Tree City 5K - Personal Record!

Tree City Run - Personal Record!
November 22, 2014

I ran in the Tree City 5k sponsored by the YMCA in Greensburg, Indiana.

My coach had me warm up a little differently prior to this race.  I did several . . .

RACE 1. My HR was 126 right before the gun. Is that what you wanted? 2. My ave HR for the first 0.25 miles was 142. I may have taken off too fast at the gun. I looked at my watch about 10 second in and saw that my pace was in the 8:00's. I didn't think I was going that fast. However, when I look at the data, I think my watch might have been miscalculating. Does your watch need more time to give an accurate pace reading at the start? I pulled back and my watch read mid 10:00's. So I pulled back some more and then it was 11:30 so I tried to speed up a little. 3. I was surprised at how quickly my HR went into the 150's - but was then relieved to see that I was past 0.25 miles, so I thought this was ok per your plan. 4. At one mile, my HR was at 155. 155 was the top of z4 in my old HR zone (147 is the top of my new HR zones) so I figured that was a safe place to be and didn't pull back. While uncomfortable, it felt like a HR that I could keep at for the rest of the race. I was pushing it - and feeling pretty spent, but nothing that I couldn't keep up for 30 minutes. I just reminded myself that my discomfort was nothing compared to what those with long-term illnesses face - and told myself to keep my legs moving at a consistent cadence (100). 5. Around 2 miles, I got a stitch in my side. I've never had that happen before. Just ignored it. 6. When we hit the soft sand trail at mile 2.49, I knew I was at the place where I could push into z5. I pushed harder and hoped that the effort was enough to keep my pace up in the sand. A girl who I trailed prior to mile 1 and who trailed me after mile 1 was right behind me until the sand. I pulled away in the sand. Yea! 7. Two people caught me at the finish. I ran like I've never run before. I was leaning like crazy - chest up, just running with everything I had. Garmin shows my pace at 8:54, HR 164 as I crossed the finish line. This was a good race. I thought I might have been faster (and maybe I would have if it hadn't have been for the 13 turns, sand, etc.). I would have been thrilled to run in the 10's. But I'm not dissatisfied with a 11:26. I'm improving - and the 10:00's are in sight! Very pleased.

There's a Fire Inside of Me!

THERE'S A FIRE INSIDE OF ME!

November 20, 2014

I wrote the title to this post in November 2014.  I wanted to not forget the "fire in the belly" feeling that had suddenly appeared.  I wrote the narrative below in July, 2015 - eight months later.

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It first started at ITU Worlds in Chicago a year ago (hard to believe it has been a year).  During the swim, I literally swam over a woman.  We were hip-to-hip and my arm came down on top of her shoulder.  Instead of thinking, "Oh, excuse me,"  I literally shoved her underwater as my stroke progressed and swam over the top of her.  And to my utter shock, I liked it!  That moment ignited some primal competitive instinct that I had no idea existed within me.

It was at that moment that I knew that I didn't want to just "finish" a distance or compete with myself.  I wanted to beat other people.  Actually, I wanted to dominate / annihilate other people.  In many aspects of my life, I am shy and reserved so this was completely new, and at the time, a little disturbing.  I told my coach, "There's a monster inside of me!"

This primal instinct to dominate is not helpful or appropriate in most aspects of life, but it's what fuels athletes.  In athletics, it is a good thing.

It was also at ITU Worlds that I realized that I had might have potential.  In local competitions, I was the only one in my age group, so I didn't know how I stacked up against other women my age.  But at ITU Worlds, there were several dozen women in my age group, and I had a decent finish.  I started to think that maybe, just maybe, I could do well if I really worked hard.  I told my coach that while I was basically a beginner, I wanted to start training like an elite.  I asked him to make sure that I was training harder than every other women my age.  No stones unturned.

While I was thinking of myself as a competitor, the people around me still saw me the way I used to be.  After years of seeing me as a morbidly obese person, It was hard for many of them to think of me as anything but a recreational triathlete.  That was a little frustrating, but I figured that I would just work hard and let my results speak for me.  One day in May, my coach sat me down and said something like, "I want you to develop some swag.  You are good.  I am serious.  You are good."  Remembering his excitement that day still makes me smile from ear to ear.

Fire in the belly.  Who would have thought!