Inferno Triathlon Recap

Posted by hellyontherun in Race and tagged with ASU, Sun Devils, Swim Bike Run, Triathlon June 29, 2016

I hadn’t mentioned this Tri at all as I had sort of forgotten about it and also didn’t train for it, lol!!

Awhile ago, my buddy Team Fox Jen had mentioned this race hosted by my alma mater, Arizona State University, and I jumped at the chance to visit my old stomping grounds. They offered a Beginner (200yd swim, 6 mile bike, 1.5 run) and Advanced option (4ooyd, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run). I went with the Beginner because of the shorter swim 😀

Inferno is such an adequate name…

Jen and me ❤

A bunch of my Moms Run This Town friends also signed up and that made me less jittery as the last time I had been in a pool was for my last/first tri in March. Eeeek!

Hard things are so much easier (and fun!) if done with friends ❤

I was in Heat 1 and the only one of my friends in the first heat. I was a little nervous going first and having everyone see me ~~suck at swimming~~ but I knew that my friends were nothing but supportive and that it would actually help me having them there cheering me on.

The swim was done in an outdoor pool and it was a 25 yd lap so I had to do 8. I was nervous counting and intent on making sure I didn’t do any extra, lol!

Fork ’em!

I took my time, knowing this was not my strength. I stopped at the end of each lap to catch my breath and didn’t care. I think I was the third to last one out, but it was no matter to me.

From there, we dried off, put our clothes/shoes on, and then had to take a quick flight of stairs up to the room with bikes (we used indoor cycling bikes). I hopped on one and got going, adjusting the resistance.

I was pedaling away when I heard one of the volunteers say jokingly to an athlete, “30%??!!! Hike it up!!”

I had mine at 35% and thought, well, I guess I’m doing pretty good. An upbeat song came on the gym radio and I hiked the resistance up to 40 for a few minutes and then kept it between 30 and 40 for the duration of the 6 miles. I was able to make up a lot of time as I was one of the first three to get off the bike to the run.

The three of us jumped on treadmills next to each other and the guy next to me said, “Where are you going to start?” I had already set it to an 8:00 minute pace and I pointed to it. “Wow, okay!” he said.

I got focused knowing that I only had a mile and half. At half a mile, I put the setting to 7:30 pace. At a mile, to 7:00. And at the last .25 I set it to 6:53. I was running so fast the treadmill was shaking! One spectator pointed to the machine, shaking his head, smiling. I told him I was almost done so I was on a mission, lol!

As soon as I saw 1.5 on the screen, I jumped off to the finish line and presented them my arm #. I was the first one in my heat done!!!

41:18

The Advanced group had started and I went outside to wait for the second heat of Beginners (where most of my friends were). I cheered them all on as they started and then waited for each of them to finish to begin celebrating.

For a free event, we were given a certificate AND a medal. It was a pretty sweet deal!!

I wasn’t sure where I finished overall and had to wait til the next day for the results but when they came, I saw I had finished SECOND OVERALL in the beginner category–out of 14!! I was 52 seconds away from the leader, my good buddy Runner Jenny 🙂 I was so happy to see that I’d done so well considering that my swim is pretty awful. It makes me want to work on it more, lol!! I really think these past few weeks of pre-season training has helped me a ton as far as getting in shape. I felt really good despite not having trained for the event. I also don’t get nervous for things I’m not very good at so I think being relaxed and having zero expectations really helped me. I kinda wish I could be like that for races, ja!

Overall, it was such a fun event. We told the the directors so and that we all would totally participate in anything they decided to hold in the future. Go Sun Devils!! ❤

–When is the last time you visited your college (or high school)?

–Do you get more nervous for certain events versus others?

Pre-Season Marathon Training: Week 4

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training, Running and tagged with Marathon Training, NYC Marathon, Running June 27, 2016

This was definitely a confidence booster week for me and I feel like I needed it going into the real deal soon, lol!

Monday, 6/20– 5.25 easy, 9:43 avg

Another run where I made sure to keep it easy. I was on the treadmill for this one and left the pace alone the entire way and instead, played with the incline to keep things interesting–gotta prepare for those NYC bridges 🙂

Tuesday, 6/21– 3 easy, 10:22 avg (aroundabout)

I decided to get back on the treadmill for this one. I met up with my run club and half said it was too hot for outside and the other half braved the sun. I opted with the former.

