Turning 25

I turned 25 last month.

It's time for my quarter-life crisis. What if I want to be a zoologist instead of work in TV? What if I want to drive a Ferrari instead of an SUV? What if I want to live in Italy instead of Indiana?

Yeah... none of that. I hardly noticed when the clock rolled over and I was suddenly 25 years old. Meh. I can rent a car now (cue the sarcasitic "woooo").

But what was awesome about turning 25, is that a bunch of people came over to help me celebrate with poker, flip cup, and beer pong.

Half the crew, gearing up for another round of Flip Cup

Plus! I received a lot of awesome triathlon-related gifts!

Ryan wrapped his presents in Christmas paper...

What could it be?


A Garmin Forerunner 305!


I was very excited to take it out for a test-run. I wore it while Ryan and I walked Maggie around the block. I "oooed" and "ahhed" at it's fanciness.

As I mentioned in my last race report, it was absolutely instrumental in helping me stay under 11 minute-miles during the run-portion of my triathlon.

I love you, Garmin. Let's never part.

But with new-found heart rate knowledge came a lot of heartache (okay... that was totally over dramatic, but I had to give you a little tease so you'll come back for more, right?!)

Stay tuned for the story of my beating heart...

Muncie Endurathon Sprint Triathlon Race Report

The weekend before last, my Dad and I competed in the Muncie Endurathon. It's name derives from the fact that it has a half-iron, 2 duathlons, aqua bike, and sprint tri all rolled into one event. The sprint distance is actually one of the newer events, so the field was pretty small (192 triathletes compared to the 663 doing the half-iron).

So on with the race report!

We woke up at 4am and had to drive almost 2 hours to the race, so we were all a little tired.


The race took place in and around a reservoir in central Indiana.



The first race I've ever been to where I had my own spot on the bike rack!


All set up and ready to go. I always use my pink striped towel for races because it's the only way I can spot my bike as I come running into transition.



This was my Dad and I's 3rd race together. My 6th triathlon ever.



Ryan came along as official photographer, dog-watcher, cheerleader, and gear check.


Maggie came along as official race mascot and to distract people from watching the race with her cuteness.


It was such a small race that all the women doing the sprint were in the same swim heat. I'm in the middle (in the black bathing suit and gray sports bra) putting on my goggles...


And we're off!


The swim course was in an "L" shape, which helped lessen the usual congestion at the turn-around.


Story: About 1/3 of the way into my swim, I look up to site the buoy, and there is a man swimming in front of me. But he wasn't swimming with the crowd. He was swimming perpendicular to the crowd. Not only that, but he didn't seem as if he was in any rush. He was just FLOATING on his back! Right as he floated in front of me, I gave him a good shove. He jumped up, looked around in shock and confusion. I yelled, "watch out!" (what? It was the only thing I could think of at the moment), and slithered around him.

He was wearing a blue swim cap (the color for men doing the sprint triathlon), so I'm not sure if he got lost maybe? But he didn't seem to be in any rush to find his way to the finish line.

A little while later, I was finally done with the swim. It was an unusually short swim (only 400 meters), but I hadn't done as much swimming this year as I should have, so I felt a bit winded as I climbed onto shore.






I found it extremely hard to concentrate during transition. My bike rack was positioned right next to a gigantic speaker blasting pop music. It was so loud that I could feel my brain rattling. I couldn't think straight long enough to figure out what on earth I was doing.



Eventually, I got all my stuff together and headed out on the bike.


The bike wasn't too bad. It had hills, but for every torturous uphill, it had an awesomely steep downhill. This was the first race with my aerobars, and I felt like my speed was really good.




In second transition, the speaker was still blasting. "SHUT UP!" I yelled at it...



I headed off for my run. I had a hard time getting my Garmin on my wrist, so I fidgeted with it as I left transition...


Once I got my Garmin on, I realized I had forgotten to turn off my heart rate alarm. It was set to beep if I went over 155 bpm. Ha! I was over that within 30 seconds of my run. The beeping was annoying (to others more than myself, I'm sure), so I had to flip through the menus mid-run to get the alarm turned off.

The run went pretty well. I loved having my Garmin with me. I always knew exactly how far I had run, how far I had left to go, and how fast I was going. It was extremely helpful in keeping me under 11 minute miles for the majority of the run.

The run course was an out-and-back, so when I passed my Dad (he was on his way in), I timed myself to see how far behind him I was (his swim wave started 5 minutes before me). When I passed the same spot again, it was 8 minutes later. Ouch. So much for beating him this race.

When I neared the finish line, Ryan, my mom, Maggie, and my Dad were all there cheering for me. There's my Dad on the right...



Done!


