Another goal?

Yesterday we went to a wonderful barbecue to celebrate the marriage of our friends Rob and Amy. Rob and Amy run marathons. Rob has achieved 10 states toward his goal of running a marathon in every state. They met through a local running club. Not surprisingly, there were many runners there, mostly distance runners. We drank PBR, talked about goals, and everyone made a mad dash for the burgers when they were ready (and everyone agreed that we run/bike/whatever so we can eat).

It's funny how your perspective changes when you start making goals, and when you hang out with people whose idea of fun is endurance events. Rob invited Dusty to join him in October for his New Hampshire marathon. I said I might come cheer them on. Without missing a beat, Rob suggested I join them, and run the half-marathon. Some combination of the beer, the conversations I'd been having all day, and how I've been feeling about my running lately made me surprise myself by saying yes!

Actually, at first I laughed and pointed out that my new goal for my standard running distance is 4.5 miles. Rob shrugged and said that if I can run 4.5 miles, I can do a half-marathon. He knows what he's talking about when it comes to distance running, and he's not someone to talk a friend into an impossible goal. The more I think about it, the more it seems like a good post-triathlon goal. If I have to walk some of it, that's okay. It turns out that the date of the New Hampshire marathon is not good for me, but I'm on the search for another fall half-marathon. It looks like I've got my next goal all set.

I was having a morning where I was feeling really critical of my training method. It wasn’t so much an objective evaluation of my progress, but I was fretting because I haven’t been following an official training plan, and haven’t been doing an organized ramp up of my training. I’ve increased the miles I’m running, but it’s been inconsistent, dependent more upon the events of the week than my training needs. My biking is all over the place – I’m not worried about the biking portion of this triathlon, so I bike when I can, and don’t worry about it when I can’t. This means that my biking miles vary between 7 miles/week (a serious low point) and 166 miles the week we did Cape in a Day. I’m averaging something like 18 miles/week which is too low for me to consider it training. It’s not even maintenance level. Swimming has also been inconsistent. I try to get in a swim each week, and I swam a ton when we were on vacation, but I haven’t been organized or focused.

So this morning I was thinking about this inconsistency and lack of structure, and I began to be hypercritical of myself. After all, I was supposed to take this seriously. I was supposed to experience what it feels like to push myself physically. If I had only created a plan and stuck to it, I’d be much further ahead in my training. I’d perform better on September 12, I’d be in better shape now, yadda yadda. We all know this emotional drill, don’t we?

I was telling Dusty all about these thoughts while we ran together this morning. While we did a 4.5 mile run that, a few weeks ago, we did as a run/walk, with far more walking than running. He tried every possible argument to get me to get over myself. He pointed out that I’m 44 and started getting in shape at 40, and therefore need to go slowly and expect it to take time to whip myself into racing shape. He reminded me that I don’t want to have a catastrophic accident or a heart attack, both of which are possibilities if I push myself too hard. He pointed out that I’m doing great and am in the best shape of my life. He argued that most women my age are not picking up triathlon training as a new hobby, and I should feel proud of myself. None of this was working particularly well. Then he reminded me that one year ago, he and I did a three day bike ride from Boston to New Paltz, NY. The longest day was a hair under a century, and it nearly killed me. I had a great time on the ride, but it was well out of my comfort zone, and I walked all the tough hills. Since then I’ve done the ALC (7 days/560 miles) and Cape in a Day (140 miles in a day, and a stupidly hot day at that), and I’m physically ready enough for my tri that I know I’m going to finish it. If we did the New Paltz ride again, we’d do it in two days instead of three, and I wouldn’t blink at the hills we had to climb. That discussion was what I needed. Comparing where I was one year ago, and where I am now is such a good benchmark. I didn’t do much training at all during the intervening winter, and I am still in substantially better shape now than I was then. This winter I have every intention of continuing to run, and will be looking for swimming opportunities. I will make a realistic plan so I don’t lose too much ground during hibernation, and I’ll come out next spring with goals in mind, and the knowledge that I can reach them. I don’t know if I’ll make the same huge leap forward in the next year that I made this one, but I know I’m still moving forward. Hell, I’m still moving my goal post. I haven’t found my end goal yet (if there is such a thing).

Also, I may not be very organized, but I have definitely made running progress. When I got back from the ALC and started training, my “regular” run (which I did not do regularly) was slightly under 3 miles, and I found it hard. My summer regular run is not quite 4 miles, and much hillier than the old one. I think it’s time to make this morning’s run my new “regular” run, and turn the old one into my easy day. Six months ago, I ran sometimes because it’s a good way to stay in shape, but I didn’t like it and wasn’t very good at it. If you had told me then that I would be going into the fall intending to run 18 miles/week every week, I wouldn’t have believed I could get there.

catching up

I have fallen behind on my training blog, but not on my training! I have so much I want to write about, but very little time to get it all down.
This past week I biked to Mystic Lake and did a 666 yard swim with Amanda (we then biked home - the bike ride was going to be longer but we were too hungry!), I did my first bike/run brick, complete with wind sprints on the bike, and I took part in an incredibly illuminating beginner swim clinic with 100 other triathlon newbies.

I also got depressed and down on myself that I'm not further along in my training (I should be increasing my distance and speed on the run! I'm not running enough! I'm going to be further back in the standings than I should be because I'm not training hard enough), and then managed to get over it, at least a little bit. I have a freaking lot of training to do before I can start worrying whether I should be faster stronger better. I'm a lousy, slow swimmer, but I was not at the absolute back of the group last night. Given where I started, and how much time I actually have for training, I'm right where I should be. Which is at the very end of the middle of the pack or the very front of the back of the pack. :-)

What I really need to do is get over myself, accept that this is where I am right now, and go train some more.

My training has continued to be inconsistent, but heading in the right direction. Because of the girls' camp schedules, I've had to drive to work every day, which badly cuts into my available biking time. I have been able to run a decent amount. I am up to about 17 miles/week on a consistent basis, and believe I can increase that to 20 without too much pain. My standard run is slightly under 4 miles, but very very hilly. I think it's time to increase it to slightly over 4 miles, and see what happens.

The opportunity to swim regularly while on vacation was fantastic. Last night Amanda and I biked to a nearby lake and did a 662 yard swim, then biked home. I definitely could have gone further than that if she had wanted to keep going.* I was slow, but not ridiculously so. I do need to learn freestyle if I'm going to keep competing, but for this first one, the breast stroke will get me where I want to be just fine.

*I still have the same damn problem with psyching myself out at the end. I wasn't wiped out, but as we got near shore, my stroke started falling apart, I did some back stroke and some side stroke, and I generally stopped doing a good job on the swim. I do the same thing at the end of my runs. Once I can see the end point, I lose energy and motivation. It wasn't simply tiredness: if the swim had been 800 yards, I would have run out of steam at the same point on the way back to shore. When I should be pushing myself to pour on the last of my energy, instead I decide emotionally that I'm done, and lose my energy.

Sharing the prize

The World Triathlon Corporation has recently instituted a new rule, requiring that finishers cross the line with a time within 8% of the winner's time or they don't get prize money.

In two recent half Ironman races, the winning women hung out near the finish line, delaying their win, to make it easier for the next few women to satisfy the 8% rule. (Williamson Sat at Steelhead Finish Line to Help Other Pros Julie Dibens waits for 5 minutes before crossing finish line and winning Ironman 70.3 Boulder)

I think that's fantastic. (I also think it's something male athletes would be less likely to do.) It hurts their time, and presumably could hurt their career stats and therefore their earnings/endorsement potential, but they have done it anyway, because it's the right thing to do. These are the kind of athletes I'd like to see the girls emulate.