Run Along the River

Recovering from foot surgery continues to be the most difficult thing I have ever done; with every encouraging sign comes a number of disappointments. What's more, I can't predict from race to race what the foot will throw at me, so to speak. It's quite the guessing game. I could give up, but that'll never happen.

On July 21 I ran a 10K in Cape Vincent, which took us runners out of the tiny village west to Tibbetts Point Lighthouse, on a road that parallels the source of the St. Lawrence River. Boats large and small accompanied us, and the ever-rotating windmills of Wolfe Island hinted at the Canadian delights found just beyond in Kingston (one of my favorite places). The wind was both cooling and distracting, especially as it served to roil the waves into an odor similar to the west side of Onondaga Lake. There was no escaping the stench.

Unfortunately, it did not help me run any faster.

This is right before I tossed the Gatorade bottle.

While I hit the turnaround at about 27 minutes, my speed left me near mile 4 and I struggled to force myself to keep running; had I walked I'd still be mad about it. I am in no way proud of my finishing time, but I am trying to take solace in the fact that I did finish. (Notwithstanding that I threw a bottle of Gatorade in anger after the announcer told me my time, surprising both myself and my husband (we were surprised about the anger, not the time).)
So that's the not-so-good news part.

Now for the better news:
1. My foot did not hurt. The spot on top where the doctor inserted hardware to keep the bones together did not pain me for the first time since I started running again. Neither did the arch of the left foot, nor the arthritic big toe. I am very pleased about this development. It was that very foot pain that distracted me to a terrible finish in the Cazenovia 10-miler on July 4. I hope, hope, hope this is it for that issue. It's been so inconsistent and unpredictable.

2. I ran 6.2 miles in difficult conditions--hot and humid. I stayed hydrated, slowed down if I felt I had to (even though I knew it could lead to a disappointing finish time). Still, I managed to average an under-10-minutes/mile pace. My big triathlon is less than a month away in Michigan. Ever been to the Midwest in August? You think it's been hot and humid in Central New York this summer? Try every summer in Western Michigan. Those are the two reasons I signed up for yesterday's race in the first place--to try to cover the distance in less than an hour (the half-Ironman is twice that distance, and I'm aiming to finish it in 2 hours) and to continue to acclimate to unrelenting heat. I succeeded on both counts.

I have a few observations about this race. The T-shirt is way cool--fluorescent green with a blue rendition of the lighthouse and the name printed above the heart. Minimal and tasteful. I really enjoyed the scenery, even if my olfactory nerve was pushed to its limit. Plenty of water stations throughout, and really friendly folks (loved the hose at mile 6).

Now, for the negative--no chip timing. The timing wasn't the real issue for me; it was that it took the race director far too long to figure out the results for the relative handful of runners who participated. We didn't stick around, and for a very good reason (another negative)--there was no food. I was told that orange slices were at the finish line, but greedy 5K runners must have taken them all. There is absolutely no excuse for a race to run out of food. None! Hold some of the slices back for the 10K runners. I was not at all happy about this. Yet they had a keg of beer. Nothing against my beer-drinking buddies but it's not how I choose to refuel after a race. Call me a grump, but running out of food was not cool.

Will I do this race again? Highly unlikely. It was a bit of a drive for the distance, and the race amenities were sorely lacking. But, as with every race I run, I learned a little more about myself, my willpower and my poor, unlucky feet.

Next up: Delta Lake Olympic Triathlon, Sunday, July 29. I doubt I can best last year's time of 2:59.37, but you never know. It's all up to the foot.

Weekend Update

With the plethora of races available in Central New York, I had no trouble finding two competitions for Saturday and Sunday, June 16 and 17. First up was Tri-Oswego, a second-year race that features both a sprint and an intermediate distance. I selected the sprint--800 meter swim, 15.5 mile bike, 3.1 mile run.

I enjoyed this race immensely--the swag was impressive (a transition towel? love it!), volunteers were plentiful, smiling and encouraging, and the bike course was well-monitored for traffic. I do wish the miles had been marked on both the bike and the run, however. Oh, and the food afterwards? Really nice--especially the fresh fruit salad. I heard the next day that the swim and run were both longer than advertised, which would explain my "slower" times.

Heading out for the run.

It's no big deal, really, but it would be nice to know that my slower swim can be attributed to a course that was longer than 800 meters. Finishing third in my age group was a wonderful Sunday morning surprise as well (we didn't stick around to find out, since I have only once before placed in my age group). I'll put this race down as a definite-maybe to consider for 2013, and probably at the longer distance.

