk about clothing without talking about the weather. The forecast was something like 51 F at the start and 59 F at the finish. The decision between shorts and capris was pretty easy. I don't think I would have been too cold in shorts, but with capris I don't have to use body glide. The decision between short or long sleeves was harder. I don't usually wear race shirts to races, but somehow I'd gotten the idea in my head that I wanted to run in my Rock 'n' Roll Seattle shirt. In the end I went with long sleeves because I figured I could deal with heat better than cold. If it had been really sunny, I probably would have been okay in the short sleeves, but most of the race was cloudy and gray so the long sleeves ended up being the perfect choice. I never felt hot during the race, even at the end when the sun started to peak out and I was running hard to the finish.

I bought a new Moving Comfort sports bra on sale recently and wore it on a 13-ish mile training run without any problems so I decided to wear it for the marathon too since my other sports bras are getting old. Well Sunday morning when I put it on the shoulder straps felt extremely tight and I was kicking myself for not packing a second sports bra. There was nothing for me to do but put a ton of body glide on my shoulders and hope for the best. Amazingly, I ended up not even giving it a second thought once I left the hotel room.

My favorite brand of socks is Balega and I have these turquoise socks that are the perfect combination of cushioning without being too thick. I actually have two pairs of them and somehow I accidentally packed one older sock and one newer sock. It's probably hard to tell, but the sock on the right is a little more well-worn.

It's silly, but I had a slight moment of panic thinking that having different socks was going to throw me off my game because I hate to be "unbalanced". Once again though, I didn't give it a second thought during the race.

Finally, I wore one of my trusty white Road Runner Sports hats. I can't remember the last time I raced without one. Perfect for keeping my hair out of my face and (for the most part) the sun out of my eyes.

Looking back, there really isn't anything I'd do differently that would have led to a better race. It's awesome to have figured out what works for me after just three marathons, but then I've had a ton of half marathons to practice with. Maybe I'll learn some new tricks for the next race, but if not I'm confident that following a similar plan as this time will be successful.