22 mile training run report

Just a quick note to self: Chinese food the night before your longest training run of the year, was probably not the best idea. - Seriously, I thought the rice (high in carbs) and broccoli were a good choice, but who can have Chinese without the General Tsos chicken?! I was tired of the same old pasta, so I wanted to try something different. We tried Mexican two weeks ago before the 20, and it played out well, but Chinese, not so much.

Run started off like any other long run, just settling into a good even groove. Pacing out mile after mile around Pete's neighborhood, then up through Cammack and down to the Y, swing through the neighborhood for water, and back to Pete's for the first 11. 10:35 pace. No problem!

Ran the route the opposite direction for the back half, and somewhere during mile 15 I started having some pretty good stomach cramps. The gastric pain was relieved only by farting and belching, which I couldn't do as often as I would like. It felt like air in the stomach and I'm convinced (now) that it was the wrong fuel from the night before.

Pete hung with me and we ran/walked a couple more miles, but as we finished 17, he said he was feeling good, so I encouraged him to go on so he could finish strong enough to have the confidence he needed going into race day. As he left me I walk/jogged my slowest two miles at 13:11 and 13:25.

Couldn't have that, so I got into a better pattern of walk/jog for the last 3 miles, and though I had some leg/calf/hamstring muscle cramps/pain/tightening going on, I was still able to maintain a 50/50 mix of run/walk. Jogged the 22nd mile in to save the overall pace at 11:17. 11:20 is 5 hour pace, so if I can hold that pace on a tough day like this, than I have hope that I can still meet the goal.

Pete, on the other hand, finished strong, running his fastest miles of the day once he was done carrying me around town all morning. He was able to run a sub 10 pace home and save a 10:56 overall pace.

Comparing the 20 to the 22 is a little scary. We ran 3:26 on the 20, and today I was about 3:46 at the 20. That's a minute per mile different. So now the question is, which Chris will show up on race day?

P.S. I let Molly eat the leftover Chinese for lunch today!

Still Tri ing

Today was the 1 year anniversary of the infoamous quadathlon. (Swim, Bike, Run, Ambulance Ride) - You can read about it here...

I have done 2 other races this year in June and July, and was really not planning to do another one this year, but after nursing a ligament strain the last two weeks, and doing additional cross training with less running, I decided I could give it a go.

Signed up yesterday morning under the recent news of a nearly full field. This race was the MidEast Region Collegiate Championships, so there were college kids from 22 different schools racing today. Made for a full course, but was also motivating to share the course with such talent.

Stomach was a little upset this morning, and I race morning nerves weren't helping, but my morning routine went as planned. Molly and the kids came out to watch, and as always, many of my tri friends were racing today too.



Swim start was solid, but it was crowded as the college females were on their 2nd lap as I entered the water, and I had to fight across them to the first inside buoy for the sprint turn. Somewhere around 300 yards, I was REALLY glad that I was doing the Sprint and not the Olympic distance. I had to sneak in a few breast strokes, but otherwise was very happy with my swim split of 8:27 (41 out of 95)

Ran up the hill to the cheers of my family, and made my first transition boo boo - Turns out, if you put your helmet on first, you can't get your shirt on over it!!! Lesson learned! Helmet off, shirt on, helmet back on and I was still out of T1 faster than ever before in 2:35

Mounted the bike and clipped in quick. Passed 3 people immediately who were struggling to clip, and found a good rhythm. I was only a couple miles into the bike when the college male leader passed me. If not for the university logo on his back, I wouldn't have been able to identify the blur. These boys were fast! The bike course was crowded at times, 3 wide passing and lots of communication going on. Spotted a familiar face in the last couple of miles and had fun jockeying back and forth with him which helped pull me to my fastest bike split ever - 39:04 - 19.1 mph - (48 out of 95)

I came out of my shoes at the end of the bike (first time trying this) and dismounted in my socks to run to my rack. Helmet off, running shoes on and double tied, and I was out of T2 quicker than ever before in 1:28. (how do some do it in under a minute!?)

I charged out of transition (nearly tripping on the timing mat), took water and high kneed it out of there to try to gain circulation back into my hamstrings! Quads were tight, but knee felt good. I was solid for the first mile (Garmin showed 9:56), but quick math told me I was going to have to 9:10s in for a PR, and by this time it was mid 80s, and I was baked!! A few walking steps each mile, and double fisted the water/gatorade at the turnaround. I was able to run it in from the half mile mark, but it all paced out to 10:27 (70 out of 95) ugh.

Total time was 1:23:55 which is 21 seconds faster than the June race. The July race was a different setup (Ironman), so it's not really apples to apples to compare. I will take this race as another experience and good cross training. Time to put the bike away and refocus on Chicago!!