Sunday, Father's Day, dawned hotter and brighter than the day before (the clouds of Saturday helped keep the athletes going for sure). The run I had signed up for, Mike Caruana Father's Day 5K, was in Fulton, a mere 17 miles away. So the plan was to bike there, run and bike home. Apparently, Saturday really wore me out because I woke up too late to execute that plan.

Oddly, I also left in the car later than I would have wanted, so I felt a bit rushed to get my race number, stretch, warm up, hit the bathroom one last time and head to the start. Something had to go, and it was my stretching routine. I did some dynamic stretching, but nothing on my back. Now, I have read that static stretches do nothing for improving the run. I have doubted this, but limited time forced me to do standing stretches only. And I ran a terrific race, considering where I am in my rebuilding year, and the fact that I had competed hard just 24 hours earlier. So maybe there's something to that stretching advice after all.

This race course is not an easy one, but I hit the first mile at 8:20 (not bad!). All told, I crossed the finish line in 27:01, good for an 8:43 pace. Can you say thrilled?!

A hot time in Fulton!

So for my fun, exhausting, weekend I got two medals, which I proudly hung from the new display rack my husband gave me for my birthday. He's so supportive of my efforts, and understands my ups and downs (and frustrations with my feet). Giving me another rack was his subtle way of displaying his continuing support without being pushy--the other rack was too full, and he fully expects that I'll earn more medals. But he would never say that; he's more a man of action.


Next up: Runapalooza, Fleet Feet's new race, a 5K on June 30. Then a few more road races until my next triathlon, Delta Lake Olympic, July 29.

Unreasonable Doubt

OK, I look at the calendar and I am 10 weeks out from my half-ironman and I'm starting to panic. There is no way, I think, that I can get in all the training I need to do! I don't have time! I haven't even topped 11 miles in a run yet! I need to bike 56 miles twice before the race!
Is this what all of us go through? Perhaps this is the point where a coach would be a good investment--that or a sports psychologist!
Even though I have used the training plans on beginnertriathlete.com, my mind is telling me that I am no longer a beginner, that I need to bump up to intermediate status. And even though that excellent website has intermediate plans, I looked elsewhere this morning.
But here's the thing--when I look at the plan I found and printed from trinewbies.com (not an intermediate site, I just realized), that training doesn't seem like enough! I'm doing way more than it prescribes! Oh, dear; now I'm really confused!!!
I don't train technically--no heart rate monitors, no zone 1/2/3/4 stuff (I don't even know what that means)--I just go out and swim, bike and run! In fact, I didn't even own a pair of bike shoes and clipless pedals until a month ago. My bike is an Internet special--$500 delivered and "90% assembled." Thank goodness I have a handy, patient husband, because it arrived more like 10% assembled. I never could have put that bike together myself. Would I like a $2,000 bike? To quote Sarah Palin, "You betcha!" Can I, in good conscience, purchase a $2,000 bike? What do you think?

My sweet little bike. She still needs a name. . .

I am in no way complaining about my equipment. We have built up my triathlon arsenal piece-by-piece, purchasing most items in the off season so they're a bit less expensive, and my husband is great at trolling websites to find free shipping (and free return shipping, which came in handy for the first XS wetsuit we bought that fit more like XXXXS). I buy my swimsuits on clearance, or with my USA Triathlon 20% discount. I hoard the swim caps they give us at races like a squirrel with her nuts.
I guess I'm just feeling like I can always do more, always have better equipment, always squeeze in a workout (even if it's not part of the plan). Is this how all of us triathletes feel? Or am I just especially neurotic?

Just Keep Swimming!

After I emerged from Otsego Lake on Sunday, my husband was waiting near transition, where I would be stripping off my wetsuit and gearing up for the bike. "You came in a good minute faster than you thought you would," he reported. "Yeah," I responded, "that was a good swim." I had no idea how good until I saw the results from the Cooperstown Triathlon on May 27.

When I first considered tackling triathlons nearly five years ago, I recognized the swim as a weak link--I have been a runner for years, and biking is, well, biking, right? How hard can it be to pedal 15-25 miles? I now know that biking presents its own set of challenges, but without a strong, first-leg swim there's no point in even signing up for a triathlon. I have always known how to swim (thanks to summer playground lessons at Sunset Lake in Kenwood, a tony suburb of Sherrill), but it's never been a strength. When I selected my debut triathlon--the June 2009 Keuka Lake sprint--I headed to the city-operated pool closest to my office a good 10 months in advance.

Now, those among us who have completed marathons (I have two on my resume) tend to be a bit macho. What's a half-mile swim to someone who's run a 26-mile race, I asked myself as I got into the water, without goggles (my eyes would thank me later), and promptly swam one lap--that's not once down and back; it's once down, 25 meters. Oh, boy; I had my work cut out for me.