Post-race was good. They had water immediately when you crossed the finish line. They also gave you a ticket for free lunch (catered by Noodles & Co... yummm!), and a free ice cream (from Baskin Robbins). All that along with the regular post-race snacks, drinks, and even a finishers plaque!


My Dad and I compared our times. He was the obvious winner...



So here are my stats...

Swim 11:15 (115/192)
T1 2:47
Bike 44:54 (149/192)
T2 2:10
Run 33:29 (161/192)
Overall 1:34:32

149/192 Overall
51/85 Females
12/19 AG (25-29)

How do I feel about my race? Well... I was slightly disappointed the bike wasn't faster. It said I had a 16.4 mph average. I really thought it was over 17 (which would have been a PR). But I was so close that I know if I just had a slightly flatter course, I could have done it.

The swim was good. It's obviously my best leg (at least compared to everyone else). I definitely could have gone through transition faster (stupid speaker!). If I had cut a minute off each transition, I would have been neck-and-neck with my Dad.

Side note: One of my coworkers did this triathlon also. It was her first one ever, and she was in my age group. She beat me by 40 seconds. Being beat by a newbie is a hurt that only hardcore training can take away. But don't worry, I was perfectly nice and congratulated her when I saw her at work on Monday.

What's next? The Chicago Triathlon!!! My first olympic-distance triathlon, with a whopping 1 mile swim!

Kill me now.

Geist Half Marathon Race Report

It's been a while, but I know you all still want to read this (at least, that's what I tell myself).

So, as a refresher, this is my first half marathon. Back at the end of 2009, I wrote:

I don't want to put this one on the goal list, because I'm not sure it's really possible right now... but I MAY possibly consider trying for a half marathon this year.

Well, it's crazy how quickly a far-off dream can turn into a reality.

So I ran the Geist Half Marathon... a lovely run around a large reservoir outside of Indianapolis. Here are the stats:

Overall place: 2060/3191
Age Group: 86/146
5 Mile: 53:46 (10:46 pace)
10 Miles: 1:49:16 (10:56 pace)
Last 5K: 35:50 (11:34 pace)
Total: 2:25:05 (11:05 pace)

My main goal was the finish the race without walking. Check! My secondary goal was to finish in 2:15, which I knew was a little lofty.

Now onto the pictures!

I had to work until 11pm the night before, and the race was 2 hours away, so "exhausted" doesn't even begin to describe what I was feeling.

We left the house at 4:30 in the morning.
We met up at packet pickup with my college roommate, Jess, and her boyfriend, Ben. They were apparently exhausted too...

Ryan acted as photographer and gear-check.

I was a little nervous, but mostly just excited to finally do this and get it over with.

Jess and I were rearing to go!

This is how we practice...

At 7:30am, we were off!

The first 3 miles went really fast. I spent most of that time just concentrating on running around all those people! I've never been in a race with that many people before, and it was a challenge to pass groups of people when you're running with someone.

At the 3 mile mark, we ran past Ryan and Ben. Feeling good!

About a half a mile later, Jess decided to start walking. I had told her before the race that my only goal was to finish without walking, so she told me to go ahead and keep running. It was hard leaving her, but I knew it would be better for both of us. I didn't want her to feel pressured to run harder than she felt comfortable.

The next 5 miles were great. The only problem I encountered was some ridiculous sports bra chafing. I had to stop for a moment and apply my spare bandaid. Oh, that, and I got REALLY hungry! All the nutrition tips I had read said to eat 2 hours before the race, so that's what I did. But somewhere around mile 4 or 5, my stomach started to growl. I feared an epic nutrition fail, so I started downing sport beans, hoping the 100 calories would tide me over until the end of the race.

My legs held up for the most part until mile 8. At that point, my left foot started to hurt... a shooting pain with every step I took. I stopped to stretch it once, but stretching just gave me a charlie horse. Ouch!

A little bit later, my knee started hurting. Miles 9-12 were rough. I was just limping along, wishing it would be over sooner. I was frustrated, because I had my 2:15 goal in mind, and I REALLY wanted to go faster... I knew I had more in me, but my legs just wouldn't cooperate.

Meanwhile, this is what Ryan and Ben were doing...

After 13.1 long and painful miles, I finally neared the finish line.

Jess finished a little bit later.

After I got over the PAIN and EXHAUSTION (and hunger!), I was very pleased with my time and how I did overall.

Ryan and I enjoyed a lovely lunch at Noodles (we don't have one in Fort Wayne, and it's my favorite!), then we drove the 2 hours home.

I was so proud to have accomplished this goal. Just 2 years ago, I couldn't even run a quarter mile! My fiance was amazingly supportive. There were times when he even drove out and met me in the middle of my long runs to bring me cold water. Now THAT is husband material!

I'll leave you with a photo of how I spent Saturday afternoon...

Happy Sunday, everyone!