This post is a little bit delayed, but life has been a bit crazy with kids activities and both of my daughter's birthdays. It is hard to believe that I have a 14 year old and an 11 year old in the house now. Over the last month I have made some huge leaps with my training and stayed healthy and injury free. I'm extremely excited headed into a busy race schedule over the next 2 weeks.
Grand Blue Mile
On Tuesday, April 22nd, Adam picked me up after work and we headed downtown for the Grand Blue Mile. It was my first time ever running the race and only the 2nd 1 mile road race in which I've participated. I had gone several days without hip pain, but of course my hip was hurting that afternoon and evening. I spent some stretching it out before the race and luckily it didn't bother me while I was running. The race is broken up into various waves based on your estimated pace. I am slow, so I was in the largest wave of recreational runners and walkers.
The race field was so crowded that it took about 1/8th of a mile before I could actually open up my stride and run. I pushed as hard as I could, and as I turned back towards the finish line I just kept my eyes up and my arms pumping. I crossed the finish line in a time of 10:49 and was extremely happy with that time.
Training Updates
The first couple weeks of my triathlon training schedule were very rough but I kept on grinding through my workouts and eventually all of the hard work started to pay off. For the last 3 years, Adam, Kyle, and I have taken a bike ride on Good Friday since John Deere gives us the day off work. That ride landed on April 18th this year. It was a cold, rainy, and windy day but we met in Bondurant that afternoon for a 20 mile ride on the Chichaqua Valley Trail. That ride absolutely kicked my butt, and I had a 30 minute brick run afterwards. I averaged under 14mph on the ride and over 14:00/mi on the run. It was discouraging but I still had fun since I was with friends.
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| Annual Good Friday Bike Ride |
I followed that horrible ride up with a really bad long run in Bettendorf on Easter Sunday. I only managed to pound out a little over 4 miles during my almost 1 hour easy run. I came off that weekend feeling extremely out of shape and exhausted.
Things started to turn around after running the Grand Blue Mile on April 22nd. It has always amazed me at how much confidence I get after a good race and that confidence really started having an impact on my training. I did my long brick workout with Adam the following Saturday and the ride went MUCH better than the previous week. We ended up riding 40k holding a 15.2mph average and I really didn't struggle until the last 5 miles. The 30 minute run felt good as well as we averaged 13:21 per mile. It is always funny to me when Adam and I run together because he barely has to run at all to keep up with me.
On Tuesday, April 29 I finally had a break through running workout. My workout was 60 minutes with a 15 minute heart rate zone 4 interval at 40 minutes into the run. For those 15 minutes I was able to average the same pace that I ran at the Grand Blue Mile and averaged sub-12:00/mi for the full hour. I was stoked when I finished.
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| The smile says it all |
My 60 minute easy run on May 4 was another indicator that my fitness is improving very fast. Only 2 weeks after a disappointing long run in Bettendorf, I was able to pound out 4.58 miles with an average pace of 13:07 while keeping my heart rate in zone 1 & 2. That is 1:14/mi faster than the same effort run in Bettendorf. The success has extended farther than just a few specific workouts. My weekly averages over the last 3 weeks have improved as well.
It is great to be peaking at the right time in my training cycle. The next 2 weeks my training will be a lot lighter as I navigate 4 races to close out the month. I'm excited and ready to see all of my hard work and commitment pay off.
- Saturday, May 17 - Race for Hope 5k
- Sunday, May 18 - DSM Corporate Games Sprint Triathlon
- Saturday, May 24 - Clear Lake Sprint Triathlon
- Sunday, May 25 - Hometown 10k
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