I signed up for a class at the Liverpool Y, but didn't connect with the coach or the extremely chilly pool. So I just kept at it on my own; I tend to be a training loner anyway, so no worries. Turns out I needed all of those 10 months to build up to swimming 800 meters; I had the distance down but not the speed. "Speed" being a relative term, that first triathlon swim took me 21 minutes. Ouch!

Fast forward to my first triathlon swim of the 2012 season. Wearing our white swim caps, we women and relay swimmers (some men), trudged into the channel that led to the lake.

At 60 degrees, the water was chilly but tolerable. The siren sounded and we were off!  Very quickly I found a groove. It took a bit of work to get around a breast-stroker who kept kicking me (not on purpose). I had to put on the brakes and redirect around a woman who was heading diagonally toward the first buoy but also on a collision course with me. I passed several red-capped men, who had begun five minutes earlier. I felt really strong; I felt really smooth; I felt, dare I say it?, like a swimmer!

My struggles after foot surgery in October 2011 have been well-chronicled. Once I was cleared to get my foot wet, the first question I had for the doctor was, can I swim? I returned to the pool on Dec. 15, 2011, and I haven't looked back. While I waited another month for the OK to run, I kept swimming. Like Dory in Finding Nemo, I just kept swimming!

Now there's a school of thought in endurance sports that says if you're weak in one area, keep at it. Want to run better? Run more! Bike a problem? Get in the saddle and go! Because I was conservative about running too far too soon, and because biking in January just isn't pleasant, I kept swimming. In fact, I've been swimming so much, I even cover 3000 meters once a week. Why not?

Well, all that hard work saw its payday on Sunday, with a first-in-my-age-group swim time, of 14:59. Remember my first competitive swim that lasted 21 minutes (a lot of it doing the backstroke)? Well, that's long gone. And I couldn't be more thrilled, especially since I did it myself, without help from a costly coach.

Next triathlon: June 16, Oswego Sprint.

Whatever Floats Your Goat

The Mountain Goat has never been an easy race. But in the eight or so years I have been running it--sometimes fast, sometimes not--it's been gratifying to watch it evolve into a real community event. I didn't run the Goat in 2011 (too soon after surgery on the right foot), so I can only compare the support I enjoyed this year to the race in 2010.
With my well-chronicled recovery from left-foot surgery I just wanted to run this year. I didn't care about my time (though I did set a goal, that I missed); I put one foot ahead of the other and kept moving. 
On May 6, 2012, I have never seen so much crowd support and so many bands along the 10-mile length of the course. Race organizers who placed Letizia and her band, along with about a half-dozen more drummers at the toughest part of the toughest hill on the course--Colvin Street--really hit on a stroke of genius. Knowing the Syracuse University Sour Sitrus Society awaits us as we turn from the top of Colvin to Comstock always gives me something to look forward, but having rhythm-plus pushing us up between miles 6 and 7 made a world of difference.
Oh, and the Blacklites entertaining in the post-race party in Clinton Square? Another stroke of genius.
The Kirk Park Colts Pop Warner football team (along with parental and coach help) is always a highlight for me--those kids wear a smile as they hand out water, Gu packs, Powerade and overall encouragement. They are at mile 5, and an annual treat for me, providing motivation enough for the second half of the race.
I saw more crowd support along the Thornden Park hill than ever before. That's not an easy spot for spectators to get to (not to mention runners)--for me it's the hardest hill in the race. So to see the cheering (majority) women shaking makeshift noisemakers of soda bottles with coins inside really lifted my spirits (even as, I admit, I walked up that hill).
There have been years that after the climb up Thornden Park I have just wanted this race to be over; enough already, as we all make our way out the park and, with a new route, straight onto Madison Street. I really appreciate this change to course, as the previous downhill on Harrison has always been the toughest for me--you see, I'd rather climb a hill than descend one. With my foot not 100%, I fully expected to walk down that bear of a beast of a you-know-what. But I didn't have to!
The gradual descent into downtown was a gift I savored, along with the gummy bears a family handed out just beyond the hill in Thornden. The unfortunate landscape change along East Genesee Street (near Syracuse Stage) foretold Connective Corridor work for the summer and it added a negative aesthetic to the psychological triumph of mile 9. Here's hoping it's all pretty in time for next year's race.
Because it was a perfect weather day, it seems everyone had a smile on their face. Now, perhaps that's always the way it's been, but in years past, when I have been determined to compete in this race, I was so focused on running that I missed the good will.
Speaking of missing things--once again, I did not see the real-live goats along Stolp Avenue. Every year, post-race, I see photos, but never the real actual creatures. Gives me something to aim for in 2013.