My 1st Race Video & Race Reports (video fixed)

This weekend I manage to complete two different races. A sprint triathlon and a 5 mile run race. I have to admit I was pretty excited to try completing these races. I knew I could finish both races, but I did not know if I could meet my goals and still like I was being competitive.So I looked at this as a way to measure my fitness levels and really try to push myself. So here is my race report for the Sharpshooter Sprint Triathlon and race video!

Sharpshooter Triathlon:

This is always a fun race for me. It is short enough (400 yd swim, 11 mile bike and 2 mile trail run) that you can really push it. And that was my attitude with this race, let's see what I can do. I was shooting for under an hour on this race. I have gotten close in the past, but never under an hour.

The Swim:
 The swim went well. I had zero nervous energy for this race and the swim. I spent too much time standing around talking to other people that I almost missed having a chance to swim before the race! I was able to get in my pre-swim, so I felt ready. the cool thing about this swim is that we get to dive off a dock, which I though was a lot more graceful than it appears on video. I felt like I got into a great pace and was passing people quickly. I never realized how bad my heads seems to come up out of the water while swimming! I pushed the pace and finished strong. Time: 9:29 to transition.

T1:
I decided to go ahead and put on socks in T1, which went pretty well. I had some trouble getting my shoes strapped in and then trouble getting clipped in. Other that that, T1 went fine.

Bike:
My legs felt very heavy right off the bat and I am not sure why. I took a couple good drinks from my aero bottle hoping that would help. I kept on pushing trying to get my legs feeling right. I knew there were some hills at he end of the course, so I wanted to have something left. I kept an average around 20 mph. I came out of my shoes easy and had an easy transition to my run. Time: 34:02

T2:
Only thing I will say is that due to my spending to much time talking before the race, I never got my shoes setup like I wanted them to be and that cost me a few seconds.

The Run:
I started the run feeling well but soon my calf starting twitching, so I was worrying about a cramp coming on. I grabbed some water at the first water stop and continued to push through it. I hate trail runs and never seem to run well on them. I really started feeling well with the last 1/4 mile to the finish line. Time 19:49.

Overall I finished in 1:05. 4th in my Age Group and 31st Overall. Here is the video that my oldest son Jacob took with our camcorder!




The MRTC RRS 5 Miler

This race was the following day at 7 AM. A 5 mile run through my city Bartlett, TN. This is part of a race series I am doing to prep for the marathon. I was really unsure about how I would do since I was feeling tired from the day before and my stomach was not feeling the greatest that morning either. My goal was going to be 45 minutes, anything under and I would be thrilled.I did do a little jog before it started but I was still not feeling confident.

Again, I ran without my Garmin or iPod. I started further back than normal also. Once the race started, I weaved my way through people, running steady. I checked my stopwatch at mile 1, saw it said 9:06. I was feeling pretty good now so I decided to step it up some. Mile 2 marker read 17:45, so I knew I was on pace to beat 45 minutes, but I was still feeling good, so I sped it up even more. Mile 3 and 4 felt great, I was running steady, passing lots of people and feeling great. I was almost passed with about 100 yards to the finish, but I did not feel like being passed, so I sprinted it out. Nearly killed me, but I held him off. I was expecting somewhere in the 43's, but finished with a new PR. 42:43! 23rd in my AG and 300th out of 1084 runners overall. This also moved into the top 20 in the series for my Age Group.

Overall, it was a great weekend for me racing wise. This gave me more confidence and showed me that I am improving. I have a new fire for the last couple of weeks of training for the HIM and I am looking forward to running the marathon in December!

Thanks for reading!

MRTC RRS 5K Race Report

That's a lot of letters in that title, so let me explain. The Memphis Runners Track Club Road Race Series 5K Race Report. Whew! The is such a great race series that the MRTC puts on every year. One of the goals is to help people prepare for the St Jude Marathon in December. The series consists of 10 races. 2 5K's, 2 5 milers, 2 10K's, 2 10 milers and 2 half marathons. My goal has always been to make at least one of each of the distances, but life always seems to get in the way, but I think this year is going to be my year! So on to the race report.

The course is new this summer. Totally new location, so I did not get a chance to run it or even drive it, so I really had no idea what it was like. I had talked to some other running friends that ran the 1st 5K, but hearing about a course never does it justice. It was basically a rectangle course with a few rolling hills on it.

I got to the race site early and walked around, hit the porta-potty, then jogged maybe a 1/4 mile, and I felt like crap. My legs and ankles were tight, it did not give me a strong sense of  me having a good run. So I did some run/walk back to the start line, another big time confidence builder. I usually like to hop around while in line to loosen up, so I got where I wanted to be in the starting pack, and jumped around (get up get up and get down!)

The siren went off and I hit start on my watch and tried to avoid people. I did not wear my Garmin or iPod during this race. My goal was to run a consistent pace. This race series was going to be used in mainly to help with my training for the marathon, so I really had no expectations for any type of PR.

It was very crowded. When you have over 1000 people all running 3.1 miles, there is not a lot of opportunity to run in a straight line, so I headed out to the center of the road, 1. to avoid people and 2. it was level. I was running well, feeling good about it all. I must have missed the one mile marker so I really had no idea how far I was or how things were going, but I knew it felt good. I saw people start fading back in the pack, which kinda fueled me. I finally saw the 2 mile marker and I decided to look at my watch and I saw 15:20! I knew I had something good going, so I thought I might be able to hit my PB on this race!

So I started trying to run it harder, thinking about my pace, which I should have just kept running. I finished in 24:42, good enough for 21st place in my age group (96) and 217th overall out of 1100.

I was surprised. I was just over a minute behind my personal best this year, and I wasn't even trying for it, I was just running! Running my race based on feel. I really think not having my pace accessible from my Garmin helped me on this race. Now if I can get it through my head that I am not a 9 minute miler all the time, and start believing that maybe, just maybe I am faster than I give myself credit for, then I can start making some progress. So I will not be using a GPS watch or iPod in my training (running at least, trainer rides will have the iPod or something) going forward. It really felt great just to run a race.