St. Paddy's Day Half Marathon

It was a great morning for a race. Temperatures started out just below freezing but the sky was mostly clear and winds were light. With most of the original race course under water due to flooding on the Raccoon River, the race directors had to scramble late in the week to find a new course route. They did a fantastic job adjusting and the race was top notch.

This was the first of 3 "A" races for me this year and I had 1 goal only, set a new half marathon Personal Record (PR). I knew that I was in great shape coming into the race and adding a flat course with good weather put me in position to reach my goal.

My previous half marathon PR was set at the Drake Relays Road Races in 2017 when I ran a time of 2:16:18. At that time I was actually training for my first full marathon and the PR came as a bit of a surprise. Today I actually crushed that time by shaving off over 8 minutes and finishing in a time of 2:08:14.

Very proud of this time

Modified Race route to avoid flood waters

2nd Goal of the Year Completed!

Looking back over the race, I don't think I could have run any better than I did. I started off the race with the 2:15 pacer (which happened to be another Corteva employee). I did not stick with that pace group very long because my legs were feeling so good. I ended up catching the 2:10 pace group around 3.5 miles and stuck with them for about a mile before moving on. My best mile was mile 5 where I registered 9:28 minutes. I kept my miles fairly consistent between 9:40 and 10:00 until I hit mile 10 with a time of 10:22. I put my foot back on the gas as much as I could for the last 2.1 miles and finished with in a time much better than I had expected.

At the finish line I was able to meet up with my coworker Megan and her husband Dan who had just run his first half marathon (and did an amazing job!) After taking a couple of pictures I headed for my truck to drive home with a big smile on my face. 

Posting for a picture with Dan
after the race

A fitting race for me to run

Finishing a half marathon should be enough to make anyone proud, but this one was a level above for me. Those who are closet to me know that I have been having a difficult 2019 so far. I have been dealing with some difficult things in my personal life as well as at work this year. On top of those things, I suffer from seasonal depression for a couple of months every year from mid-late winter. I'm just wired to be outside (just look at all of my hobbies) but with this winter it was literally impossible to enjoy the outdoors for nearly 2 months and it took a huge toll on me. It was also fitting that the weather took a turn for the better over the last week leading up to the race. 

To put some icing on this cake, after uploading my run to Garmin Express, I quickly realized that I completed a 3rd goal for the year at this race. I ended up breaking my previous 10K PR as well!

I broke my previous 10K PR by nearly 2 minutes

The next race on my calendar is the Drake Relays Road Races 10K on April 20th. Even though I have already completed my goal of setting a new 10K PR, I am hoping to improve on that time by running that race in under 1 hour. 

I do have 3 races on my calendar over the next 3 months, but my next "A" race will be the Door County Half Ironman. I have 1 week of recovery training before beginning my 16 week training program for that race. My 2019 racing season has gotten off to a fast start and I'm hoping to keep that momentum rolling through July. I have a long road ahead, but with good weather in the forecast I should be able to train and prepare in a way that will help me to crush more of my goals this year. 

Weekly Training Update

This winter has not been making it easy on me. When it isn't snowing, it has been extremely cold and windy which doesn't make for the best training outside. Somehow I've managed to fit in all of my training even when the conditions have not been the best.

Last Saturday I had a 4 mile pace run and despite the cold temperatures and windy conditions, I was able to average a 9:31 min/mi pace.

4 Mile Pace Run

It is amazing how quickly things can change in a single day. After my pace run on Saturday I woke up early on Sunday to put in 9 miles before heading to church. As I headed out just after 5:00, it was not snowing but by the time I was finished there was 3 fresh inches of snow on the ground. I was happy to get inside to warm up and dry off.

On Wednesday morning I was out of bed at 4:30 am and headed downtown for my weekly swim at the Wellmark YMCA. If you ever have the chance to check out the Olympic size pool at the Wellmark YMCA downtown, don't pass up the opportunity. It is a pretty spectacular sight and a great place to train. On Wednesday I did one of my hardest pool workouts with a main set that included 10 X 100 yards. 

Building distance in the swim

I'm slowly beginning to build my distance in the pool and on the bike but with my half marathon 4 weeks from Saturday, my primary focus is still on running. Things have been going well, but I'm planning to increase my focus these last 4 weeks leading up to the race. I'm also hoping for some warmer weather to melt all of the snow and ice off of the sidewalks and bike trails. 

Post-Race Training Success

It never seems to fail me, whenever I have a great race it is followed by several days of great training. Even though the bottom decided to fall out of the thermometer again I have had some excellent training sessions the past 2 days in all 3 disciplines. 

