The Redemption Run

In an effort to fully test my heart I ran another 1/2 Marathon on the 4th of July.  This race went much better than the last.  First off, my heart didn't bother me at all. However, the rest of my body was a little upset with me.  I decided to test my nutrition on the race.  I usually run with a couple of GU's and a camel back full of water.  This race I went with 1 16 oz water bottle of an electrolyte drink 30 minutes before the race, and when the race started I had about 3/4 of another 16 oz bottle of water left.  I felt really uneasy about not having my reserves.  I also ran without my phone/ipod. I guessed that I would run out of energy sometime in the race.  I was hoping that it would happen sometime between mile 12.75 and 13.1. 

The course was basically down Emigration canyon to the state capitol building.  Most of the course was down hill with a feel steep uphills.  The run itself was pretty good.  I stopped at the water stations and just kept running.  Like most of my races I went out pretty quick.  My pace was in the low 7's for the first 3 or 4 miles. I progressively got slower, but that was ok.  I wasn't really trying to break any records.  You can see the race info in the link to the right of this page.  The nutrition crash came around mile 9.  I could feel my legs just run out of juice.  The remaining 4 miles become less fun.  Being tired on the 1/2 marathon wasn't that big of a deal, but what worries me is next month I have to swim a mile and bike 57 miles BEFORE I even start the run....  I am definitely out of shape and heavier than I would like to be.  I  hope to drop another 5-8 lbs this month.

In my age group I came in 19th place out of 29.  My time was 2:02.  I wanted to break the 2 hour mark but like I said,  my legs were out of juice. It is however over 30 minutes faster than my last race.  It really helps when you don't have to stop and wait for your heart to slow down.  Not to make excuses as to why I wasn't faster, but for some reason the afternoon before the race I thought it would be a good idea to ride 26 miles when it was 101 outside. Strangely I was a little tired before the race. 

This is all building up to my next 2 races in the next month.  I am running my first real triathlon on Saturday, and the IronMan is 1 month away.  The triathlon this weekend will pretty much be my first tri.  I opted for the Olympic distance.  That is a 1500 meter swim, 40K (26 miles) bike, and a 10K (6.4 miles).  I am also using a wetsuit for the first time.  I am a little scared, a little excited, and still really nervous for August 7th.  I hope that this weekend goes well and I learn alot, because it is my only race before the big one. 

Salt Lake 1/2 Marathon

Me again looking slow

Me after the race with Alexis, Gavin and Cole

Well as expected the race was hard. I was still not feeling good when I started and it didn't get much better by the end.  The good news is that I made my goal of being under 2 hours @ 1:56:20.63.  I was 18th of 26 in my division and 180th of 392.  I think that if I was feeling better I would have come in closer to 1:45 minutes. 







Here are the top 10 things I learned from the race:

1.  If you are sick it is going to suck.
2.  It will take twice as long to recover from your cold if you do it anyway. (still sick)
3.  I really don't care about being sick.
4.  Hill/speed work might be a bad idea 3 days before a race.  ( I really felt it when running up the hills)
5.  I don't like my New Balance 1065's.  They are too heavy for longer runs.  That being said I didn't have any blisters.
6.  The people who are fast are really fast.  I pretty much lost site of them by the 3rd mile.  I have a long ways to go.
7.  On the downhill I was running at my goal pace of 7min/mile for about a mile.  Wow that would be hard to go 26 miles that fast.  I need to be at least 10 - 15 lbs lighter.
8.  I need to have my wife take pictures at the beginning of the race rather than the end.  I always look so tired when I finish.
9.  I had too much gear on.  I had a Garmin GPS watch, my Blackberry in an armband for music, and a Camelback for water. 
10.  I need to run more, sprint more, do hills more, and train harder.  Finishing isn't a big deal but finishing strong is.

Well that's about it.  I haven't written lately because I have been sick and not doing a lot of working out.  Immediately after the race I went to Village Sports Den and picked up my bike an rode it home.  It felt great to ride all downhill after the race.

Last weekend I went for a 26 mile bike ride on my favorite route.  I go from my house up to Wasatch blvd. and go south to about 8200 south and go back.  I keep feeling like I am better but that bike ride almost killed me.  I thought I was going to throw up multiple times and I wasn't even going that hard.  I am going to try and go on a ride tomorrow and hopefully it will be better.
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Out of the water and on to land

It is 5:30 am and I am sitting on a bus on my way to another race. This race is the Salt Lake 1/2 marathon. A lot of things have changed from my last post including the purchase of a new bike! As bad as ot might sound I have not been back in the water since the last race. I have been running off and on for the past few weeks including a 10 mile run with my father in-law. That was an interesting run. We stopped at mile 6 for an espresso.
Today I am feeling sick. I have been fighting off a cold all week. Usually when I get sick it goes straight to my lungs. This time I only started coughing last night. Over the years I have done numerous dumb things in training before a race. On wednesday I decided to take the family to sugarhouse park to run hills for speed work. It seemed like a good idea at the time but my legs are still sore. I bet I will pau for it on the uphill portion of the race. I am 100 percent focused mentally for this race. Hopefully that will overcome the 80 percent my body wants to give.