2014 Logjammer Half-Marathon Race Report

 

I raced this race last year as part of my training for an early December marathon.  I actually ran 4 miles before the race and 4 miles after the race, so my time wasn’t that fast.  Last year the weather was perfect, 40-50 degrees, sunny, and no wind.

This year, I have started a pre-Ironman training program and my longest run since February has been 7 miles.  I was hoping for a PR just because the course is flat and I was well rested, but I wasn’t going to be heartbroken it didn’t happen.  The weather was terrible; it was hot, humid, and windy so I ditched my PR aspirations around mile 6.  I didn’t take my own fluids and all I had was a gel.  There was a lack of water stations between mile 3 and 7.  I drank water/powerade at every station, I even drank 2 cups at mile 7, but the last 2 miles my feet and calves started to cramp.  I couldn’t get up on my toes to accelerate so I finished with a kinda shuffle run.  I stayed in the finishing area about 5 mins because my left foot was cramping.  I drank water, chocolate milk, and some Coca-Cola and I didn’t catch anymore cramps for the rest of the day.

I did run my second best time ever!  I ran a 1:51:05, that’s an average of 8:28 min/mile.  I placed 1^st in my age group out of 36 runners age 30-34.  I placed 53^rd overall out or 440 runners.  I’m very pleased with my performance, and I’ve learned more about nutrition and fluid consumption in hot and humid conditions.  This knowledge will come in handy during IM training. 

Official IMTX registered participant!

I have been saying for months that I was going to do Ironman Texas in May 2014, but I just couldn’t bring myself to register.  It is such a big commitment to register for something 6 months before the event, but I finally decided that I would be disappointed with myself if I didn’t participate because the race filled up.   I don’t want to be one of those people that look back and say, “What if?”  I want to try my best to live my life with no regrets.   I registered first thing this morning and I felt a surge of adrenaline.  I can’t wait for all my hard work to pay off!

Get ready to follow my Ironman journey!

Treadmill Hill/Interval Workout – Mind Over Matter

I have been a runner for years and I have NEVER completed a treadmill run.  I have done some elliptical workouts and I ride my bike on the indoor trainer but in my mind, running on a treadmill was impossible for me.  I run outdoors in all sorts of weather conditions, but because of the time change, getting home near dark, and my recent run-ins with rattlesnakes I decided to give the treadmill at my local gym a try.  I had a 1:08 hill/interval run planned.  I really enjoy interval bike workouts on my indoor trainer so I thought this would be a good place to start.

Well, I just made up my mind that I was going to complete the run on the treadmill and I did.  Nothing fancy, no deep inspiration, just mind of matter.  It wasn’t that bad but I felt like I would have run faster outdoors.  I guess it will take me time to get used to it!  I’m I looking forward to my next treadmill run, not really, but I do look forward to completing workouts.  So, if running on a treadmill is what it takes, then I know that I can do it!

Treed by a Rattlesnake!

I am officially protesting the time change!  Monday, I rushed home and rode for 25 minutes on my trainer and then started my 45 minute brick run.  Yes, it was getting dusky dark but I’m a country girl and the dark doesn’t scare me.  I ran toward what we call, “The Bottom.”  It’s a big creek that is 1.5 miles from my house; the road has gorgeous trees on each side.  This is the perfect 3 mile route, and then I run back by my house, past my parent’s house and to the highway for 1 mile.  It’s the perfect 5 mile run.  The road toward my parent’s house is black-topped so I can see things on it pretty clearly and after I turned around and headed back to my house I saw a 3 ft. rattlesnake stretched across the middle of the road.  It was just dark enough that I couldn’t tell which way it was going so I decided to just wait him out.  It eventually got dark and I was alone with a rattlesnake, now this kinda scared this country girl.  But after about 10 minutes someone came by in a car and ran him off.  I then began the ½ mile walk home, needless to say, my husband was not too happy.  This is the second time I have been treed by a rattlesnake on an out-and-back run, of course, both times I paused my Garmin!

Splish-Splash I was taking a Mudbath

It was pouring rain yesterday and it is supposed to rain all day today, so I decided to just get my hour long interval run completed yesterday afternoon.  I hate running on a treadmill, so I don’t have one.  That left me with two options, run for at the local track or hit the dirt roads.  For some reason an hour long interval run (10 min. warm-up, (2min HARD + 3min slow) X 8, 10 min cool-down) at the track did not appeal to me.  I love running at the track but only for certain workouts and this was not one of them.  I decided to go with option 2:  running on the dirt roads or as we sometimes call them, “the dirties.”  It was lightly sprinkling rain when I left my house and the roads did not seem that messy.  As I got further from my house, the roads started getting really sloppy.  I had to finally face the music and run through the mud.  Then, I had a truck pass me and he didn’t even slow down.  He splashed mud all over the entire left side of my body.  I was a little ticked but it made me feel tough!  I couldn’t wait to get home and show off my toughness to my husband.  As I got to my turn around spot the rain got harder and it continuously got harder and harder on the way back home.  I decided to cut my run short by 10 minutes.  Needless to say, all my mud got washed off.  My husband got worried and came looking for me and insisted that I get in the truck with him at 40 minutes into my run (around 4.5 miles).  So much for my toughness! 

 Product Review – Brooks Ghost

I love my Brooks Ghost, they are one of the most comfortable pairs of shoes I have ever worn.  I haven’t ever worn them during muddy conditions because I usually have trail shoes (Brooks Cascadia)  but I just haven’t gotten a new pair of Cascadia’s.  I ran in my Brooks Ghost and they worked great.  I didn’t slip or lose traction one time. This proved to me that the Brooks Ghost are great all around shoes!