I have started working a flexible schedule on Mondays that allows me to get off work at 1:30 and head to the pool. I've been adding 5 minutes to my swim time each week and made it up to 35 minutes yesterday. I managed to swim 1,500 yards in that time which is one of the better swims that I have had this winter. 

Last night I opted to hop on the upright exercise bike for a 55 minute hill interval workout instead of using the trainer. I'm not sure if it is riding high from the race, or watching the movie "Miracle" while riding but I normally keep a pace of about 18 - 19 mph for these workouts but last night I managed 20.3 mph. I've actually been killing it on the bike all winter and am just chomping at the bit for spring to come so I can get outside.

With the frequency of my workouts, it is difficult to stack up more than 1 or 2 great ones at a time, but I managed to make it 3 in a row as I headed out for a run this morning. My alarm went off at 5:00AM as I rolled out of bed and bundled up to head out into 10 degree temperatures with wind chills around 0. My Tuesday runs include maintaining heart rate Z2 which is an easy pace. Even with that low intensity, I ran fast this morning maintaining a sub-10:00/mi pace for over 4.5 miles.

Fantastic early season training run

I have less than 6 weeks to my first A race of the season and I'm certainly headed in the right direction. Hopefully I can stay on track and navigate my way to breaking my 2nd PR of the year on March 16. 

Kickoff 5k

I was finally able to kickoff my racing season this morning (see what I did there?) at the Kickoff 5k in Leawood, KS. My uncle Mike has been running road races for a couple of years and I was excited to get the chance to run a race with him. After the extreme cold snap this past week the weather warmed up quickly and we had temperatures in the mid 50's this morning for the start of the race. It felt amazing to run a race on February 3rd in shorts and a t shirt.

The route had a good combination of hills and flats and proved to be a good early season challenge. I wasn't sure what to expect going into this race but knew that I had been running well lately. Everything went well from the start of the race and I was feeling good as I reached the 1 mile marker in a time of 8:53. I kept pushing hard in hopes that my legs would not let me down and they didn't.

I ended up crossing the finish line in a time of 27:51 setting a new 5k PR besting my previous PR by 9 seconds. I finished 6/17 in my age group and 104/556 overall. Uncle Mike crossed the line shortly after I did and we enjoyed some post race food before I showered and headed for home.

Hanging with Uncle Mike before the race

Officially broke 9:00/mi average

As mentioned in a previous post, my goal for the year is to PR at every distance, and starting my year off by checking a 5k PR off my list is very exciting and motivating. I'm hoping to keep the success rolling at the St. Paddy's Day Half Marathon on March 16th. The time to beat will be 2:16:18. 

A Rough Start to 2019

I just don't even know where to start with this post. If you follow along on with my blog, you have probably been wondering why I haven't posted after my first 2 races of the year. Well, the reason is that I was unable to race at the InCydeman Triathlon last weekend as well as the Icebreaker Triathlon this weekend although for very different reasons.

Sadly, right before the InCydeman Triathlon, Erin's Uncle Pat passed away at the far too young age of 55. Needless to say, triathlon and racing was the last thing on my mind that weekend. Going into this weekend I was very excited to finally kick things off at the Icebreaker Triathlon at the Walnut Creek YMCA. I packed a bag and planned to wake up Saturday morning to complete my Saturday training run, figure out my setup on the spin bike, and pick up my packet. Instead, I woke up with an urge to run for the bathroom and spent the rest of the day battling a stomach bug. Without being able to keep food down all day, there was no way that I could be ready to go for a 7:50 am wave start.

I'm trying my best to stay focused and move past the missed races, but that is easier said than done. I am hoping and praying that this week goes well and I am able to make it down to Kansas City next weekend to run a 5K with my Uncle Mike. That is my last scheduled race before my first A race of the year so I would really like to make it down there.

The good news is that even with the missed races, being sick, and some nasty winter weather over the last 2 weeks my training has been going extremely well. Last week I had a ride on the trainer that averaged 26.1 mph, riding 19 miles in 45 minutes. I have been averaging around 10:00 min/mi for all of my training runs this year which is significantly faster than this same time frame in previous years.

Even with being sick and not being able to race this morning, I spent my day fueling and hydrating and decided to give my long run a try this afternoon. I was able to log all 8 miles with an average pace about 10:45 min/mi keeping my heart rate in zone 2. This is outstanding considering I was just coming off an illness and running in less than ideal conditions with single digit wind chills and snow/ice covered trails.

Hopefully my next post will find me in better spirits reporting on the results of my first race of 2019.