Flower City Challenge Race Reports

River Challenge Du:

Woke up a bit before 5am, too excited to sleep anymore. Went out and chilled in the living room for a while before preparing the breakfast prescribed by Mary. The protein-banana-applesauce smoothie. Drank most of that, and some perform. Double checked that I had everything ready to go. (Forgot recovery drink, had to stop at Hess on the way to the race for some chocolate milk) Headed for GVP at about 6:10, arrived at 6:20, including the aforementioned stop. Ate a bit, set up my transition area, and proceeded yet again to try to relax. Mosied around with Amanda for a while, before taking my gel at 20 minutes to go, and heading for a short easy warm-up. With about 5ish minutes to start, I got to the start line, found Tim, and chatted a little. He informed me that he hadn't been feeling great lately. I was sure he'd be fine. Lined up next to Mike Hoffman, and Tim, and off went the gun. Started strong, I felt great.

As per the plan, I went out strong, but felt I could go faster. The few times I could see the field ahead I guessed I was around 15th. I was happy there. I wasn't pushing too hard, and knew I could make a move later if I had to. I cruised on into T1 feeling awesome. Visor off, helmet on. Shoes off, grab bike, run, mount.

Run 0: 20:52
T1: 0:40

Got on the bike, slipped my feet into my shoes, and got those pedals spinning. I felt strong on the bike, I passed a few on the few fairly small climbs there were. Cruised down east river, made the turn on Erie Station, and things started to go a bit downhill. My breakfast smoothie wasn't sitting so well anymore. Around mile 11 I threw up a little bit, and kept pedaling. The climb up to the intersection with Scottsville Rd wasn't too bad, and I was looking forward to a tailwind on the way back. The wind's pretty much always from the south, right? Not this day! I turned onto Scottsvile, and into a headwind. It wasn't much, but the way I was feeling, I didn't need to have to put in any extra effort. I headed back towards the park, taking small sips of my perform every so often, hoping my stomach would settle down a bit. No such luck. Threw up a few more times heading up Scottsville. I was able to keep my effort up, but I did not feel good. I turned onto Elmwood, slipped my feet out of my shoes, and headed into transition. Went okay, my fingers were just chilly enough, and my fine motor skills just depleted enough for me to have a heck of a time getting my shoes on. Grabbed my visor, and headed out.

Bike: 56:33
T2: 1:03

Headed back out for the shortened second loop. They cut out about 0.4 miles, to help out those who had planned to paddle, but now had to run. My stomach was in knots. I pushed as best I could with how I was feeling. I threw up two more times in the first mile or so. Didn't stop though. Definitely was time to HTFU. It wasn't too bad, just a little bit of upset stomach. I passed tow on the last run, and was caught by one. So I was pretty happy. I came through the line to Amanda's cheers. Still felt pretty sick, but that was mostly replaced with relief. I was happy about being able to push through the issues I came across, and happy with my time. The field was pretty quick, and I fared well.

Overall Time: 1:37:39
14th OA, 2nd AG

Me and my little flower award!


Then time to head home, and take a good nap, and recover for the half today!



Flower City Half Marathon:

Up again at 5. Felt good considering the day before. I ate my much smaller portioned breakfast, and felt much better than yesterday! I sat and relaxed for a bit, and thought about the race ahead. The plan had been to make a race day decision. I had talked with Mary Thursday night about what we both though I could do for this race. It all depended on how I had recovered from Saturday though. We were both certain that I was capable of a 1:30 half, the question was: could I do it after racing the day before? I spent the morning basically analyzing how I felt every step I took. I was a bit sore, but that was to be expected. I had a couple of options, I could line up with the 1:30 pace group, if was was feeling good. Or I could start out at a 7:15ish pace, feel it out for a few miles, then go if I wanted. Amanda and I headed downtown at about 6:20. We arrived at 6:30, parked, and headed to the Blue Cross Arena. We found Alexa, Solveig, and Ken, and chatted for a bit. Then we jogged back to the car to discard our warm-ups, and get our gels in. My mom called, and let us know that she was there, and looking for us. I told her to sit tight, and we started to head back to the start area. We got to the parking lot entrance, and found Alexa trying to get her garmin to find signal. Then the three of us headed out for a short warm-up. Alexa asked why I was carrying my phone still, and if I planned on racing with it. Then a minute later my mom called again, thus validating my having my phone! Thanks mom! Amanda and I found her, I gave her my bottle of perform, my car key, and my phone for her to hold for me during the race (what else are moms for???). As I gave all this to her, I made my decision. Just before I gave her my phone I sent a text to Mary. "I'm going for it."

I lined up with the 1:30 group, just behind the start line. I pushed all the doubt I may have had to the back of my mind, and promised myself that no I wasn't allowed to think about yesterday until I was done. Alexa was in the 1:40 group right behind me. I wished her luck again, and told her she was going to rock it. The gun went off, and it was game time. My pacer took off, much much faster than I had expected, I tried to pick him back up; but by the half mile mark, when I checked my garmin and it read 5:50 avg pace, I knew that I couldn't keep it up. I let him go, and settled into a good 6:40ish pace. I knew I would need to put some time into my average before the climb up to highland, and into the cemetery.

I ran for a few miles with a nice guy, and chatted a bit. We were both holding steady at 6:40, but i had to fall in behind him to grab a drink , and wasn't able to reel him right away, and didn't want to push just to have a buddy to talk to. I making my way down East, I saw my teammate Rich, and gave him a wave. He gave me a cheer, which always puts a little pep back into your step. Turned down Brunswick st. and laughed at a dog with a sign around it's neck saying "Run like you're chasing a cat."  That stuff takes my mind off the ache, and lets me pick it up a bit again. I headed down park, and saw a guy I met yesterday named Diego. (Diego volunteered at the Du yesterday, and loaned his bike to a girl who was doing her first Du, and flatted just after leaving transition. We started talking to him after the awards when I was cleaning up my transition area, and Amanda was telling him how nice it was of him to do that.) He remembered my name, and cheered for me. Definitely helped! Headed further down park, turned onto Goodman, and looked at the climb ahead. It's a tricky hill. It looks bad from the bottom, but you don't really feel like you're climbing until you're like halfway up. The hard part is when you're at the top, and turn right into highland, and get to climb some more! I passed a bunch of people heading up the hill. I donated an extra gel to a kid I saw struggling, and figured it was his first half. It was, and he hadn't eaten anything. I hope I was able to save him from too bad of a bonk.

I headed through the park, and was still feeling good. A little dull ache in the legs, but not too bad. Headed into the cemetery, and passed a few more people on the first climb. The cemetery is the worst part of this race. It never. Freakin. Ends. I pushed through as best I could. Tried to keep the pace around 6:50. Ran one 7:00, and one 6:40. Average preserved. Exiting the cemetery, I definitely started to feel it. I tried to relax into the slight descent to the entrance to U of R. Eased onto the river trail, and just focused on bringing it home. 5K to go. I just had to maintain. 2 miles to go. The strength is starting to fade. One to go. Definitely hurting. I lose it for a bit on this one. Let the pace drop too far. I get the focus back, and push down Exchange. Under the bridge, I see the finish. I give everything I have left.

I took the risk. I knew there was the possibility of a massive flame out. I raced hard yesterday, and there was every reason for me to not go for it today. I didn't care. I wanted it. I wanted it bad, an that's what got me through.

Old PR: 1:49
Today's result: 1:30:35 63rd OA.

84 days to go.