We didn’t have a plan and joined in on a group doing a treadmill activity. We followed the instructor’s commands of changing the pace and incline setting at different intervals. It was fun and having someone on the treadmill next to me was definitely more entertaining than me just going solo.

Having too much fun on the treadmill 😀

It was also the first time I’d tried using the “indoor” run setting on my watch. I think it was accurate but I’m never sure with those things. I’m really not tech savvy at all.

Wednesday, 6/22

Rest Day

Thursday, 6/23– 7 miles, 9:40 avg

I ran this one eeeearly and with my buddy Foxy Jen who had a 1 mile WU, 5 miles at 9:40 pace, 1 miles CD and yeah, I failed her with pacing….again.

Splits–10:10 WU, 9:22, 9:32, 9:26, 9:34, 9:59, 9:40 CD

Our overall pace for the entire run was on point though! 😀

Friday, 6/24

Rest Day

Saturday, 6/25– 3.1 miles, 7:57 avg

I had a reeeealllly rough night leading up to this second 4:45 a.m. run. Like, I didn’t sleep at all. I saw 1 a.m. I saw 2 a.m. 3 and 4. It was pretty awful.

I always have trouble sleeping but this was the worst day I’ve had in a long time. Like a dummy, I had a little bit of Coke at dinner (after not having Coke for a while!) and then a cup of coffee with dessert, and that was enough to do me in. I didn’t sleep a wink.

Anyway, I knew if I wanted to do the Orlando United 5k Virtual Run outside, that I’d have to wake up early to do it before it got ridiculously hot–my husband was also running that morning. (It was already ridiculously hot at 4:45!! 81 degrees!!)

Splits–8:12, 7:59, 7:40

I was very happy with the splits as I hadn’t done a fast run since my last 5k race where my splits were HORRIBLE. This run pleased me.

#LoveIsLove

Sunday, 6/25– 10 miles, 9:18 avg

A friend from my Moms Run This Town group asked if I’d keep her company on her 10 miler. She’s got a half she’s training for. I said sure– the pace was right (it’ll be my Long Distance Run pace) and I wanted a double digit run in my Pre-Season training.

Besides 3 miles where we said, “Dang, it sure is hot and muggy outside,” I was happy with how we did and this was definitely a confidence boosting run for me going in to marathon training.

Total Miles: 28.43 This was my highest mileage for a week this year. I have a feeling there’ll be more of me saying that to come, lol!

This last week of Pre-Season Training will be a sorta taper week as I lead into official training the first week of July. A lot of easy running and making sure I keep on with my strength training–core, hips, glutes, lunges, squats, etc.

And that’s a wrap on Week 4!! 🙂

–How was your running week?

–How early do you wake up to run? (I have some really early runs coming my way….eek!!!)

Marathon Training Jitters??

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training and tagged with Jitters, Marathon Training, Running June 24, 2016

Next week is my last week of Pre-Season Marathon Training and then the real fun begins. I always look forward to formal training because I like following a plan.

But Hanson’s scares me a little.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited to try it because I’m definitely curious as to how the plan might work for me. I do think it’s doable-considering my goals as I don’t think I’m overreaching (i.e. making it impossible). The paces for each run: easy, speed, strength, tempo, long –all are within paces I’ve done many times before.

So why am I nervous?

I think it’s because I’ve always been so conservative in my approach to the marathon. In that regard, I’m a safe player. I’m ready to get out of my comfort zone though, and not be afraid to run a marathon at a faster pace. I think that’s what has held me back from running faster 5Ks, 10Ks, and 1/2s–I was scared to run fast. And then earlier this year I threw caution to the wind and got PRs in all three of those distances. I know I can do it. And I’m confident this training plan will prepare me.

I recently read Fitzgerald’s How Bad Do You Want It (a Helly recap coming soon), and that definitely helped with my mental strength. Because I really think that’s where my marathon struggles come from the most. I just need to believe that I can do it and know that I really do want “it” (a marathon PR).

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I’m nervous and excited to get on the marathon training train!

Have a good weekend everyone! ❤ , helly